We are glad to bring you the very last edition of News in Africa Online publication for 2017. As President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has said, 2017 has been a difficult year. To make matters worse, Africa’s population and economic giant, Nigeria, is capping the year with an ugly problem – fuel scarcity crisis. For most Black Africans, end of year festivities are like 12-month development projects. This explains why many Nigerians are managing to keep smiling in the face of daunting odds. Browse through the report.
Last Monday, on Christmas Day precisely, Nigeria’s Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, took to the fuel depots to personally monitor how the discharge and distribution of the scarce commodity was going. See the column on Economy. In Angola, the issue of oil is a different ball game. Angolans are eager to find out what makes the ousted leader, Eduardo Dos Santos, and his daughter, Isabel, tick. Isabel headed the country’s oil corporation, Sonangol, for less than two years but she is reputed to be the richest woman in Africa. Could she have ripped off her country? Take your mouse there and see for yourself.
The US leader, Donald Trump, is learning a bitter lesson. He is finding out that when the class teacher holds the cane only kids who do not fear the cane will defy him. If he had believed that American financial might would scare the poorer countries and sway them to approve his pronouncement about Jerusalem, he is dead wrong. Hubris is not an asset in diplomacy. See our World Report.
In South Africa, the new leader of the African National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa, is forthright about the direction he wants to take the Congress to. But he needs the support of the people. He has clearly solicited such support. Kenya wrote the book on Safari and as such she continues to sweep all awards that have to do with anything Safari.
Emirates Airline is involved in jaw-jaw with the Tunisian government. When two elephants fight, the ground suffers. Well, in the fight between Tunisian authorities and Emirates Airline, it is Tunisian women that are suffering. See our report on Aviation.
The Igbos of Nigeria are fond of the slogan – “Agagharacha” Must Come back– that is, the wonderer must return. The slogan fits very well for the former President of Mali, Amadou Toure. He has been in self-imposed exile in Senegal since 2012. But, in line with the slogan, Toure has now returned to Mali. And in Sports, another Toure is seeking to return to his fold, doing what he knows best.
We have all the regulars – ICT, Agriculture, Climate Change, Education, Environment, Entertainment, Spotlights, Personality Profile – great reports that point to our outlook for 2018. We are nothing daunted and we will come your way again in the first week of the New Year. Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Pat I. Chukwuelue
Editor-in-Chief
