TINUBU HAILS PROGRESS AMIDST HARDSHIP

A nation’s economic progress is best measured by how many of its citizens have full bellies–or not.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is seeing improved economic data by neo-colonial entities like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, all while grappling with its worst cost-of-living crisis in 40 years.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is touting the IMF’s numbers, highlighting his radical reforms as a key factor in producing Nigeria’s best economic data in a decade. He ended a fuel subsidy and devalued the national currency twice. But the benefits have not trickled down to ordinary Nigerians, who are angry with the government over high inflation and widespread poverty. 

Continued……. Two years into his presidency, Nigerians are struggling to put food on the table. Ongoing issues with banditry and kidnappings exacerbate daily challenges, casting doubt on Tinubu’s assertion that the West African nation is heading in the right direction.

Dubbed the ‘tourist-in-chief’ due to his extensive travels, since coming into power in May 2023, Tinubu has embarked on 36 foreign trips, with over 15 occurring in his first six months as president, costing $2.2 million. In November 2023, his government faced criticism for funding the attendance of more than 400 Nigerians at the Cop28 Climate Summit in Dubai. Notably, affluent members of his All Progressives Congress Party have backed him for a second term in the upcoming 2027 general elections.

But for Nigeria’s starving majority, the ultimate judgment on Tinubu’s economic reforms hinges on whether their stomachs are full or empty.

Sources

https://www.dw.com/en/nigerias-tinubu-touts-economy-amid-cost-of-living-anger/a-72716580

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2025/05/12/afw-nigeria-building-momentum-for-inclusive-growth?cid=afw_tt_nigeria_en_ext

https://x.com/steve_hanke/status/1912143874820108434


https://www.ecofinagency.com/news/1305-46791-nigeria-posts-3-4-growth-in-2024-its-best-economic-performance-in-a-decade#:~:text=News-,Nigeria%20Posts%203.4%25%20Growth%20in%202024%2C%20Its%20Best,Economic%20Performance%20in%20a%20Decade&text=Nigeria's%20GDP%20grew%203.4%25%20in,agriculture%20and%20manufacturing%20stayed%20weak.

https://african.business/2023/06/politics/tinubu-begins-reforms-in-nigeria-with-naira-devaluation

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-19/how-nigeria-s-new-president-bola-tinubu-is-shaking-up-economy

https://punchng.com/nigeria-suffers-economic-downturn-as-gdp-capita-falls-72-imf/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-05-30/next-africa-bola-tinubu-banks-on-nigerian-reforms-turning-to-rewards

https://www.globalhungerindex.org/nigeria.html

https://www.arise.tv/presidency-tinubus-36-foreign-trips-have-attracted-over-50bn-fdi/

https://www.qatar-tribune.com/article/114362/world/nigerias-prez-halts-foreign-trips-by-govt-officials

https://leadership.ng/apc-stakeholders-endorse-tinubu-sani-for-second-term/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912419300069

SOUTH AFRICA TAXIS LAUD TRAORÉ

If you thought the days of African revolutionaries gracing bumpers, rear windows and barber-shop murals were over, think again. 

In South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, Burkina Faso's Ibrahim Traoré's image is plastered on public minibus taxis in a show of love for the leader who came to power in a people-backed coup d’état in 2022. 

For many, Traoré represents a fierce rejection of neocolonial control and a bold reimagining of African leadership that is unapologetically Pan-Africanist. 

Global protests on 30 April in support of Burkina Faso and Traoré showed a continent and a diaspora ready to reclaim Africa’s sovereignty.  

Burkina Faso, along with Mali and Niger, expelled French troops and reclaimed national resources following recent people-backed coups. On 6 July 2024, the trio formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

Continued……. This new anti-imperialist bloc plans to create a federal, Pan-African state, with the eventual goal of uniting Africa under a single governance.

Video credit: @ashlainegovender on TikTok and @capitaineib226 on X

Sources

https://apnews.com/article/burkina-faso-protest-ibrahim-traore-coup-attempt-langley-9c2b167d2516c1fcbe5a3acd558bcc9f


https://www.democracynow.org/2025/5/1/headlines/burkina_faso_protesters_rally_in_defense_of_interim_president_after_alleged_coup_attempt

HOW THE WEST DEMONISED VODOU

Vodou is gravely misunderstood worldwide. In the West, it has been portrayed as devil worship and cult-like. But even keeping the 6,000-year-old religion alive in its home country has been a challenge - chiefly thanks to colonialism and the barbaric slave trade.

We went to Benin to demystify the past, present and future of this vibrant religion.

IRISH FORGOT THEIR OPPRESSION

When Irish immigrants began arriving in the United States in large numbers, they were given the worst and most dangerous jobs, often laboring on canals, railroads, and docks for meager wages. Crowded into urban slums alongside free Blacks, they lived in conditions marked by poverty, crime, and disease.

The Irish had fled brutal conditions in their homeland, where British landlordism and the Penal Laws had rendered them nearly as powerless as enslaved Africans. Irish Catholics were legally and socially degraded, with officials even claiming they did not legally exist. Given this shared experience of racial and class oppression, it might be expected that Irish immigrants would empathize with the enslaved Black people . Yet, as Irish socialist and political activist Bernadette Devlin describes, many Irish chose to align with whiteness, opposing abolition and participating in violent attacks on Black communities to protect their own economic interests.

Continued……. This alignment with white supremacy helped the Irish gain access to jobs and political power, but at the cost of solidarity. While some today cite Irish success as proof that all groups can “make it,” such comparisons ignore the racial privileges the Irish were ultimately allowed to access. As former US president Lyndon Johnson put it, “If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket.”
Credit : WBHG TV

Sources
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2020/09/english-persecution-of-irish-catholics-1536-1829-beyond.html

https://www.theroot.com/the-divide-between-blacks-and-the-irish-1790878916

$105 MILLION PLAN FOR TULSA REPARATIONS UNVEILED

More than a century after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the city’s first Black mayor has introduced a $105 million reparations initiative.

The Road to Repair aims to address the deep-rooted disparities caused by the massacre and its aftermath. Central to the plan is the creation of the Greenwood Trust, a private charitable trust intended to secure funding through private donations, property transfers and potentially public sources. Key allocations would include $24 million for homeownership programs and housing assistance; $60 million for building repairs and reconstructions; and $21 million for land acquisition, small business support, and scholarships. Additionally, 45,000 pages of historical documents related to the massacre will be released.

Continued……. The Tulsa Race Massacre, which occurred on 31 May and 1 June in 1921, involved a mob of about 10,000 white people attacking the prosperous Black neighbourhood of Greenwood. In what the US Department of Justice recently described as a ‘coordinated, military-style attack,’ the mob k*lled approximately 300 Black people and destroyed hundreds of businesses and homes. 

Greenwood’s destruction marked a turning point that embedded racial and economic inequality for generations. In 2018, the American Journal of Economics and Sociology estimated $200 million in damages.

Video credit: @TulsaWorld (X)

Sources
https://tulsaworld.com/video/news/video_bb8a3c6f-0e7f-5c89-9b39-6e2f2318975d.html

https://archive.ph/4M9d1#selection-1149.18-1149.119

https://abcnews.go.com/US/105m-reparations-plan-descendants-1921-tulsa-race-massacre/story?id=122422022

https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1383756/dl

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajes.12225

Kenyan software developer Rose Njeri spent Madaraka Day weekend (a national holiday that commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule after being a British colony since 1920) in detention for creating an online tool called Civic Email, which helps Kenyans who oppose the 2025 finance bill send emails calling on Parliament to withdraw the bill.

Kenya-based Citizen Digital reported that authorities charged Njeri with 'unauthorised interference with computer systems, specifically for creating a web application that sent mass emails to the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.' A judge set Njeri's bond at Ksh 100,000 ($774), with another court hearing scheduled for 20 June.

Njeri's early-morning arrest on 30 May sparked outrage among Kenyans, prompting human rights activists to demand her release.

Continued……Former Chief Justice David Maraga condemned her arrest and detention, stating that it undermined the spirit of Madaraka Day. Police confiscated the phone, laptop and hard drives of Njeri, a mother of two, according to the BBC, which spoke to Boniface Mwangi, a Kenyan activist who visited Njeri in detention.

The 2025 finance bill proposes taxing digital loans, granting the tax authority the right to access personal data without a court order and replacing the zero-rated tax provision on essential commodities. If approved, this proposal could lead to higher prices or decreased purchasing power for low-income Kenyans.

In 2024, youth-led protests against the finance bill erupted nationwide. Demonstrators, many of whom were unemployed, called for the withdrawal of the 2024 finance bill that contained tax hikes and programme cuts that the International Monetary Fund had suggested. Growing local and global pressure ultimately forced President William Ruto to decline to assent to the bill, leaving the government to raise revenue using existing tax laws.

However, last month, the World Bank expressed concern over Kenya's debt levels, categorising the situation as 'high risk of default.'

Image credit: @eastleighvoice (X)

Sources

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/03/outrage-over-arrest-of-kenyan-software-developer-rose-njeri-as-regional-repression-grows

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmjlp1gnp8o

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/kenyas-finance-bill-why-has-it-triggered-protests-2024-06-25/

https://www.citizen.digital/business/kenya-at-high-risk-of-debt-default-and-austerity-measures-not-enough-world-bank-warns-n363573

https://www.ey.com/en_gl/technical/tax-alerts/kenya-s-president-declines-to-assent-to-the-finance-bill-2024

https://www.citizen.digital/news/rose-njeri-released-on-ksh100000-bond-n363932

MARCUS GARVEY: A UNITED AFRICA IS UNBEATABLE

On this day, 10th June 1940, Marcus Garvey, a prominent figure in early 20th-century Pan-Africanism, passed away at the age of 52.

In this 1998 video, Guyanese-born performer Ron Bobb-Semple (1952-2022) brought the spirit of Marcus Garvey to life in a powerful one-man show in New York. Bobb-Semple eloquently captured Garvey's powerful message of African pride, self-reliance, and, critically, the unification of Africa.  

Marcus Garvey tirelessly advocated for the liberation and self-determination of African nations and the global Black diaspora. His core message called for a united and economically independent Africa, one that was strong enough to protect its people worldwide.

Continued……. He established the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and the Black Star Line, aiming to facilitate both trade and the eventual return of people of African descent to their ancestral homeland.

In 1923, Garvey was sentenced to 5 years in US federal prison (where he spent nearly 3 years) supposedly for mail fraud. This was the first of several significant actions taken by the notoriously racist former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover against revolutionary Black leaders in the United States.

Garvey illustrated Africa's potential for unbeatable strength by reminding his audience of Jack Johnson, the first Black world heavyweight boxing champion who vanquished his white opponents wherever he fought them. Garvey believed that a similarly strong, unified Africa was essential to achieving true liberation and global respect for the Black race. 

Garvey's influence extended far beyond his lifetime, inspiring later generations of Pan-Africanists and liberation movements across the continent. Leaders like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana openly acknowledged their indebtedness to Garvey's political teachings.

The Black Star on Ghana's national flag was inspired by Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line. The national football team, the Black Stars, also derives its name from the same source.

Long live the spirit of Marcus Garvey!

Sources

https://blackhistorystudies.com/resources/resources/25-facts-about-marcus-mosiah-garvey/

https://www.modernghana.com/news/1327613/reviving-the-black-star-line-a-pathway-to-economi.html

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/garvey-biography/

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/jack-johnson-heavyweight-boxer-defied-america

https://www.nytimes.com/1923/06/22/archives/garvey-sentenced-to-5-years-in-jail-black-star-promoter-also-fined.html

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jan/26/marcus-garvey-pardon-campaign

NIGER'S PRESIDENT: T*RRORISM HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM

T*rrorism has nothing to do with Islam. That is the message Niger's president, General Abdourahamane Tiani, delivered during a stunning interview he gave on 31 May. 

As Tiani explained, Islam has existed in Niger for well over a millennium, yet t*rrorism is a recent phenomenon linked to Western imperialism. He mentioned France, the European Union and the United States as culprits, saying France backs t*rrorist group Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM).

As Tiani pointed out, the targets and victims of t*rrorism in the Sahel are overwhelmingly Muslims. Niger is roughly 98 per cent Muslim. Mali is around 95 per cent Muslim. Burkina Faso is approximately 63.8 per cent Muslim. Where is the logic in religious zealots m*rdering members of their faith? Tiani put that question forward to the world.

Continued……He is not the first leader in the Sahel to accuse France of backing these groups. In 2022, Mali’s then-Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga accused France of supporting t*rrorists, providing them with arms and intelligence. Mali also sent a letter to the UN Security Council that year stating that France repeatedly violated Mali’s airspace and spied on the country to grant intelligence to t*rrorist organisations, and distributed arms to these paramilitaries. 

Video credit: @ortntele (X)

Sources

https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/niger/#:~:text=Religious%20Demography,the%20Maliki%20school%20of%20jurisprudence.

https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mali

https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-report-on-international-religious-freedom/burkina-faso

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2022/08/18/mali-s-junta-continues-to-mount-accusations-against-france-after-troop-withdrawal_5993953_124.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/mali-accuses-france-arming-islamist-fighters-letter-un-2022-08-17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHjVl6dZx8o&t=355s

https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/jamaa-nusrat-ul-islam-wa-al-muslimin-jnim