Centre for Nigeria Progress

Benin artefacts There is a quiet but damaging lie that has followed African Americans for centuries: that Black history began when the first slave ship touched the shores of continental America. It did not. What began on those ships was not history, but interruption. Before the Atlantic became a graveyard, before Black bodies were reduced …

Continue reading "African Americans History Did Not Begin in Chains by Lawson Akhigbe"

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would …

Continue reading "Water Glasses and War Drums: How “Never, Ever” Became “Operation Epic Fury” Overnight by Oman’s foreign ministry official"

In Nigeria, power is not governed by the Constitution; it merely glances at it, scoffs, and proceeds to do as it likes. Once a man enters office, he immediately discovers an unwritten amendment to the 1999 Constitution: “Notwithstanding anything contained herein, those in power may do and undo, bind and detain, and heaven help anyone …

Continue reading "Nigeria: A Federation Run on Handcuffs, Fear, and Footnotes by Lawson Akhigbe"

Ah, remember when political language was a warm blanket? A time when speeches were stitched together with phrases like “holistic stakeholder engagement,” “robust policy alignment,” and “my distinguished friend across the aisle, whose ideas I find profoundly misguided but spiritually enriching.” C-SPAN wasn’t television; it was a public service announcement for sleep. White noise with …

Continue reading "When Politics Dropped the F-Bomb: An Obituary for Civility, Age 74"