BEAN TO BRAND, TARIFF TO TRAP by Lawson Akhigbe

Next in Abuja, four governments will do something that sounds, on paper, like a belated act of economic self-respect. Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon between them the source of roughly two-thirds of the cocoa that becomes the world's chocolate will sign the Abuja Declaration and stand up a Cocoa Value Addition Alliance, a coordinated attempt to stop shipping out raw beans and start capturing some of the value that currently accrues, almost entirely, to everyone else. Nigeria will additionally sign its own Cocoa Value Addition Accord, a domestic compact roping in governors, farmer groups, financiers and researchers into the project of turning bean into brand rather than bean into someone else's bar.

When Trump Play Cowboy: The Israelisation of American Foreign Policy by Lawson Akhigbe

Israel is a small country with a big personality. Think of it as that compact, wiry uncle at Christmas dinner — the one who sits at the end of the table with his back to the wall, scanning the room as if the turkey might attack him. Surrounded by neighbours who eye it with varying …