Nigeria

An honest witness does not lie, a false witness breathes lies. –Proverbs 14:5 “No more Big 3, there’s now a Big 4,” the Nigerian Afrobeats star Rema declared in his 2024 song “HEHEHE.” Rema’s statement, fans of Afrobeats are meant to believe, is declarative: the Nigerian music industry has had three main stars—Davido, Wizkid, and […]

In February 2024, we sat with Nobel Laureate Wọlé Ṣóyínká as part of the production of Ebrohimie Road: A Museum of Memory — a documentary biopic that examines a location at the University of Ìbàdàn where he lived briefly when he was appointed as the first Nigerian Head of the School of Drama. It was […]

I became afraid of Molue buses the day my mother told me how my closest cousin, Anifa, lost her parents. It was an accident: a molue lost its brakes at the Oshodi-Abeokuta expressway and rammed into their car, injuring and killing several people. I remember riding on the bus a few times with my mom, […]

 If his debut collection, Where the Baedeker Leads: A Poetic Journey, enacts place-centric imagination and diasporic consciousness, James Yeku’s latest work, A Phial of Passing Memories, articulates further “memoir-poetic” narratives in 60 poems coordinated in five sections that detail diverse encounters in moments and places. His poetry picks on well-ranged, everyday experiences: birth, parenting, death, […]

Foluso Agbaje’s remarkable debut, The Parlour Wife, is likely the first novel many will read that focuses on the impact of the Second World War on an African population, with African characters squarely at its centre, and by an African author. The main setting is Lagos, the coastal city that was at the heart of […]

One of the critical comments on humour I often return is Humour, Silence, and Civil Society in Nigeria of the foremost Nigerian critic, Ebenezer Obadare. Obadare showcases critically how the work of humor is central to the understanding of Nigerian society. He explores how humour by cartoonists, dramatists, and stand up figures power resistance through […]

It started with a panic that spread over a bright day and blurred visions. Then an unknown rattling came from behind. They heard the gunshots. Terrified, they sat still, waving the Nigerian flag and chanting. They didn’t know who had fired those gunshots. Some would say they were soldiers. Others would reckon they were police. […]

In my last review of a Nollywood film—C.J. Fiery Obasi’s Mami Wata (2022)—I submitted that to criticise Nollywood, demanding range from our directors, is to build a reputation as a serial complainer. As a principle, I believe in edification than putdown criticism as the former helps us understand the underlying issues of craft better, more […]

Lydia’s statement close to the end of the book carries the weight of the novel: I’m here to tell you that happiness is possible, again, Lydia says, And I hope that you find happiness again. If anything is to be said about the strength of Olukorede Yishau’s third book, it may be the sure presence […]

Two trepidations knotted a cord in my heart when I arrived at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra that Easter Monday. One: this would be my first time travelling under a completely new identity, a new name. Two: this was my first time travelling without a proper passport. What I had with me was an ECOWAS […]