Out of Africa

Introducting Solving Africa.

Written and organized by journalist Kingsley Kanu Jr. Solving Africa is a project/quest to discover how young people can contribute toward the development of Africa. 
He is a currently on tour of seven African countries— Dakar (Senegal), Accra (Ghana), Lagos (Nigeria), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Tunis (Tunisia), Nairobi (Kenya), and Johannesburg (South Africa). In this interview with Farafina magazine, he explains what Solving Africa is all about: 

This project is a collection of dreams; asking young Africans what they see as wrong or right with the continent and their role in its development. But it’s not a policy book. This is first and foremost a work of creative nonfiction that I hope makes people think about some of these issues. …

The African dream is to leave Africa. There are many people like me. We are often at the tops of our classes and each year, our SAT scores and achievements prove that we can run with the best from any country on earth. We have capable people who do not see Africa as theirs to build as much as something to sidestep. But if it isn’t this generation of an educated, uninformed African middle class, who else is going to care? Who else has the resources – social, political and economic – to care?

For those of us in the Diaspora, let’s keep up with his findings and see how we can contribute as well!

Nigeria’s House of Reps failed to pass a Freedom of Information bill recently. It’s the FIFTH time this bill has failed to pass since it was first written and introduced.

What’s the big deal?

If the bill is passed the media finally can dig into the past of Nigeria’s corrupt law makers and politicians … letting it all hang out there. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?

Here’s a blog post from African Loft, which links to stories from Nigerian papers about the failure of this bill and what it means for the country.

With recent arrests of journalists, and the fact that most African countries (e.g. Somalia, listed as the worst country in the world for journalists) struggle with creating free presses, is this one more sign that African can’t expect a REAL free press any time soon? Will free press only be a mirage?