Dr Nwachukwu Egbunike is Global Voices’ Co-Regional Editor for Sub-Saharan Africa. Egbunike is also a lecturer at the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria. Egbunike's research agenda straddles social media, youth political participation, politics and ethnicity. He is the author of four books, including “Hashtags: social media, politics and ethnicity in Nigeria” and “Nka” (a collection of poems).
Latest posts by Nwachukwu Egbunike
Celestine Ukwu: the Nigerian philosopher-musician who left his mark on Igbo highlife
Celestine Ukwu’s soulful songs contemplated and portrayed complicated experiences that were deeply rooted in his Igbo identity.
Cameroonian activists win 2022 RFK Human Rights Awards
The two activists from Cameroon’s Anglophone and Francophone regions were honored for their long-standing work in defending the civic space and democracy, across Cameroon and Central Africa.
How Nigeria’s Igbo highlife music provided hope after a devastating civil war
The Oriental Brothers provided hope after the civil war. The 80s witnessed the revival of ‘egwu ekpili’. Later, Bright Chimezie’s impressive ‘legwork’ live performances popularized Igbo highlife through the 90s.
The pioneers of Nigeria's Igbo highlife music
Highlife gained popularity in southwestern cosmopolitan Lagos and was transformed in eastern Nigeria. By incorporating Igbo traditional folklore style, they created the Igbo highlife that now enjoys global appeal.
Africa's music scene rebounds after a devastating pandemic
Live performances and music festivals, key revenue sources for African musicians, were annihilated during the COVID-19 pandemic. But things seem to be gradually returning to normal.
Nigerian ministers’ political campaigns stir up legal debate
Nigerian cabinet ministers running for office are caught in a legal web between an electoral law that prescribes immediate resignation and the constitution that says they can wait.
Nigerians demand central banker's resignation for dabbling in partisan politics
"It is difficult to imagine that a person who occupies the sensitive office of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria will be this brazen in actualizing his ambition."
Nigerian politicians, oblivious of striking university teachers, focus on election campaigns
The Nigerian government's insensitivity to striking federal-university teachers reflects a fundamental disinterest in public education. However, the incessant strikes are not influencing the tone-deaf government but only keeping students at home.
Protest music: young Nigerian musicians singing against social injustice
Nigerian young singers have continued in that revered tradition of singing against social injustice. The #EndSARS protest triggered their political consciousness, which hitherto, seemed to be experiencing a decline.
The Kuti clan protesting through music, and other Nigerians who sang against apartheid
The Kuti clan have fought tyrannical political leadership through music. Also, Nigerian musicians like Sonny Okosun, Majek Fashek and Onyeka Onwenu fought to release Nelson Mandela from prison.
Powerful protest songs from Kenya and South Africa
Over the years, artists around the African continent have used music to challenge governmental and military oppression. In Kenya and South Africa, protest songs were a key tool for liberation.
Banned songs from Nigeria and Uganda which represent the voices of the people
These banned songs from popular groups and musicians, though initially accepted by the authorities, ended up being sanctioned and/or banned altogether.
#AfricansInUkraine: We are students, we don’t have guns
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused displacement of thousands of people. Among them also an African diaspora which had to mobilise informally while also dealing with racial discrimination on the ground.
Lagos’ train acquisition is Wisconsin's loss
The train acquisition by Nigeria’s Lagos State gave closure for a local toxic partisan politics between Wisconsin’s Democrats and Republicans that resulted in the trains being unused for ten years.
Twitter's deal with Nigerian government sacrifices digital rights
Considering the Nigerian government’s temperamental past, violation of citizens' online freedom of expression will be much easier because Twitter is now a registered and taxable company under Nigerian laws.
Colonial prejudices and vaccine nationalism drive COVID-19 African travel bans
Omicron has spread to many countries, but most Western countries red-listed only southern African countries. This is reflective of the colonial stereotyping of Africans as savages from a diseased continent.
Disparity in the data collection policies of some pan-African firms in Uganda raises privacy concerns
The Unwanted Witness report revealed that most of the personal data collected online violates privacy rights, with no regards for the safety and dignity of citizens.
Behind the success of the Kenyan Twitter disinformation campaign to discredit the Pandora Papers
Kenya’s disinformation industry successfully manipulated Twitter’s trending algorithm to attack the Pandora Papers and protect President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose family was implicated in the exposé.
Film festival documents stories of sustainable development in Africa
The festival will facilitate conversation and action among a diverse mix of creatives, innovators, activists and campaigners working on Sustainable Development Goals across Africa.
Chinese firms in Nigeria face widespread labour abuse allegations, tainting bilateral relationship
Nigerians in that company are "mandated to call their Chinese employers master or mistress. Male Nigerian workers are physically assaulted, while their female counterparts are sexually assaulted,” writes a whistleblower.
Chinese investments in Nigeria flourish on a Silk Road of corruption
The willingness of corrupt Chinese businesspeople to bribe equally fraudulent Nigerian government officials is rarely captured by the simplistic mutual understanding narrative pushed by Chinese diplomats.
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