Cameroon is celebrating the 90th birthday of President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of government. Supporters say they hope he will extend his four decades in power when the next election comes in 2025. Opponents say Biya has become authoritarian and cite concerns about his health. Young people, especially students, have been forced to take part in Biya’s birthday activities.

This song, Rigor, by Cameroon’s legendary artist, Jojo Ngalle, blasts through speakers at the 5,000-seat Multipurpose Sports Complex in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé.

Ngalle says in the song that Biya should be credited for bringing rigor and moralization to Cameroon.

Among the senior state functionaries celebrating the anniversary is Philemon Yang, Cameroon’s immediate past prime minister and Biya’s close collaborator.

Yang says he is celebrating an exceptionally good leader who has brought peace and development to Cameroon.

“We are celebrating longevity, achievements, political achievements, economic achievements, you can imagine democratization, that is a big achievement. So we are celebrating many things,” he said. “Rigor is with us, moralization is with us and, most of all, living together. These are psychological achievements which can never be reduced to nothing. We don’t see them, they are invisible but extremely important to us.”

The government says public places in towns and villages across Cameroon hosted activities Monday marking Biya’s 90th birthday.

Biya has been Cameroon’s president since 1982. He took over from Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahijo. Biya served as prime minister for seven years before becoming president.

He has won all multiparty elections since 1992, although opposition parties have always complained the elections were heavily rigged.

In 2008, he removed term limits from the constitution, allowing him to serve indefinitely. His current mandate ends in 2025.

During the birthday celebrations Monday, Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party called on the nonagenarian to seek another term.

If Biya were to win the 2025 election, he would be 95 when the mandate ends in 2030.

The government says young people came out voluntarily to celebrate because they love Biya.

However, geography teacher Henry Mbiydzenyuy says the government instructed secondary school and university students to attend the celebrations.

“I was born in the mid-eighties, Biya was already the president of Cameroon. I am almost 40 years [old] and the man is still the president of Cameroon. It’s hurting. Cameroonians need a change. If people are celebrating Biya, throwing parties and calling students to come join them, it’s hypocrisy at its highest level,” he said.

Biya was not physically present at his Yaoundé birthday celebration. Local media often raise concerns about his age and health. But the government says Biya is in excellent shape.

Biya was last seen in public on February 10, while delivering a message for Cameroon Youth Day, celebrated the following day.

In the message, Biya asked young people to count on him and his government for more development projects, schools, universities, roads, hospitals, electricity and water.

However, opposition political parties blame Biya for what they call an economic disaster in Cameroon despite the central African state’s rich natural resources.

Violet Fokum is the executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy. She says Biya has not been able to solve rampant corruption and the separatist crisis that have killed more than 3,500 people since 2017.

“Look at the number of children who have dropped out of school. Ten percent of girls marry before the ages of 15, and then 31[%] by the age of 18. Schools have been shut down. When these kids are on the streets, they are recruited as child soldiers or they become bush wives to nonstate armed groups,” she said.

The 90-year-old Biya is the world’s oldest serving leader and Africa’s second-longest serving president after his neighbor Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, president of Equatorial Guinea. Obiang has been in power since 1979.
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The United States military reported Sunday that 12 al-Shabab militants were killed in a new airstrike in central Somalia.   

The U.S. Africa Command known as AFRICOM said in a statement that the “collective self-defense” strike occurred February 10 “at the request of the Federal Government of Somalia.”   

The strike occurred in a remote area approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) southwest of the Indian Ocean port town of Hobyo, about 472 kilometers (293 miles) northeast of Mogadishu, according to the statement.    

AFRICOM did not specify the location, but Somali government media reported it took place in Donlaye, near Amara town in Galmudug state. The Somali government claimed 117 militants were killed in Friday’s operation.

Brigadier General Mohamed Tahlil Bihi, infantry commander of the Somali national army, told state media that the militants were in trenches fighting against Somali government forces. He also confirmed an airstrike targeted the militants during the firefight with Somali forces.   

AFRICOM said the strike took place in a remote location and assessed that no civilians were injured or killed.   

“U.S. Africa Command will continue to assess the results of this operation and will provide additional information as appropriate,” the statement read. “Specific details about the units involved and assets used will not be released in order to ensure operations security.”   

It’s the third “collective self-defense” strike by the U.S. military in Somalia this year.   

The previous two strikes occurred January 20 near Galcad town, killing approximately 30 al-Shabab fighters, and January 23 near Harardhere town, killing two militants.   

In addition, the U.S. conducted a counterterrorism operation January 26 that killed Bilal al-Sudani, a key Islamic State Somalia branch commander in the Cal-Miskaad mountains in the Puntland semi-autonomous region.   

The Somali government has been engaged in military operations aimed at recovering territories from al-Shabab. The U.S. and Turkish governments have been providing air support to the Somali army.   

Both governments are also training elite Somali forces who have been at the forefront of the recent military operations. 
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Malawi has dropped criminal charges against Anti-Corruption Bureau Director-General Martha Chizuma in connection with leaked audio in which she apparently complained that some officials were frustrating her fight against corruption.

Director of Public Prosecutions Masauko Chamkakala said in a statement that he has discontinued the criminal case against Chizuma in line with the Malawi Constitution and to ensure that the functions of the Anti-Corruption Bureau are not impeded.

Chizuma was facing two counts of criminal defamation after two top officials she mentioned in a leaked audio as among those hindering her investigations sued her.

The lawsuits led the government to suspend Chizuma until the court case is concluded.

The withdrawal of charges comes a few days after the United States and other international donors accused Malawi of fighting anti-corruption champions instead of corruption.

In a statement Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Lilongwe condemned what it called harassment of Chizuma.

It also said the Malawi government was waging a campaign of intimidation against the country’s anti-corruption chief.

But the Malawi government denied those accusations.

Chizuma’s lawyer, Martha Kaukonde, told VOA that she has taken the news of withdrawal of charges with a pinch of salt, as similar past announcements never materialized.

“As you recall, the same pronouncements were made by the minister of justice a month ago and then nothing changed. We wrote to the minister but there was no formal withdrawal. So we are just waiting for a formal withdrawal,” she said.

However, Chamkakala said he has advised the secretary to the president and cabinet, Colleen Zamba, to reconsider her decision to suspend Chizuma.

In the meantime, lawyers the government hired this week to challenge an injunction against the suspension of Chizuma say they have withdrawn their appeal, which had been expected to be heard Monday.
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At least 10 soldiers died in an ambush in southwestern Niger — close to the Mali border — by a group of what the defense ministry Saturday called armed terrorists.

The toll from Friday’s attack could rise because 16 people are still missing and 13 soldiers were wounded, a ministry statement said.

The troops were on patrol in the northern part of the Banibangou department when they “came under a complex ambush by a group of armed terrorists” the ministry said, referring to jihadi groups.

The statement also said several attackers were killed during the fighting but did not specify how many.

The attack took place in Niger’s vast western region of Tillaberi, which straddles Burkina Faso and Mali — two countries hit by jihadi insurgency — and has faced repeated attack since 2017 by armed groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State.

The region neighbors the Tahoua area, where heavily armed attackers stormed a camp housing refugees from neighboring Mali last week.

Nine people were killed in that assault, which a local official said was carried out by “heavily armed terrorists” on motorcycles who fled back into Mali.

More than 61,000 Malian refugees shelter in Tahoua and Tillaberi, according to the United Nations.

After the departure of French soldiers from Mali last year and a scheduled pullout shortly from Burkina Faso, France will field only 3,000 troops in the restive Sahel region, in Niger and Chad, where jihadi groups roam.

All of the countries involved are former French colonies.
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On the packed streets of Nairobi, Cyrus Kariuki is one of a growing number of bikers zooming through traffic on an electric motorbike, reaping the benefits of cheaper transport, cleaner air and limiting planet-warming emissions in the process.

“Each month one doesn’t have to be burdened by oil change, engine checks and other costly maintenance costs,” Kariuki said.

Electric motorcycles are gaining traction in Kenya as private sector-led firms rush to set up charging points and battery-swapping stations to speed up the growth of cleaner transport and put the east African nation on a path toward fresher air and lower emissions.

But startups say more public support and better government schemes can help further propel the industry.

Ampersand, an African-based electric mobility company, began its Kenyan operations in May 2022. The business currently operates seven battery-swapping stations spread across the country’s capital and has so far attracted 60 customers. Ian Mbote, the startup’s automotive engineer and expansion lead, says uptake has been relatively slow.

“We need friendly policies, taxes, regulations and incentives that would boost the entry into the market,” said Mbote, adding that favorable government tariffs in Rwanda accelerated its electric transport growth. Ampersand plans to sell 500 more electric motorbikes by the end of the year.

Companies say the savings of switching to electric and using a battery-swap system, rather than charging for several hours, are key selling points for customers.

“Our batteries cost $1.48 to swap a full battery which gives one mobility of about 90 to 110 kilometers (56 to 68 miles) as compared to the $1.44 of fuel that only guarantees a 30 to 40 kilometer ride (19 to 25 miles) on a motorcycle,” Mbote said.

Kim Chepkoit, the founder of electric motorbike-making company Ecobodaa Mobility, added that “electricity costs are going to be more predictable and cushioned from the fluctuation of the fuel prices.”

Ecobodaa’s flagship product is a motorcycle with two batteries, making it capable of covering 160 kilometers (100 miles) on one battery charge. The motorcycle costs 185,000 shillings ($1,400) without the battery, about the same as a conventional motorbike.

Other cleaner transport initiatives in the country include the Sustainable Energy for Africa program which runs a hub for 30 solar-powered charging stations for electric vehicles and battery-swapping in Kenya’s western region.

Electric mobility has a promising future in the continent but “requires infrastructural, societal and political systemic changes that neither happen overnight nor will be immune to hesitance,” said Carol Mungo, a research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute.

The move to electric transport “will require African governments to rethink how they deliver current services such as reliable and affordable electricity” and at the same time put in place adequate measures to address electric waste and disposal, Mungo added.

Some financial incentives are on the way.

Earlier in February the African Development Bank announced that it will provide $1 million in grants for technical assistance in Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and South Africa.

The African continent records a million premature deaths annually from air pollution, according to a soon-to-be-released study by the U.N. environment agency, Stockholm Environment Institute and the African Union obtained by The Associated Press.

Studies by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition say a reduction of short-lived climate pollutants can cut the amount of warming by as “much as 0.6 degrees Celsius (1.1 degrees Fahrenheit), while avoiding 2.4 million premature deaths globally from annual outdoor air pollution.”

But Mungo warned that cleaning up transport is just one step toward better air quality.

“There are so many emission factors in cities,” she said. “E-mobility, however, looks broadly beyond the transport sector to infrastructure development and urban planning, which in the end can solve complex pollution issues on in Africa.”

 
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South Sudan has accused Kenya of trying to steal disputed territory along their border after communal clashes left at least eight people dead.

Parliamentarians are piling pressure on South Sudanese President Salva Kiir to recall the house from recess so they can discuss the simmering border dispute. Fighting occurred last weekend in the area, in and around the town of Nakodok, a few miles from an oil field on the Kenyan side of the border.

South Sudan says Kenyan troops tried to take control of Nakodok, an area of Kapoeta East County. Abdullah Angelo Lokeno, the county commissioner, said eight people were reported to have been killed from the Kenyan side. He said the situation was now calm, and that he had urged the government of South Sudan “to return the people of Kenya to their place so that citizens can get to rest. The government should come and control the situation.”

In 2009, Kenya and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement — the ruling party of what was then southern Sudan — signed an agreement to establish a temporary border control post at Nadapal to facilitate cross-border movement of people, goods and services.

The meeting was held in Nairobi with representatives from both sides, according to documents seen by VOA.

Juol Nhomngek, a South Sudanese lawmaker, said the agreement no longer holds, as it is not anchored in any legislation passed since South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011.

“Even if there were an agreement, it could not be given without the consent of the parliament that represents the people,” Nhomngek said.

On Thursday, Kiir dispatched his special adviser to Nairobi, a move seen as an effort to ease the tension between the two countries. The mission came a day after Kenya sent Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria to Juba to deliver a message from President William Ruto.

South Sudan Foreign Affairs Minister Mayiik Ayii Deng said the government hopes to use diplomatic means to resolve the impasse.

Kiir is under immense pressure to reconvene the national assembly to discuss the matter. Bol Joseph Agau, a member of parliament and a member of the National Democratic Movement Party under the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), said, “We need the parliament to be recalled by the head of the state. His excellency, the President Salva Kiir, needs to see that we have a big need for the parliament to be reopened.”

Some leaders said South Sudan would not cede even an inch of territory.

Dau Deng Dau, deputy minister for foreign affairs, said South Sudan “is called a country because of a defined territory and population, and we want to inform our youths to be calm, be patient, your country is addressing all these matters.”

The deputy foreign affairs minister said South Sudan had several other areas that, in his words, had been entered by neighboring countries, specifically Kenya and Uganda. He said South Sudan’s border commission was working with both countries to resolve the issues.
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Scientists have a mystery on their hands after the discovery of 330 stone tools about 2.9 million years old at a site in Kenya, along Lake Victoria’s shores, that were used to butcher animals, including hippos, and pound plant material for food.

Which of our prehistoric relatives that were walking the African landscape at the time made them? The chief suspect, researchers said on Thursday in describing the findings, may be a surprise.

The Nyayanga site artifacts represent the oldest-known examples of a type of stone technology, called the Oldowan toolkit, that was revolutionary, enabling our forerunners to process diverse foods and expand their menu. Three tool types were found: hammerstones and stone cores to pound plants, bone and meat, and sharp-edged flakes to cut meat.

To put the age of these tools into perspective, our species Homo sapiens did not appear until roughly 300,000 years ago.

Scientists had long believed Oldowan tools were the purview of species belonging to the genus Homo, a grouping that includes our species and our closest relatives. But no Homo fossils were found at Nyayanga. Instead, two teeth – stout molars – of a genus called Paranthropus were discovered there, an indication this prehistoric cousin of ours may have been the maker.

“The association of these Nyayanga tools with Paranthropus may reopen the case as to who made the oldest Oldowan tools. Perhaps not only Homo, but other kinds of hominins were processing food with Oldowan technology,” said anthropologist Thomas Plummer of Queens College in New York City, lead author of the research published in the journal Science.

The term hominin refers to various species considered human or closely related.

“When our team determined the age of the Nyayanga evidence, the perpetrator of the tools became a ‘whodunit’ in my mind,” said paleoanthropologist and study co-author Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Human Origins Program. “There are several possibilities. And except for finding fossilized hand bones wrapped around a stone tool, the originator of the early Oldowan tools may be an unknown for a long time.”

The molars represent the oldest-known fossils of Paranthropus, an upright-walker that combined ape-like and human-like traits, possessing adaptations for heavy chewing, including a skull topped with a bony ridge to which strong jaw muscles were attached, like in gorillas.

Other hominins existing at the time included the genus Australopithecus, known for the famous even-older fossil “Lucy.”

“While some species of nonhuman primates produce technologies that assist in foraging, humans are uniquely dependent on technology for survival,” Plummer said.

All later developments in prehistoric technologies were based on Oldowan tools, making their advent a milestone in human evolution, Potts said. Rudimentary stone tools 3.3 million years old from another Kenyan site may have been an Oldowan forerunner or a technological dead-end.

The Nyayanga site today is a gully on Homa Mountain’s western flank along Lake Victoria in southwestern Kenya. When the tools were made, it was woodland and grassland along a stream, teeming with animals.

Until now, the oldest-known Oldowan examples dated to around 2.6 million years ago, in Ethiopia. The species Homo erectus later toted Oldowan technology as far as Georgia and China.

Cut marks on hippopotamus rib and shin bones at Nyayanga were the oldest-known examples of butchering a very large animal – called megafauna. The researchers think the hippos were scavenged, not hunted. The tools also were used for cracking open antelope bones to obtain marrow and pounding hard and soft plant material.

Fire was not harnessed until much later, meaning food was eaten raw. The researchers suspect the tools were used to pound meat to make it like “hippo tartare.”

“Megafauna provide a super abundance of food,” Plummer said. “A hippopotamus is a big leather sack full of good things to eat.”
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Nigeria’s government is challenging a Supreme Court order that suspended Friday’s deadline for the phaseout of old currency notes, saying it lacks jurisdiction. The issue of when the old currency becomes invalid has turned into a significant issue as Nigeria prepares for elections a little more than two weeks away.

On Wednesday, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by three Nigerian state governors to stop the central bank from phasing out the old notes by this Friday, February 10.

Nigeria’s attorney general, Abubakar Malami, challenged the Supreme Court’s ruling in a countersuit filed by his legal team late Wednesday and called for the ruling to be dismissed.

Malami argues the power to rule on the suit is within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, not the Supreme Court.

Hours to the deadline, anxiety is growing among citizens over the uncertainty.

Martin Obono, a lawyer and team lead at TAP initiative, a nonprofit that promotes government accountability and transparency, is concerned about the uncertainty of the situation.

“Following the government’s antecedents in terms of not respecting court judgment and court orders, I am not sure the federal government is going to obey whatever the Supreme Court has said, especially in an instance where it has a lot of political undertones,” he said. “That obviously is going to have an effect on what Nigerian people should do or expect.

Obono said he encourages Nigerians to go to the bank and change their currency.

“This is a judgment that you can’t trust,” he said.

The governors behind the lawsuit, from Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, say the country needs more time to transition to new 200-, 500- and 1000-naira notes introduced in December. They point out that a cash shortage is leading to attacks on banks.

Critics say the governors and other politicians who support the Supreme Court are doing so in order to enable vote-buying with the old currency ahead of the February 25 polls.

But Olumuyiwa Onlede, executive secretary of the Citizens Awareness Against Corruption Initiative, said even though politicians may be acting for selfish reasons, ordinary Nigerians are also affected by the impending deadline.

“This policy is a very good policy but what I think the attorney general is not looking at is the resultant effect of this policy and the implementation on the masses,” Onlede said. “So many banks are under lock and key, they’re afraid of being attacked.”

For weeks, millions of Nigerian citizens have been lining up at banks to get the new notes. In some instances, tempers run high leading to protests and attacks on banks.

Abuja resident Nelly Nwora wants authorities to obey the Supreme Court’s ruling and extend the deadline.

“It is difficult accessing cash, you have needs and you can’t meet your needs, not because you do not have money but because you really can’t access cash,” Nwora said. “You go to the ATM machines and you see long queues, your mind will skip. It has not really been easy and we’re hoping that this is resolved as soon as possible.”

Authorities say the new currency is paying off in fighting crime and counterfeiting, and reducing excess cash in circulation.

This week, the International Monetary Fund urged Nigerian authorities to extend the currency swap deadline.
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Egypt is embroiled in cost-of-living and currency crises, in part, exacerbated by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly one year ago — the fallout of which has led to severe disruptions in global food and energy security. For VOA, Hamada Elrasam documents vulnerable Cairenes as they struggle to cope with their ever-diminishing purchasing power. Captions by Elle Kurancid.
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Nigeria’s Supreme Court has suspended the government’s deadline to stop the use of old currency notes.

The Central Bank of Nigeria had ordered people to swap out old bank notes for currency with a new design by the February 10 deadline, but the directive led to cash shortages, protests and some attacks on banks.

The court ruling halts the move by federal authorities and the Central Bank of Nigeria to completely phase out the old 200, 500 and 1,000 naira bills by this Friday. The Central Bank has yet to respond to the court ruling, which comes ahead of another hearing next week.

The decision follows a lawsuit filed by three Nigerian state governors seeking to keep these bank notes in circulation a while longer.

Abdulhakeem Mustapha, the attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the Kogi, Kaduna and Zamfara state governors, said Wednesday the bid to transition to the new notes was causing political instability.

However, economist Emeka Okengwu said the central bank has been operating within legal parameters and that the high court should not be involved.

“Clearly we can see that the CBN is making efforts. All they need to do is be able to redouble their efforts,” Okengwu said. “I don’t think they should extend it, and I think we should start respecting the sanctity of institutions. The CBN is operating based on the laws and powers that it has. This is not arbitrary, so I don’t even think that the Supreme Court should have entertained that suit.”

In late October, the central bank redesigned the bank notes to curb crime, ransom payments to kidnappers, and counterfeiting and to regain control of the amount of money in circulation.

Authorities say the measure has been successful.

But millions of citizens across the country have been scrambling to get the new notes.

The situation has been especially challenging for some 40 percent of Nigerians in rural areas who have little access to banking services.

Daily struggles have resulted in protests and attacks on commercial banks.

The CBN has blamed the scarcity of the old money on sabotage by commercial banks and has been cracking down on institutions that are not compliant.

On Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari held a private meeting with the central bank governor and the head of anti-graft agency the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The closed-door meeting followed pleas for calm as citizens protested the cash shortages.

The situation comes ahead of elections set to begin later this month. 
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U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has appealed for more international aid to help Ethiopia’s war-displaced, saying only half of their required funding was met last year.

While visiting Ethiopia this week, the high commissioner said that addressing the needs of Ukrainian people affected by Russia’s invasion must not mean the needs of the rest of the world are neglected.

“Last year, UNCHR’s program in Ethiopia were only half funded,” Grandi said. “This is not acceptable and I hope that this year after the peace agreement, that there will be more attention and more support given to our programs.”

During his first visit to Ethiopia since the November peace deal was reached between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the high commissioner visited Mekelle, the capital of Tigray region, where he met with people displaced by the two-year war.

“I want to make a strong appeal here, where there is an opening created by the peace process, it is absolutely important that all necessary resources are mobilized to sustain the peace agreement,” he said.

The high commissioner also visited the new refugee site in Alemwach in the Amhara Region, which shelters 22,000 Eritreans.

“I think there’s quite a lot of work that we need to do on that particular site to make living conditions better. We had quite a good discussion with the representative of the refugees. We also have to recognize that Eritreans have gone through a very troubled time,” Grandi said.

Prior to the start of the war in Ethiopia, about 20,000 Eritrean refugees were sheltered in camps in Tigray. Both camps were destroyed when they came under attack during the war.

The high commissioner also raised the importance of supporting the U.N.’s work in Ethiopia in recognition of the country hosting the third largest number of refugees in the world, with 880,000 people. A majority of those refugees are South Sudanese, followed by Somalis and Eritreans.  
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Nigerians will vote on February 25 to choose their next president along with lawmakers in the House and Senate chambers. With 18 candidates vying for the job, experts at a panel discussion on Tuesday weighed in on the electoral dynamics and their implications for security, the economy and Nigeria’s foreign policy.

Among the main contenders are Bola Tinubu from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

But something is different this time, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, co-director of the Brookings Institution’s Africa Security Initiative who convened Tuesday’s panel discussion. Besides representatives of the APC and the PDP, candidates include Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra state who is representing the Labor Party and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former governor of Kanu and former federal minister of defense of the New Nigeria People’s Party.

“This election is more competitive than has been the case certainly generating a lot of excitement just in terms of the electoral dynamics,” Felbab-Brown said.

Each candidate has a vision for Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation. Tinubu, 70, said he will create wealth for the country.

“We will turn Nigeria and it will be our El Dorado,” he said when he accepted the party nomination, Reuters reported.

Abubakar, 76, who lost to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 elections, has a message of inclusion. Buhari is stepping down after two terms.

“Every part of this country will be given a sense of belonging, no part will be sidelined, no part will be marginalized,” he said.

For Obi, 61, it’s time to build a new Nigeria that’s more attractive to its people.

“Those who left … even the young people who are today leaving, they will come back, we want to bring them back,” he said. “Nigerians are prepared to come back if they can find that they have a country to go back to.”

Obi has generated buzz among young Nigerians, panelists said. Matthew Page, associate fellow at Chatham House and author of the book, Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know, said the election is a test of strength for the country’s kleptocratic ruling class.

“I think we are all watching in light of Peter Obi’s candidacy to see if the country’s powerful ruling elites who, regardless of their party, maintain their grip on the political system in Nigeria now since 1999,” Page said. “Will they retrench decisively and maintain their hold on the system, or will they face a strong challenge from candidate that are enjoying the support of younger Nigerians?”

According to the electoral commission, 93 million people have registered to vote, and voters age 18-34 make up about 40% of that total, said Cynthia Mbamalu, director of programs for Yiaga Africa.

Page said on the economy, Nigeria must pursue economic and fiscal policies that unleash the country’s human and economic potential.

“Nigeria is pretty much trapped in a problematic cycle of high inflation, currency devaluation and manipulation, wasteful spending and irresponsible borrowing,” he said. “Now Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio remains relatively low, at the same time its debt servicing costs are incredibly high. So, for example, in its 2023 budget, debt servicing costs would account for 30% of the government’s budget.”

Other issues Nigeria faces, the panelists said, include crime, corruption, climate change and the need for good governance.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
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