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It has been a challenging five weeks as those of us working in organizations receiving funding from the United States Government (USG) have struggled to gain clarity about the future of our sector and whether we will have jobs in the coming weeks. Hundreds of headlines daily announce layoffs, furloughs, and organizations on the verge of bankruptcy. LinkedIn is a who’s who of those who have lost their jobs or been furloughed… Read More
This month, I celebrated my ten-year anniversary of living in Africa. It’s incredible to think that a decade has passed since I left my Washington, D.C. apartment and settled down in Juba, South Sudan. So much has happened in the past ten years – I’ve lived in four different countries on the continent, became a Country Director in 2015, tied the knot with Sheila in 2016, and welcomed Levi into the world… Read More
Three days after the citizens of Nigeria went to the polls to cast their votes for the next president, results are still filtering into the Independent National Election Commission (INEC). Results have been slower than expected because the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV) failed or was not used to record votes. BVAS and IReV were created to enhance the transparency of election results and instill… Read More
Voters in Africa’s most populous country go to the polls today to elect its next president and decide the political party makeup of its National Assembly. Over 93 million Nigerians are registered to vote. More than a third of those registered voters are youth between 19 and 34. There are 18 candidates in the race, but only four have the notoriety and money to compete for president. The four are Bola Tinubu… Read More
I recently published an article on my organization’s blog about the political happenings in Nigeria. I have included it below for your reading pleasure. https://www.democracyspeaks.org/blog/defections-decamping-and-cross-carpeting-challenges-facing-nigerian-political-parties-ahead Posted by Sentell Barnes, Resident Program Director, Nigeria @sentellbarnes It has been an interesting few weeks in Nigeria. For those of us that have been watching Nigerian politics for the past four or five years, it feels very much like Déjà vu. When I arrived in Nigeria in 2014, the… Read More
…The current situation in Nigeria is no laughing matter. The economy seems to be heading towards a recession and the cost of food has escalated since Fall 2015. When I arrived in May 2014, the Naira, the local currency in Nigeria was 167 to one dollar. Later that year, it rose to 199 to one dollar. Today, the Naira is around 313 to one dollar. The currency has continued to deteriorate because… Read More
One of the things I have enjoyed most about being in Nigeria is the ancestral connection that I have with this country and West Africa. Despite the disorganization and chaos, the daily power outrageous and the lack of adherence to the rule of law, as a black American, there is an deep familiarity to this wild and crazy country. This week, my parents and I ventured down to Badagry, Nigeria, a former… Read More
Now this was a first! I am often assumed to be Nigerian and on one occasion Ghanaian but never Angolan! Maybe it was because he couldn’t quite place my name – which didn’t seem like a typical Nigerian name or from the Francophone countries of Africa. To him, I must be from the former Portuguese colony of Angola. It was a funny exchange and I thanked him for thinking I was from… Read More
It’s been hard waking up since getting back to Nigeria. Maybe I am still trying to shake jet lag or maybe I just miss being in the United States (mixture of both). For two weeks, Sheila and I crisscrossed Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland visiting family and catching up with friends. It was a whirlwind tour for Sheila as it was her first trip to the US and… Read More
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck. – Frederick Douglass Once again, I am celebrating America’s independence by working to enhance democracy in Nigeria. This past week, I traveled to Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria for work. Calabar is said to be the number one tourist destination in Nigeria (for Nigerians). The city host carnival… Read More
A FREDAY in AFRICA! 