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A 24-year-old Cameroonian called Ayissi William has gotten attention from social media users and fashion enthusiasts around Africa for his creative designs and production of locally made Sneakers. Ayissi William is a Cameroonian sneaker designer and the founder and designer of ICE Footwear, the first locally designed sneaker in Cameroon. ICE Footwear was founded in 2021 with the alternative intention of inspiring young Africans to pursue their dreams and put more effort into their work.

Ayissi William dropped out of college in 2017 after the 24-year-old studied accounting for a little while. However, before starting ICE Footwear merchandise, Ayissi took the time to learn the “ins and outs” of sneaker design. Ayissi William was a sneaker fan as a child, but never had the opportunity to own multiple pairs. So he had to be meticulous with the rich, because he didn’t want to harm them. Realizing the exquisite sneaker brands of Nike, Adidas and Puma inspired William to set the benchmark for the creation of ICE Footwear. “I felt like I could definitely do something like this, and the fact that a lot of people don’t do something like that from where I’m from also made me want to do it, even more so because I know I can,” Ayissi William

A pair of ICE shoes costs US$50 and the products are only available in Cameroon and South Africa. However, management plans to make them accessible in different countries and help interested customers get to know the sneakers. Although William dreams of a future where he can make international deliveries across nations in Europe. Ayissi William suggests it would be a “good idea to diversify”. Many sectors are barren and unexplored. He also urged aspiring designers to find their own identity that can be easily recognized by anyone. ICE’s slogan is “Keep Moving Forward” – a motivational headline meant to inspire young people.

Attah Ameh Oboni was a revered Igala King. At a particular meeting held in Kaduna which consisted of all paramount traditional rulers in Nigeria and which had the queen of England in attendance, Attah Ameh was asked to remove his cap to greet the Queen of England as others had done. Though he refused until they said he should leave the meeting if he would not remove his cap. But Attah was not like others, or was he? It was a taboo for Attah to remove his cap in the public. The entire hall where they were staying was occupied by swan of bees which emanates from the cap of Attah Ameh Oboni which he removed in order to greet the Queen.The Queen of England as well as other rulers in the meeting ran helter-skelter except the friendly Oba of Benin who was asked by Attah Ameh to go out before he removed his cap. The hall became empty as some were stung by the bees and the meeting ended.

According to history, Attah Ameh Oboni was asked to be arrested and handcuffed by the security people, which they did, but the handcuffs fell off his hands. He was later locked up in a room on the instruction of the Northern rulers and guarded by the security personnel but only to find out later by the personnel that he had left the room. Yes, when the security were taking him to be locked up, he told his driver, Amanabo of blessed memory, to take the car and be going to Idah while the security locked him in the room.He then warned Amanabo not to look back until he felt a cool breeze in the car. Though Amanabo argued a little that he cannot leave the Attah there but later obeyed and started driving back to Idah from Kaduna.After some time, he felt the cool breeze in the car, and Attah Ameh was sitted inside the car. The incident in the meeting made many traditional rulers which were mostly northerners to be angry especially making kings run in such a manner because of bees.

This became one important sin, and it was like “one sin too many”. The queen of Englnad was also not happy and they (the Queen and northern leaders) started looking for a way to remove Attah Ameh from the throne since he was getting tougher and uncontrollable like others,as well as searching for an obedient replacement. Igala has various cultural festivals, one of which is Ocho. Ocho is celebrated before farming starts, and it is the time that Attah Igala prays to God for sufficient rainfall, bountiful harvest, success in hunting.It is celebrated in the bush and the venue is called Ere-ocho, where the Attah will hunt until he kills a Buffalo or a strong animal. The community in Idah where Ocho takes place is called Ogo-Efa. He performs a little sacrifice to the ancestors using a fowl in the process,and this was to find out if there will blessings or problems in the land after the Ocho. Before this time, the enemies at home (among the Igala people), especially those having connections with the leaders of the northern region, were working hard to get any evidence either true or false which can be used to remove him from the throne.

The blood of the animal used as sacrifice at Ocho ground now became what the enemies would use against him. Petition was written by these two Igala people to the Queen and some other Northern leaders that Attah Ameh was sacrificing humans during the Ocho festivals. Since they were looking for any means to displace him with, judgment was quickly passed that he must be dethroned, even when investigations were not yet concluded.

In addition, all the Igala cultural festivals including the Ocho were immediately banned and this remained for almost 63 years until Governor Yahaya Bello unbanned them based on the appeal of the present Attah Igala.Already, before this time, the Oba of Benin who had such friction with the British had already been dethroned and banished from Benin. So, Attah Ameh Oboni knew that at that point, no matter what spiritual approach applied, it can only postpone the evil day as his enemies will never relent until he was removed by them. The result of the blood sample which was taken from the Ocho venue and taken to University of Ibadan for analysis had arrived and it was proved that it was the blood of an animal and not human.Sadly, the revered King, Attah Ameh had passed on before the result was brought. But Attah Ameh, being very sure that he was wrongly accused and framed up by his enemies, especially those from Igala who wrote the petition against him marking the beginning of his planned dethronement, made some pronouncements before his death. He was allegedly quoted to have said that ” the person who wrote the petition against him would have that hand dried up, and that the leader of the gang or petitioners would be buried three times”.

And they all came to pass. While the hand dried as said, the other was buried as stated, first was the leg, second was his hand and the third was himself, all buried at various times at different locations. In addition, as this information of his dethronement was given to him in a meeting from where he was supposed to go back to Idah and prepare to leave the throne, he stopped on the way in another Igala land called Dekina. That was where he committed suicide. Before taking his life, he was allegedly quoted to have said that the town,Dekina will be popular but its development will not be as much as its popularity. He was also quoted to have said that because Igala was the genesis of his ordeal, there will be disunity among the Igala people until the reign of his own blood (son) as Attah and all Igalas irrespective of their locations will be reunited again. I think from the reconnection and reunification of Igala people across Nigeria and beyond which has been going on and still going on under the reign of his son,Agabaidu Idakwo Ameh Oboni II, the present Attah Igala, that pronouncement of reunification of Igala people is also coming through.

The Amasunzu traditional hairstyle is hands down one of the most creative ever. Still being worn today, it was and still is a symbol of pride in Rwanda. The Amasunzu hairstyle represented different roles and stages in the life of women and men. When warriors wore the style, it symbolized strength and bravery. Worn by women, it usually marked marital status and virginity. The young woman wore it before they were married. After marriage, some women let their hair grow freely. Achieved through a careful ritual that involved cutting the hair at the sides, and then allowing it to grow towards the middle, amasunzu was definitely a labor of love. Children would look forward to being old enough to take on the hairstyle, and villages would even have competitions on the best designs. 

Children dreamed of the day they would be old enough to wear the hairstyle. The Amasunzu is much more than a style choice, Rwandan etiquette is based on the body’s nature. This style was used to reflect important aspects such as might, hygiene, and, for unmarried girls, virginity. It was also a way to show class; powerful leaders, nobles, and the rich wore the hairstyle. The amasunzu hairstyle, having now largely lost its meaning, is slowly becoming popular among those who see it as a way to glorify the Rwandan culture that was lost during the colonialism and post-Rwandan civil war.Today, growing your hair into the amasunzu style is a gesture of pride, and for the young men who do so, it’s a form of self-realization.

Nigerians on the social media are expressing outrage and anger over the report of a Chinese national who allegedly killed a young Nigerian woman identified as Ummukulsum Buhari at Kuntau, Janbula area of Kano State.The incident occurred on Friday night while identifying the victim as an ex-lover of the Chinese national who was also identified as Mr Geng.The Chinese national had a sizzling relationship with the young lady for two years before she settled for another man within the city.

The victim's marriage never lasted, according to the report and she reportedly returned to her family house to continue her normal life.
The account explained that Geng, who felt jilted by Buhari, never let go until last night when he allegedly scaled the perimeter fence, sneaked into her room and murdered her in cold blood. However, efforts of the family members and well-wishers who had responded to save her life when they took her to the nearby health facility were unsuccessful as she reportedly gave up the ghost.

Geng was subsequently arrested by a mob who were set to deliver jungle justice when a combined team of the police and the Immigration officials arrived to restore normalcy.Various accounts of the incident indicated that the suspect (Chinese national) had followed the victim to her house, after she reportedly rejected his sexual advances. He thereafter stabbed her to death.

This is the touching life story of Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi who ruled the Benin empire before he was exiled by the British Ovonramwen Nogbaisi (ruled 1888 – 1897), also called Overami, was the Oba (king) of the Kingdom of Benin up until the British punitive expedition of 1897 Born in 1857, he was the son of Oba Adolo he took the name Ovonramwen Nogbaisi at his enthronement in 1888, every Oba took a new name at his coronation, the name translates as Ovonramwen meaning "The Rising Sun" and Nogbaisi meaning "which spreads over all."At the end of the 19th century, the Kingdom of Benin had managed to retain its independence and the Oba exercised a monopoly over trade which the British found irksome.

The territory was coveted by an influential group of investors for its rich natural resources such as palm-oil, rubber and ivory. The kingdom was largely independent of British control, and pressure continued from figures such as Vice-Consul James Robert Phillips and Captain Gallwey who were pushing for British annexation of the Benin Empire and the removal of the Oba.A British invasion force headed by Phillips set out to overthrow the Oba in 1896. The force's weapons were hidden in baggage, with troops disguised as bearers. Phillips plan was to gain access to Ovonramwen's palace by announcing that he intended to negotiate.Ovonramwen's messengers issued several warnings not to violate Benin territorial sovereignty, claiming he was unable to see Phillips due to ceremonial duties.

Having been warned on several further occasions on the way, Phillips sent his stick to the Oba, a deliberate insult designed to provoke the conflict that would provide an excuse for British annexation.Phillip's expedition was ambushed and all but two were killed. Subsequently a military operation against Benin in 1897 led by Harry Rawson resulted in the burning of Benin City, the destruction and looting of the royal palaces, and the deaths of untold numbers of its inhabitants.Although the British had orders to hang the Oba, Ovonramwen escaped, but returned to the city to formally surrender on 5 August 1897. When Ovonramwen returned to the city, after six months spent in evading capture in the forest he was richly dressed and laden with coral beads and accompanied by an entourage of seven hundred to eight hundred people.

He attempted to escape exile by offering Consul General Ralph Moor 200 puncheons (barrels) of oil worth £1500 [£183000.00 today]&to disclose where his 500 ivory tusks were buried however this offer was dismissed as Mr. Moor had already discovered them.Ovonramwen was exiled to Calabar with his two of his wives, Queen Egbe and Queen Aighobahi, and died there around the turn of the new year in 1914.Ovonramwen was exiled to Calabar with his two of his wives, Queen Egbe and Queen Aighobahi, and died there around the turn of the new year in 1914.

This is the story of the first oil war, which was fought in the 19th century, in the area that became Nigeria. All through the 19th century, palm oil was highly sought-after by the British, for use as an industrial lubricant for machinery. Remember that Britain was the world’s first industrialised nation, so they needed resources such as palm oil to maintain that. Palm oil, of course, is a tropical plant, which is native to the Niger Delta. Malaysia’s dominance came a century later. By 1870, palm oil had replaced slaves as the main export of the Niger Delta, the area which was once known as the Slave Coast.

At first, most of the trade in the oil palm was uncoordinated, with natives selling to those who gave them the best deals. Native chiefs such as former slave, Jaja of Opobo became immensely wealthy because of oil palm. With this wealth came influence.Among the Europeans, there was competition for who would get preferential access to the lucrative oil palm trade. In 1879, George Goldie formed the United African Company (UAC), which was modelled on the former East India Company. Goldie took control of the Lower Niger River.By 1884, his company had 30 trading posts along the Lower Niger. This monopoly gave the British a strong hand against the French and Germans in the 1884 Berlin Conference.

The British got the area that the UAC operated in, included in their sphere of influence after the Berlin Conference. When the Brits got the terms they wanted from other Europeans, they began to deal with the African chiefs. Within two years of 1886, Goldie had signed treaties with tribal chiefs along the Benue and Niger Rivers whilst also penetrating inland.This move inland was against the spirit of verbal agreements that had been made to restrict the organisation’s activities to coastal regions.By 1886, the company name changed to The National Africa Company and was granted a royal charter (incorporated). The charter authorised the company to administer the Niger Delta and all lands around the banks of the Benue and Niger Rivers.

Soon after, the company was again renamed. The new name was Royal Niger Company, which survives, as Unilever, till this day.To local chiefs, the Royal Niger Company negotiators had pledged free trade in the region. Behind, they entered private contracts on their terms. Because the (deceitful) private contracts were often written in English and signed by the local chiefs, the British gov. enforced them So for example, Jaja of Opobo, when he tried to export palm oil on his own, was forced into exile for “obstructing commerce”. As an aside, Jaja was “forgiven” in 1891 and allowed to return home, but he died on the way back, poisoned with a cup of tea.

Seeing what happened to Jaja, some other native rulers began to look more closely at the deals they were getting from the Royal Nigeria Company. One of such kingdoms was Nembe, whose king, Koko Mingi VIII, ascended the throne in 1889 after being a Christian schoolteacher. Koko Mingi VIII, like most rulers in the yard, was faced with the Royal Nigeria Company encroachment. He also resented the monopoly enjoyed by the Royal Nigeria Company and tried to seek out favourable trading terms, with particularly the Germans in Kamerun (Cameroon).By 1894, the Royal Nigeria Company increasingly dictated whom the natives could trade with, and denied them direct access to their former markets.

In late 1894, King Koko renounced Christianity and tried to form an alliance with Bonny and Okpoma against the Royal Nigeria Company to take back the trade. This is significant because while Okpoma joined up, Bonny refused. A harbinger of the successful “divide and rule” tactic.On 29 January 1895, King Koko led an attack on the Royal Niger Company’s headquarters, which was in Akassa in today’s Bayelsa state. The pre-dawn raid had more than a thousand men involved.King Koko’s attack succeeded in capturing the base. Losing 40 of his men,captured 60 white men as hostages,as well as a lot of goods, ammunition and a Maxim gun. Koko then attempted to negotiate a release of the hostages in exchange for being allowed to chose his trading partners

The British refused to negotiate with Koko, and he had forty of the hostages killed. A British report claimed that the Nembe people ate them.On 20 February 1895, Britain’s Royal Navy, under Admiral Bedford attacked Brass and burned it to the ground. Many Nembe people died and smallpox finished off a lot of others.By April 1895, business had returned to “normal”, normal being the conditions that the British wanted, and King Koko was on the run. Brass was fined £500 by the British, £62,494, and the looted weapons were returned as well as the surviving prisoners.After a British Parliamentary Commission sat, King Koko was offered terms of settlement by the British, which he rejected and disappeared. The British promptly declared him an outlaw and offered a reward of £200 (£26,000; NGN12 million today) for him.

King Koko committed suicide in exile in 1898.About that time, another “recalcitrant King”, the Oba of Benin, was run out of town. The pacification of the Lower Niger was well and truly underway.The immediate effect of the Brass Oil War was that public opinion in Britain turned against the Royal Nigeria Company, so its charter was revoked in 1899. Following the revoking of its charter, the Royal Niger Company sold its holdings to the British government for £865,000 .That amount, was effectively the price Britain paid, to buy the territory which was to become known as Nigeria.

All around the world, young innovators are pushing boundaries and reshaping the future and Nigerians are not left out, proudly waving the flag high in the diaspora. He’s constantly wearing his innovative hat and right now, this creative genius has got his lens on revolutionizing the future of robotics in Africa as well as introducing cheap, affordable technology which can compete on the global scale. British-Nigerian robotics engineer, Silas Adekunle was previously Co-founder and CEO of Reach Robotics, an augmented reality gaming company that creates robots for gaming and for STEM education, the startup is behind MekaMon a four-legged spider-like robot controlled with just a smartphone app, reputed as the world’s first gaming robot which landed on the Apple store.

Following the launch of MekaMon with Apple, the company generated millions in revenue and raised millions in venture capital. Although Reach Robotics, founded by Adekunle together with John Rees (COO) and Chris Beck (CTO), shut down in 2019 after a six year journey due to “inherent challenges in the consumer robotics sector”, he still got his mind busy and now turns his expertise to using MekaMon to develop the Robotics education ecosystem across Africa and cloud infrastructure for industrial automation in the UK. Adekunle Silas is Co founder and CEO of Awarri, an education project for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM) which aims to enable the development and adaptation of advanced AI & Robotics technology in Africa as well as co-founder and CEO of (R.I) founded in January 2020.

His contributions and accomplishments in the world of tech hasn’t gone unnoticed, in November 2018, Adekunle was named to the Financial Times’ list of the ‘Top 100 minority ethnic leaders in technology’, same year, he was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2018

Coltan is one of the world’s most vital minerals, and 60% of reserves globally are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kivu province. In 2019, 40% of the global coltan supply was produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.The mineral is used in cell phones, laptops and other devices because of its particular ability to store and release electrical energy. As 5G technology grows demand for Congolese coltan will increase. But this is not good news for everyone in the DRC. Much of the country’s coltan is extracted using the labour of over 40 000 child and teenage miners. Coming from remote villages and towns in Kivu, they either drop out of school or have never had the opportunity to attend. The informality of the extractive sector provides attractive job opportunities for vulnerable children, who serve as a pool of cheap labour. Children work as washers and diggers in dangerous conditions.

They also engage in petty smuggling, selling coltan for a pittance in towns along the borders with Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Doing adults’ work in a hazardous environment, many child miners face sexual harassment, rape, abuse and ill health.Occupational hazards include daily exposure to Radon, a radioactive substance associated with coltan, which has been linked to lung cancer. As the system stands now, nearly everybody but the workers involved profit from the buying and selling of coltan. Distributors and mine owners get their profits from the raw material. Companies like Tesla Inc, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc, Microsoft Corp and Dell Technologies Inc gets the capacitors it needs to work its electronics, consumers get the final product. These companies the richest companies in the world, these fancy gadget-making companies have allowed children to be maimed and killed to get their cheap cobalt.

Cobalt is essential in making rechargeable lithium batteries used in millions of products sold by the tech industry. The workers in the DRC mines are exploited and lead horrible, deprived lives. The Congolese government also takes some damage as well, as "blood minerals" exported from the Congo are used to further fund the ongoing coups and civil wars that seem never to end.

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, died on Thursday at the age of 96 in the Royal Family’s castle in Scotland, For many, particularly in the global West, the Queen’s 70-year reign was marked by stability and diplomacy; under Elizabeth, the Royal Family has taken pains to distance itself from the country’s politics and the monarchy’s long colonial history. But for millions of people who lived through and still suffer the consequences of the Royal Family’s brutal colonialism and racism both abroad and in the U.K., the Queen’s legacy will live on in the form of the violent and lasting rule that the Royal Family has overseen and still profits from.

The Royal Family still hasn’t confronted its past or paid reparations to the people who continue to suffer as a result of the British monarchy, decades on from direct colonial rule. The Royal Family has also faced criticism for appearing to attempt to sweep its history under the rug, especially during the Queen’s platinum jubilee this year. For almost as long as the monarchy has existed, it has been a colonialist and imperialist power, colonizing and exploiting dozens upon dozens of countries and territories in particular in the global South, many of which share common consequences of poverty and continued oppression.

Over centuries, the U.K. has funneled trillions of dollars from its colonies to enrich itself, and it continues to profit from its racist past and present to this day. Elizabeth II has never publicly acknowledged, apologized or compensated the victims of her royal family’s actions, Just to name a few:

• Plundering India via the East India Company.

• Causing the Bengal famine that led to the deaths of millions.

• Building concentration camps in Kenya.

• Suppressing the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya.

• Committing genocide against Aboriginal peoples.

The royal family has never acknowledged the British monarchy’s slave trade, despite directly contributing, supporting and profiting from the Trans Atlantic slave trade. Elizabeth II never apologized for the Crown's colonial legacy of looting from the Global South. Not even with the plunder of the jewels stuck on her crown, stolen from Africa. The monarchy was built on slavery, establishing a slave trade that saw the transport of millions of Africans and South and North Americans to other countries. The slave trade was so vast, in fact, that it wasn’t until 2015 that the country fully paid off its “debts” to slave owners from freeing slaves in the 19th century.

At the end of a 10-day trial in Antananarivo, the capital, Paul Rafanoharana was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday. Frenchman Philippe François was given a 10-year prison sentence.The two Frenchmen were arrested in July and accused, along with 18 other defendants, of endangering state security, criminal association and conspiracy to assassinate the president. The two belonged to “a criminal organization” that was seeking to “carry out an attack against President Rajoelina” as shown by “emails, arms and money, seized” by authorities, said state prosecutor Arsène Rabe. The plot was called “Apollo 21,” said the prosecution. Rafanoharana, a former officer of the French gendarmerie and a graduate of the Saint-Cyr military school, was briefly an adviser to Rajoelina in 2011.

François, also a graduate of Saint-Cyr and a retired colonel of the French army, had worked in Chad before arriving in Madagascar almost two years ago. Francois and Rafanoharana were partners in an investment company, Tsarafirst, which bought and sold gold.During the trial, Rafanoharana did not deny that he imagined a way to “neutralize” the president’s entourage, but he denied that he plotted to kill the president himself.Others sentenced include Rafanoharana’s wife who was given a five-year prison term. Former Madagascar Prime Minister Victor Ramahatra was handed a five-year suspended prison sentence.

Two Kenyan tribes have filed a case against the UK government European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for alleged colonial abuses.The Talai and Kipsigis have said in the lawsuit that these abuses include theft of land in Kericho, the tea-growing area of the African country, where area is still under the control of tea producing companies. The tribes are seeking $200 billion and an apology for the crimes. The tribes claim that the UK has not shown any interest in redressing the issue, which has violated the European Convention on Human Rights.

The complainants further said that they were forced to live in a valley infested with mosquitos, tse-tse flies and other insects as "punishment for resisting". Their bites led to deaths, miscarriages and massive loss of livestock, the Talai further claimed. Today, some of the world's most prosperous tea companies, like Unilever, Williamson Tea, Finlay's and Lipton, occupy and farm these lands and continue to use them to generate considerable profits, They have also accused the British army of unlawful killing, rape, torture and imprisonment.

This is not the first time that the Kenyan tribes have raised the issue at international level. The claims were first flagged before the United Nations in 2019 after which an investigation was conducted. In 2021, six UN special rapporteurs, in a joint communique, expressed their concerns at the "alleged lack of accountability