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The World Bank recently warned Nigeria that it risks becoming home to a quarter of the world’s destitute people in a decade if it doesn’t implement urgent reforms. Sheriffdeen Tella offers a checklist of the steps Nigeria must take to avoid this gloomy prognosis.
Locust swarms have plagued people for millennia. Currently, Kenya is struggling with a huge desert locust invasion - the worst in 25 years. The locusts migrated from Yemen and moved through Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia, destroying thousands of hectares of farms and natural vegetation. To fight the pests, the Kenyan government is using chemical pesticides, the usual immediate response of African governments to these outbreaks. Pesticides can immediately reduce the number of invading pests. But their benefits are short-term: insects can quickly become resistant. Esther Ndumi Ngumbi explains how countries can promote alternatives.
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No coordination on macroeconomic policies in Nigeria
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Sheriffdeen Tella, Olabisi Onabanjo University
The World Bank's latest report on Nigeria deserved closer scrutiny, just like the opinions of economic experts outside government.
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Flying desert locust.
Holger Kirk/Shutterstock
Esther Ndumi Ngumbi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Countries should promote alternatives to pesticides and more carefully examine how to prevent insect invasions in the first place
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Mark Nartey, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Compared to other politicians who tend to be indirect and evasive, Nkrumah was direct, explicit and assertive.
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Magandhree Naidoo, University of the Western Cape
Behaviours such as head banging, picking at the lips and chewing on harmful objects like stones make children with autism more likely to have dental health problems.
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From our international editions
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David Rowe, Western Sydney University
From Peter O'Connor waving the Irish flag in 1906 to rainbow colours at Sochi, athletes have always used the Olympics to share their politics.
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Alexander Bowles, University of Essex
New research has pinpointed the genetic boost behind one of the biggest transformations of life on Earth.
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