Nigerian painter Njideka Akunyili-Crosby wins $625,000 MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant”

Njideka Akunyili-Crosby, a painter and daughter of the late Nigerian minister, Dora Akunyili, has been awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.

Ms. Akunyili-Crosby was described by the foundation as “a figurative painter whose large-scale works express the hybridity characteristic of transnational experience through choices of subject matter, materials, and techniques.”

The fellowship, which is also referred to as the Genius Grant, awards $625,000 to artists, writers, teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and people from all works of life, that have shown exceptional creativity.

The grant is doled out in quarterly installments, made over a period of five years. Amongst past recipients is writer Chimamanda Adichie who received the grant in 2008.

The 24 recipients of the 2017 MacArthur Fellowship are:

• Njideka Akunyili Crowsby – Painter

• Sunil Amrith – Historian

• Greg Asbed – Human Rights Strategist

• Annie Baker – Playwright

• Regina Barzilay – Computer Scientist

• Dawoud Bey – Photographer and Educator

• Emmanuel Candes – Mathematician and Statistician

• Jason De Leon -Anthropologist

• Rhiannon Giddens – Singer, Instrumentalist & Songwriter

• Nikole Hannah-Jones – Journalist

• Cristina Jimenez Moreta – Social Justice Organizer

• Taylor Mac – Theater Artist

• Ramir Nashashibi – Community Leader

• Viet Thanh Nguyen – Fiction Writer & Culture Critic

• Kate Orff – Landscape Architect

• Trevor Paglen – Artist and Geographer

• Betsy Levy Paluck – Psychologist

• Derek Paterson – Historian

• Damon Rich – Designer & Urban Planner

• Stefan Savage – Computer Scientist

• Yuval Sharon – Opera Director & Producer

• Tyshawn Sorey – Composer & Musician

• Gabriel Victora – Immunologist

• Jesmyn Ward – Fiction Writer

Premium Times

Video - Nigeria to begin trial for 2300 suspected Boko Haram insurgents

Nigeria's government could soon start a mass trial of Boko Haram suspects it has been holding in custody since the start of Boko Haram insurgency. About 2,300 suspected militants are expected stand trial for crimes committed through out the 8 years of Boko Haram insurgency. More than 20,000 are estimated to have been killed and millions displaced in the northeast by Boko Haram.

About 40 Boko Haram militants willing to surrender

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, in Borno says about 40 Boko Haram insurgents have indicated willingness to surrender to the Corps in the state.

The Commandant of the corps in the state, Ibrahim Abdullahi, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Maiduguri.

Mr. Abdullahi said that the insurgents had indicated their intention to renounce membership of the terrorist group but through an intermediary.

He said that negotiations between the command and the insurgents were conducted through a firewood vendor.

He also said that six insurgents had earlier surrendered to the Corps in the last one month in the state.

The commandant stated that the extremists surrendered voluntarily under the Federal Government’s Safe Corridor Initiative (SCI).

“About 40 of the insurgents have come forward to surrender. They indicated that many of them are willing to lay down their arms,” Abdullahi said.

According to him, the command has also conducted town hall meetings with communities and religious leaders to enhance security in the state.

NAN report that hundreds of the insurgents had surrendered to the Nigerian Army under the SCI in the past three months.

The surrendered insurgents are currently undergoing de-radicalisation process at the Military Rehabilitation Centre, Gombe, to facilitate their reintegration into the society.

Premium Times

Teachers in Kaduna, Nigeria fail pupils' exam

Thousands of primary school teachers in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state are to be sacked after failing the exams they set for their six-year-old pupils.

State governor Nasir El-Rufai said 21,780 teachers, two-thirds of the total, had failed to score 75% or higher on assessments given to pupils.

He said 25,000 new teachers would be recruited to replace them.

Mr El-Rufai made the comments at a meeting with World Bank representatives in the state capital, Kaduna.

"The hiring of teachers in the past was politicised and we intend to change that by bringing in young and qualified primary school teachers to restore the dignity of education in the state," he was quoted as saying by Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper.

Mr El-Rufai said problems with pupil-teacher ratios across the state would also be addressed.

He said some areas currently had one teacher for every nine pupils while in other areas the ratio was one to 100.

BBC

Video - Operations at Nigeria's main sea port almost grounded to a halt

For over two months now operations at Nigeria's main sea port in Lagos have almost grounded to a halt. The roads leading to the port are in bad shape and reconstruction work has been slow. Lines of trucks and tankers trying to access the port now stretch back to over 10 kilometers, making it virtually impossible to drive around the port area. The situation is now taking a serious toll on exporters of agriculture products.