IB Sanusi

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." -Thomas Jefferson

🥹🇵🇱 This is incredible. 40-year-old Lukas Podolski just won the Polish Cup with Górnik Zabrze. He previously said it was his DREAM to end his footballing career playing for them. Incredible moment. 🏆❤️

Amazing Amusan 🇳🇬

My dad had a similar experience. He owned three FMCG stores in Yaba, Tejuosho to be precise. After the war he didn't even come back to Lagos immediately because he felt he might not be welcome. Instead he moved to PH then to Sapele and started doing imports of sewing machines (many Igbo people started itinerant sewing which led them to Okrika). He couldn't crack the business however so his friend who had moved to Cotonou asked him to come join him. On his way there he passed through Lagos and decided to stop by his former area (two full years after the war ended) and found out that his long term neighbor a Yoruba man had kept his 3 shops running, restocking it and keeping all the records. When he saw my dad he told him he'd been looking for a way to reach him since the war ended, even sending messages but post war craziness meant no way to find him. He totaled the money he'd managed plus the cost of buying the stores and everything added up to £9,000. That's what my dad took plus the £6,000 he made from selling off his old business and started doing shoe and textile imports in Lome from 1973 onwards. Many such cases.

There’s a baseline level of personal organisational talent required to operate at this level. Hope is not a strategy, nor is good intention. The obvious one-man style is too glaring to ignore. Explains all the lapses from within and in the engagements.

💉As we mark African Vaccination Week 2026, we celebrate Lamin Sambou, a public health advocate who is championing timely Hepatitis B vaccination in the Gambia using a simple but context-specific innovation. Local solutions. Real results. #AVW2026 #HealthSecurity #BingwaPlus

So, what exactly is happening in Jos? The governor visits the victims in an armoured carrier. The president confines himself to the airport on a state visit?

Afreximbank Research is pleased to announce the release of the African Trade and Economic Outlook 2026 with the theme ‘Moving up the Ladder: Capturing More Value from African Commodities’ which presents a timely and authoritative analysis of Africa’s evolving economic landscape amid shifting global dynamics. This year’s theme is anchored on the need for advancing Africa’s integration into global value chains while strengthening intra-African trade and industrialization — a strategic direction that aligns closely with Afreximbank’s priorities over the next five years to deepen economic resilience, accelerate structural transformation, and reposition Africa within the global economy. The report underscores Africa’s resilience in a complex global environment marked by geopolitical tensions, tightening financial conditions, and fragmented trade systems. Despite these headwinds, the continent continues to demonstrate steady growth, with real GDP projected to hover around 4% in the medium term, reinforcing Africa’s position as one of the fastest-growing regions globally. A central message is the rising importance of intra-African trade as a stabilizing force. With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) gaining traction, intra-African trade is expected to expand significantly, driven by regional integration, new value chains, and policy reforms aimed at reducing trade barriers—highlighting the transformative potential of deeper economic integration. Insights from Chapter Two further deepen this narrative by examining the structure and direction of Africa’s trade flows. The report highlights how commodity dependence continues to shape export profiles, leaving many economies exposed to price volatility. However, it also points to emerging diversification trends, particularly in manufactured goods and services, alongside growing participation in regional and South-South trade corridors. Importantly, the chapter underscores the need to strengthen value addition, improve trade logistics, and address non-tariff barriers, which remain significant constraints to competitiveness and export expansion. The report also highlights a gradual reconfiguration of Africa’s trade partnerships. While traditional partners such as Europe and the United States remain important, Africa is increasingly strengthening ties with emerging partners in Asia and the Middle East—reflecting a broader global realignment and creating new opportunities for diversification and investment. Macroeconomic risks remain a key concern. Elevated debt levels, inflationary pressures, currency volatility, and constrained access to affordable financing continue to pose challenges, compounded by global uncertainties. However, clear pathways for resilience emerge: strengthening regional value chains, investing in trade-enabling infrastructure, accelerating digital transformation, and scaling innovative financing solutions. Initiatives such as the Pan-African Payments and Settlement System (PAPSS) are critical to reducing transaction costs and facilitating seamless cross-border trade. Ultimately, the African Trade and Economic Outlook 2026 presents a compelling narrative: Africa is not only navigating global uncertainty but actively reshaping its economic future. With the right policy choices and sustained collaboration, the continent is well-positioned to unlock new growth frontiers and play a more prominent role in the global economy. 🔗 Read the full report here: research.knowledge.afreximbank.com/do/10.5555/867…

#LetFreedomSing @JDMahama @AUC_PAPS @AUC_CIDO Thank you

The U.N. General Assembly has adopted a draft resolution that unequivocally condemns the trafficking of enslaved Africans and the transatlantic slave trade as the most inhumane and enduring injustice against humanity. 123 in favour 3 Against (USA, Israel, Argentina) 52 abstentions The resolution also seeks to recognize the profound and lasting impacts of the abhorrent regimes of slavery and colonialism and emphasizes that claims for reparations represent a concrete step towards remedying historical wrongs against Africans and people of African descent. #sabcnews

Last night, a little bit, the night before that....

Today we get more details on where FCDO funding cuts will land. I fear for the international impact, not least to our reputation. And remember in addition to 40% cuts, there are 25% staff cuts @CommonsIDC @icai_uk @bondngo @CGDev @Independent

If real lives were not at stake, the irony would be almost comical. After boasting about having the world’s strongest military, you now call on allies whom you have derided and mocked for support. As the proverb goes: pride precedes destruction.

Pleased to welcome Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, Founder & Executive Director of @StandtoEndRape Oluwaseun is the inaugural Women’s International Forum (WIF) Youth Award winner. Thanks to Antoinette Merrillees for your leadership as WIF Vice President.

I spent time in Shenzhen last year and when I saw Merz come back from China saying Germans need to work more I immediately knew what broke his brain because I lived the exact same cognitive shock my first week in Huaqiangbei I burned through 4 prototype iterations of a motor controller board for less than a thousand bucks total, back home a friend was working on something similar and spent over 12 thousand for a single revision that took almost two months to arrive when you live that contrast in your own hands with your own project something permanently shifts in how you see the world and it goes way deeper than speed & cost what Shenzhen actually built is a collective learning organism, imagine 20 PCB fabs 15 injection mold shops 30 component distributors and a hundred firmware freelancers all within a 2km radius, looks insanely redundant from the outside until you realize redundancy is actually information density in disguise I watched this firsthand with an injection mold supplier I was working with, this guy had seen a hundred founders iterate similar thermal designs over 6 months so he proactively modified his tooling before I even opened my mouth, he knew what I needed before I knew what I needed, the intelligence lives in the relationships between the nodes and it compounds daily the west thinks about manufacturing as a cost center you optimize by centralizing… China accidentally built a distributed neural network of manufacturing intelligence where knowledge diffuses horizontally across thousands of agents faster than any single western company can process internally so when Merz comes back and says we need to work a bit more I think he saw the problem but COMPLETELY misdiagnosed the solution, telling Germans to work harder is like telling a horse to gallop faster when the other side built a combustion engine the gap is ARCHITECTURAL it’s ecosystem density, you need a custom connector in Shenzhen you walk 200 meters, in Munich you send an email and wait 3 weeks it’s iteration speed, parallel search vs sequential optimization at the system level, it’s risk tolerance, Chinese founders ship something broken on Monday fix it Tuesday ship again Wednesday while European companies are still in the approval phase for the pilot program of the feasibility study… and Merz only saw the surface, what he missed is the tier 2 cities like Hefei Chengdu Wuhan replicating the Shenzhen model at scale right now BYD going from irrelevant to outselling every european automaker combined in roughly 5 years, Huawei building its own 7nm chip under maximum sanctions when every analyst said it was physically impossible & behind all of that a government that treats advanced manufacturing as an existential national priority while europe debates whether AI needs another ethics committee I think what we’re watching is the most asymmetric economic competition in modern history and most western leaders are still framing it as a productivity problem when it’s actually an ontological one Europe & America are optimizing variables that China stopped tracking years ago meanwhile China is compounding on dimensions the west has no framework to even measure Merz at least had the courage to name it out loud and I respect that genuinely but working a bit more inside a broken architecture just means you arrive at the wrong destination slightly faster

Impressive choice of project title. Inclusion in deed and in action is important. This is the kind of intentional inclusion we need to lower the national temperature. Ofcourse beyond the title, efficiency and impact are the other metrics that matter. Hope it delivers for all.

The deportation of Brian Kagoro is bigger than one case. Africans must have the right to move, engage, and organize across our continent. Pan-Africanism cannot thrive where due process is ignored. The rule of law must prevail. @CoalitionAfCHPR #AfricanUnity #RuleOfLaw

🚨 Arbitrary Detention & Deportation Alert We strongly condemn the illegal detention and deportation of Brian Bright Tamuka Kagoro by the Government of Kenya. A respected Pan-Africanist and human rights lawyer, Mr. Kagoro was held incommunicado, denied counsel, family & consular support, interrogated, and removed without due process. This action violates constitutional guarantees, international law, and civic freedoms, and undermines Kenya’s standing as a leader in regional and continental governance. Allegations against him remain unverified, and his decades of work advancing Pan-Africanism, including contributions to transforming the OAU into the African Union make this particularly alarming. 📄 Read full statement: lawyersofafrica.org/condemnation-o… ✍🏾 Endorse & Stand in Solidarity CSOs, media institutions, bar associations, academic institutions, and advocates are invited to add their support: 👉 sites.google.com/view/request-f… Amplify this call. Defend rule of law, due process & civic space across Africa. #JusticeForKagoro #RuleOfLaw #HumanRights #PanAfricanism #CivicSpace #Africa @BriggsBomba @OpenSocietyAfr @WMutunga @citizentvkenya @ntvkenya @NTVnewsroom @NationAfrica @ReutersAfrica @africanews @allafrica @BBCNews @AJEnglish @Reuters @AP @guardian @nytimes @washingtonpost @FRANCE24 @dwnews @FT @thekhrc @LawSocietyofKe @CIVICUSalliance @amnesty @hrw @FIDH_org @OpenSociety @Article19org @DefendDefenders @EndFemicidesAfrica @AfriCOG @PATROL_Africa @donalddeya @MarthaKarua @edwinsifuna @HEBabuOwino @skmusyoka @MariaSTsehai @LarryMadowo @BBCAfrica @CNNAfrica @AJEnglish @TheCitizenTz @HeraldZimbabwe @allafrica @crystalsimeoni

This is for the Archives #ThankYouBenAyade #WeWillNeverForget