HAPPY NEW YEAR!
A new year always starts with optimism and a great of deal of hopefulness. There are no regrets. It also allows you to reflect on the year that has just gone by. Here are some notable things that happened in 2021
OMICRON
The World Health Organization(WHO) identified B.1.1.529 a COVID-19 variant whose global epicentre is South Africa of concern and named it Omicron. Highly contagious, this new has wreaked havoc on international travel and threatened the pandemic recovery.
VACCINES
In March, the first batch of some 3.94 Million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines got to Nigeria. More vaccines arrived subsequently and about 4.38 Million people (2.1% of the populations) have been fully vaccinated, compared to 49% worldwide.
THE RETURNS OF ARTEFACTS
In April, Germany announced its resolution to return to the people of Nigeria the numerous artefacts of Benin origin taken when the British sacked the Oba’s palace in 1897. The artefacts which are to be found in different museums across Germany will be returned early this year.
In November, President Macron of France gave back 26 art pieces taken from the Abomey Palace in Benin Republic some 130 years ago. The art pieces were given to Patrice Talon, President of Benin Republic by Macron at a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
NIGERIA BANS TWITTER
In June, the Federal Government announced that it had indefinitely suspended the operations of Twitter in the country for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence. Twitter had 2 days prior to the suspension deleted a controversial tweet posted by President Buhari on the Nigeria civil war which Twitter said violated the company’s abusive behaviour policy.
AFRICA GETS THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
In October, Abdulrazak Gurnah from Tanzania was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature ‘for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents’
Adding to the continents’ literacy accolades Mohammed Mbougar of Senegal won the Prix Goncourt for La Plus Secrete Memoire des Hommes (The Most Secret Memory of Men).
CONGOLESE MUSIC AND SENEGALESE FOOD ON UNESCO LIST
In December, Congolese rumba and Senegalese theieboudieune were listed in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO) culture heritage list. UNESCO stated that their inclusion on its ‘intangible cultural heritage’ list helps to ‘maintain cultural diversity in the face of growing globalisations
DESMOND TUTU DIES
In December, the iconic and beloved Desmond Tutu of South Africa died. He was 90 years and the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner for ‘his role as a unifying leader figure in the non-violent compaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa’.
