Patrick Egwu is an award-winning freelance journalist based in Nigeria who reports on global health, education, religion, conflict and other development issues in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. He has been published in African Arguments, FT's This is Africa, Ozy, BRIGHT Magazine, and IJNet, among others.
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Catholics in Africa fight dual battles: COVID-19 vaccine scarcity, skepticism
As access to coronavirus vaccines continues to be limited in Africa, Catholic officials across the continent are struggling to maintain prevention measures, fight misinformation and convince those who can to get themselves vaccinated.
Vatican's gay blessing ban stokes fear among African LGBT Catholics
The Vatican's recent decree banning Catholic priests from blessing same-sex marriages has stoked fear among the LGBT community in countries across Africa, where there is widespread discrimination and laws criminalizing same-sex activity.
Some Catholic parishes in Nigeria ask for money before burying the dead
In Nigeria, especially in the southeastern region, the Catholic Church can deny funeral rites over unpaid dues or levies. Having to get a clearance certificate stating there is no debt to the parish has been generating controversy for many years.
Nigerian farming communities win landmark court ruling against Shell
Simon Ayafa has witnessed oil pollution in the Niger Delta region since he was 15. Now, at 35, he feels the region has been made uninhabitable by decades of oil spills. A series of pipeline spills between 2008 and 2009 left the Niger Delta region flowing in oil, but recently, farmers won a landmark case against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.
