As the Middle East Crisis enters its 10th week, both oil-importing and oil-producing countries in Africa have been affected by the global surge in fuel prices, as Dr. Zainab Usman highlights. The crisis has also renewed conversations about the need for improved energy sovereignty across the continent, even as pressure intensifies for countries to pursue clean energy transitions.

Nigeria’s Terra Industries, a security-technology company founded by Maxwell Maduka and Nathan Nwachuku, is providing drone technology to protect critical industries from security threats. The firm, which manufactures “software, airframes, propellers, and lithium-ion battery packs,” seeks to uphold African data sovereignty by partnering with local tech firms and keeping production in-house.

• A new book by Dr. Christophe Premat entitled African Intellectual Sensitivities spotlights six African thinkers who not only debate about Africa, but are also involved in critiquing existing knowledge about Africa, analyzing power dynamics in a global context, and rethinking how this knowledge is produced.
• Nigerian ecologist Dr. Iroro Tanshi has won the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize (Africa) for her environmental advocacy to protect endangered species in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, including the short-tailed roundleaf bat.
• The global rise of Afrobeats has sparked vibrant debates among African artists about how best to represent the continent’s musical diversity. Some, like Ghana’s King Promise, claim that the terminology limits the diversity and creativity of African music.

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Image: Brown fuel pump. 11 September 2017. Photo Credit: Scott Rodgerson, Unsplash.