Cowboy-hat wearing Wellington Jighere from Nigeria crushed his English opponent 4-0 at the World Scrabble Championship in Australia to become first African to bag the word game's global title. Jighere, 32, was among more than 120 competitors who travelled to Perth for the World English-language Scrabble Players' Association Championship, which culminated in Sunday's  final against England's Lewis Mackay.

The camera rolls from left to right on a dolly as the actors, all African, go through their lines, a sound operator holding a boom steady over their heads under bright studio lights. It could be a scene from any film set but Kunle Afolayan hopes "The CEO" could drive change in Nigeria's hugely popular and prolific movie industry, Nollywood. "'CEO' represents Africa as a continent," said the filmmaker. 

Ruth McDowall, a photographer from New Zealand, has worked in Nigeria for several years; at the end of 2013, she began researching the kidnapping of Nigerian girls. After hearing that a friend had interviewed a girl whom Boko Haram had abducted and used as a sex slave, McDowall set out to meet and photograph girls who had escaped the group. 

In a statement, Sani said greater openness was the only way to improve Nigeria's reputation at home and abroad, which has long been tainted by corruption. "The international image of Nigeria as a corrupt country and its political elites as patently corrupt cannot be cleansed unless and until all elected and appointed public office holders come publicly clean as to their quantity and sources of wealth," he said.

Distrust in how best to strategize global development aid works in both directions. Engaging faith-based organizations has historically been met with skepticism from secular aid organizations. [...] “Inter-religious organizations and leaders can help donors overcome these challenges by active engagement as cultural brokers and guides.”

Former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, on Tuesday said Nollywood was a veritable tool for cultural diplomacy and social re-engineering in Nigeria.

The government of North Korea has rightfully gained a reputation in the West for isolation and obstinacy, but its diplomatic ventures in Africa have poised it to be significantly more influential on that continent than potentially anywhere else. 

There is only as much traditional diplomacy of state-to-state exchanges can do. The reality of contemporary times is that non-state actors have become increasingly potent agents of diplomacy engaged directly or indirectly by states in pursuit of their foreign policy interests.