Emmanuel Akinwotu
Emmanuel Akinwotu is an international correspondent for NPR. He joined NPR in 2022 from The Guardian, where he was West Africa correspondent.
He has reported in Africa since 2016, covering a wide range of prominent and under-reported stories, from the war in Sudan that has torn through the country and sparked one of the worst humanitarian crises and an exodus of refugees to neighboring countries, to the rise of military takeovers in West and Central Africa. He has covered the growing international dominance of African music, interviewing music stars from Angelique Kidjo to Tems and Davido, as well as the rise of the drill rap scene in Ghana, partly inspired by similar movements in Chicago, New York and London. He has reported on the growing flight of young people from Nigeria in search of a better life abroad, and from coastal towns in Senegal, covering the toll that widespread migration to Europe has on families left behind. In 2020, he reported from major protests in Nigeria against police brutality that, despite being violently suppressed, were a galvanizing moment for many young people seeking change.
Before The Guardian, he worked as a correspondent for Agence France-Presse news, working on misinformation and then as a general reporter on Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Togo. Previous to that, he was a freelance reporter for The New York Times and other media. In 2018 he co-led a NYT investigation into how scores of Shia Muslim protesters were killed near the Nigerian capital, Abuja, by a special military unit directly answerable to Nigeria's president.
He is a once proud and now fairly tortured fan of Manchester United and the Philadelphia 76ers. He was born in London and moved to Lagos in 2016, in reverse to the move his parents made when they left Nigeria for the U.K. in the 1980s. Emmanuel notes his dad has gone from concern about the merits of this decision, to taking full credit for it. [Copyright 2025 NPR]
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Nigeria's government is pushing back against U.S. efforts to send the country migrants and foreign prisoners, with Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar quoting Public Enemy to drive home his point. -
Before fighting broke out over two years ago, Khartoum had nearly 100 public and private medical facilities. Today, not a single one remains operational. -
Government forces retook the capital city from rebel troops in April. Now comes the task of rebuilding what was once a bustling metropolis on the Nile. -
Sudan has cut ties with the United Arab Emirates, accusing the gulf country of arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that attacked Port Sudan. -
Images of Sudan after two years of civil war that have led to the world's biggest humanitarian crisis. -
As "pathway to peace talks" are held in London - minus the main protagonists - Sudan tips into a third year of catastrophic civil war, as violence surges in the Darfur region of the west of the country and activists warn of an unfolding genocide. -
Sudanese paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces has claimed it has taken control of famine-hit Zamzam camp, after days of deadly fighting in the Darfur region. -
Sudanese activist Duaa Tariq, who spoke to NPR throughout the war, shares what its like in the "liberated" capital Khartoum, after two years occupied by the Rapid Support Forces -
The government in Nigeria is warning about the health risks of skin lightening, where potent chemicals can thin and damage skin. It's a booming business in that country and others. -
Sudan's army has taken control of the presidential palace in Khartoum, in a major turning point during the war. The palace and the capital had been occupied by the Rapid Support Force paramilitary since the start of the war, but over the last year the army have been making gradual gains.
