Jamilah Conteh Speaks — Friday, October 30, 2026. From Freetown, Sierra Leone: an African-run energy company comes under majority African ownership; the Kalamazoo Promise opens its doors to HBCUs; Parliament signs for a rice processing zone; three channel sparks on students, a gifted child and being heard; stories, songs and digital rules; and two Write About It posts on young builders and checking before you share — ten minutes of SJOL News.
Today’s rundown
0:00 — News lead: Oryx Energies comes home. Per Afreximbank (Cairo, October 28), the bank has disbursed a US$975 million financing facility to part-finance the management buy-out of Oryx Energies SA, the holding company of Addax Energy SA, “bringing one of the largest and longest-established independent providers of energy products and services in Africa under majority African ownership for the first time.” Per Reuters, via CNBC Africa, the buying team includes Oryx chief executive Moussa Diao, who is from Senegal; the bank did not give the total value of the buy-out; and Diao said: “Our ambition remains to strengthen our activities in energy trading and infrastructure development across Africa.” (Verified 30 Oct: matches Afreximbank’s release and the Reuters report; Reuters adds that Addax is based in Switzerland and that the team is buying the company from its founder, Jean Claude Gandur.) Diaspora desk: Per HBCU News, citing Fox 17, from fall 2027 eligible Kalamazoo Public Schools graduates in Michigan can use their Kalamazoo Promise scholarships at accredited four-year HBCUs nationwide — the first time in the programme’s more than 20-year history. Kalamazoo Central Principal Valerie Boggan said: “What we do know is you cannot be what you cannot see.” Home desk: Per the Sierra Leone Monitor, Parliament on Thursday, October 29, ratified a Protocol of Agreement with the African Development Fund for the Sierra Leone Rice Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (Phase I), and a loan agreement with the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa to finance an increase in Sierra Leone’s subscribed share capital in Shelter Afrique Development Bank.
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2:00 — Channel sparks (attributed, fair use — watch the originals).
- Frontline Africa — “Gambian Students Said ENOUGH | What Will It Take to Wake Nigerians Up?” (title as published). Per Africanews, citing AFP, hundreds of University of The Gambia students demonstrated on Monday, October 26, chanting “We’re fed up”; their union pointed to inadequate transport, limited drinking water, the closure of a canteen and unreliable internet; the Ministry of Higher Education called for “constructive dialogue”, and the government announced the resumption of catering, extra water dispensers, transport and better internet.
- The Latest.g1 — “A CHILD’S FOOTBALL SKILLS TRIGGERED A POLICE CALL — THE WORLD IN SHOCK” (title as published). Per the Guardian, the parents of three-year-old Nevada say he was taken out of an i9 Sports game in Florida for being too good, while the organiser said he had pushed other children and his parents became argumentative; Winter Park police said the family left cooperatively and no one was arrested, and Nevada cannot be seen pushing anyone in the clip his parents posted. Per TheGrio, citing Complex Sports, Roc Nation Sports is reportedly arranging a December trip to Spain for Nevada Pierre’s development (reported, not confirmed by Roc Nation); the circumstances of the police call are disputed.
- The Emerging Alkebulan — “This Is NOT a Safe Space — Creating Human Connection in a World That Often Fails to Hear” (title as published), with psychotherapist and author Abi Canepa-Anson. Per her publisher, Conscious Dreams Publishing, the book was written in the wake of profound personal loss and shaped by sixteen years of clinical practice; through the author’s experiences as a Black woman therapist, it examines how racism, misogynoir and other forms of systemic oppression shape mental health, and asks: “What does it take to create spaces where people feel genuinely heard?”
4:00 — Culture, tech & spirit. Per Sierraloaded, Akuna Learning, an initiative of The Akuna Group chaired by Sir Idris Elba, has opened applications for From Script to Screen with AI, a free filmmaking programme for applicants residing in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa; applications close on November 15, 2026; it is delivered in partnership with Google, with course content by Curious Refuge; a 12-week online academy runs from February to April 2027; selected projects receive production funding; and creators retain control of their work. Women are particularly encouraged to apply. Per Le Soleil, Baaba Maal and Wally Seck, Thione Seck’s heir, are coming together in a Marva Music project revisiting Thione Seck’s hits, on the road to the Les Blues du fleuve festival in Podor and Ndioum from December 4 to 6, with a preview on November 27 at the Théâtre Daniel Sorano in Dakar (the songs have not been announced). Per the African Union, Commissioner Lerato D. Mataboge told the 6th AU Specialised Technical Committee on Communication and ICT in Libreville: “Africa must not remain a consumer of the global digital revolution. We must help shape its rules, drive its innovation and capture its opportunities.” Spirit note (opinion): a story told by us, a song sung by us, a rule written by us — that is how a house becomes a home.
5:30 — Marketplace & learning. Makers and teachers who serve our people: sell cloth, food, books, beauty and art, and teach language, farming or craft. Spend with your own, and let your money come home. Visit The Shoppes on Soul Journey of Life.
6:00 — Write About It + SJOL take. New on Write About It: Built by Young Hands (per the post, citing the FIRST Global Challenge organisers, an all-girl team from Rwanda won gold in the Judges Award at the 2026 challenge in Incheon, South Korea, and Team Jamaica won gold for Innovation in Engineering; the Sudanese Innovations and Robotics Team won gold in the Courageous Achievement Award, and, per Sudan Nabaa — a single source, as the post notes — its members built their robot while dispersed across nine countries by war; five African universities have begun a nine-month effort to test AI in teaching with a person kept in the loop; and the Pan-African Robotics Competition comes to Dakar from November 3 to 7). Also new: Check the Story Before You Pass It On (per the post, the West African tale of why mosquitoes buzz in people’s ears shows how one small untruth becomes a disaster when nobody checks it; the Ghanaian-American computer scientist Dr. Joy Buolamwini found face-detection software struggled with her dark-skinned face, and her 2018 Gender Shades study with Dr. Timnit Gebru found error rates of up to 34.7% for darker-skinned women against a maximum of 0.8% for lighter-skinned men; and the post offers a three-question check: who said it, where is the proof, and do two other trustworthy sources say the same thing?). Jamilah’s take (opinion): build boldly and check carefully — read both posts, then write your own on Write About It.
8:00 — Closing opinion. From Freetown: own the house. To African capital: per Afreximbank, an African lender put up nearly a billion dollars so an African-run energy company could come home — do it again, for refineries, power and ports, so the value we pump and ship stays with us. To Black America: per HBCU News, Kalamazoo’s graduates can now carry their scholarships to our own colleges — send your children where they can see themselves, and send some to study in Africa. To the Gambia: per Africanews, the students asked for water, transport and internet — those are the floor a nation stands on; keep the promises and keep listening. To Salone: per the Sierra Leone Monitor, Parliament has signed for a rice processing zone — let the farmers feel it, and stop importing what our own soil can grow. To the young ones in Freetown, Kigali, Banjul and Kalamazoo: apply, build, create, keep what you make — and check the story before you share it. (Opinion.)
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Jamilah Conteh Speaks is SJOL News’ daily noon brief from Freetown, Sierra Leone. Every quote and factual claim is attributed on air; opinion segments are labelled. Full source list available on request.
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