Malian singer Rokia Traore will be extradited from Italy to Belgium over an outstanding two-year prison sentence handed down in a child custody dispute, her lawyer said Thursday.

The singer and guitarist was sentenced in absentia by a Brussels court last year on charges of parental abduction.

She was arrested in Italy in June and challenged the extradition order, but a Rome court ruled Thursday that “Rokia will have to be transferred to Belgium within 10 days from today,” lawyer Maddalena Claudia Del Re told AFP.

Traore had been arrested in Paris in March 2020 on a European arrest warrant over a Belgian court ruling ordering her to return her daughter, now aged nine, to the child’s Belgian father.

She defied a ban on leaving France and flew home to Mali several months later, before she could be sent to Belgium.

A lawyer for the child’s father said he had not had any contact with his daughter, who lives in Mali, since she turned four.

The lawyer said the father had offered to draw up a new custody agreement with Traore, validated by Malian and Belgian courts, to “find a way out of this nightmare and guarantee their child a future with two parents”.

Nigerian comedian Ali Baba has raised concerns about the serious issues facing Nigeria, especially in the northern region.

In an Instagram post yetserday, he shared a video showing many schoolchildren in the North who were out of school and begging on the streets, calling for urgent action.

Ali Baba recalled discussions he had over five years ago with friends from top universities. They created a WhatsApp group to brainstorm solutions for Nigeria’s problems. He noticed that some members from the North were sensitive when it came to discussing the high number of out-of-school children.

He wrote in part, “Many, who believed, like me, that the failure of the government to properly educate the young children from birth to age 10 was going to be a time bomb waiting to explode. We agreed it was happening in the south, too, but the rate and number of out-of-school children were becoming alarming, especially in the northern parts of Nigeria.”

“This woman from the North protested about the discussions. Vehemently. Then, at another time, time the matter on the front burner was grazing. Where my position was, the rearing and trading in livestock was a personal business…” he added.

He noted that the discussions took a different turn after a video of children begging for food was sent to the group.

“Then, a video surfaced, showing hundreds of children begging for food. Not in an IDP camp oooo. Inside Kano. As soon as we started discussing the issue, a certain Northern lady pounced on me as one who always has the negative narrative,” the comic continued.

Ali Baba highlighted the responsibility of Nigeria’s elite to address the educational and social issues facing the country, especially in the North.

“I kuku left the group. Now, only the Northern people are complaining about what I complained about. But I don’t feel vindicated, I just realised that some of the Northern elites are responsible for the way things are. The way I see it, the number of kids as seen I the posted video is mind-boggling. And it’s not 10 years yet, like I warned. Dem go feel it!” he concluded.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ali Baba (@alibabagcfr)

Bankole Wellington, the music executive fondly called Banky W, has announced his relocation to the United States with his family.

In an Instagram post, Banky W shared the reasons behind his decision, saying “family, faith, and finding purpose”.

The singer also revealed that he will be pursuing a masters degree in Policy Management at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

He posted photos with his wife Adesua and their son at the airport, as well as snapshots with loved ones, including music executive Eldee.

“For family. For faith. For finding purpose. For the next year of earning a Masters degree in Policy Management at Georgetown University in Washington DC,” he wrote.

Adesua added, “home is wherever you are” in the comment section.