African press review 5 July 2018

President Macron challenges young Nigerians to buld their future at home and to never retreat from seeking leadership positions.

We begin in Nigeria, where several papers analyze the results of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the country.

The Tribune takes up Macron's warning that up to one million people migrate to Europe every year, because of wars and other crises in their home countries, many endangering their lives in the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

In an address to young African entrepreneurs gathered at an interactive session in Lagos on Wednesday Macron reportedly stated that one of the ways to fight migration is to make it possible for Africans to succeed in Africa.

Punch underlines that the French leader confessed that the problem of migration would become a thing of the past, if Europe, the United States of America and other developed countries help Africa embrace innovation which would create employment opportunities and improve living conditions at home for all.

According to the paper, President Macron asked young Africans not to retreat from seeking leadership positions, irrespective of the difficulties encountered.

Meanwhile, Sahara Reporters comes back on President Macron's trip to the Afrika Shrine in Lagos where he met Kareem Olamilekan, an 11-year-old boy who made a drawing of him under two hours.

According to the paper the French President who was hosted by the Lagos State Government at the Afrika Shrine enjoyed the treat so much that he took to his official Instagram handle to express his delight.

In Kenyan, Standard digital welcomes the government's unveiling of a plan to use Alphabet Inc’s system of balloons to beam high-speed Internet access in hopes of connecting more of its rural population to the web.

The paper says that ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru announced the plan on Wednesday stating that representatives of the so-called Project Loon were holding talks with local telecom operators on the deployment of the technology.

It's worth recalling that the system was used by US telecom operators to provide connectivity to more than 250,000 people in Puerto Rico after a hurricane last year. Major cities and towns in the country of 45 million inhabitants people, are covered by operator networks, but vast swathes of rural Kenya are not covered.

With more than 45 million people, Kenya’s major cities and towns are covered by operator networks, but vast swathes of rural Kenya are not covered, according to the Standard.

And in South Africa, there is excitement in the media about the launch of an unprecedented bid to sleep in the tiny Robben Island prison room where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison.

The tiny Number 7 cell with a small red bin‚ a green bench‚ a metal bowl and cup‚ a small mat and thick metal bars on the window, has been left exactly the way it was when Nelson Mandela was freed on February 11, 1990.

But the Sowetan reports that the 'Sleepout' group organizing the event is woeing international business people and celebrities to join the bidding starting at 214,000 euros.

The paper say the bid will close on midnight on July 17‚ with the unprecedented sleep-in at the prison scheduled on July 18‚ the day which would have been Mandela's 100th birthday.

The newspaper quotes organizers as saying that a portion of the funds raised from this auction will be awarded to the 'Prison-To-College Pipeline.

This is an innovative South African education initiative inspired by the New York program to increase the chances of university-level education, mentorship‚ community support and employment fo former inmates.