Fighting between Nigeria’s military and Islamist extremists killed at least 185 people in a fishing community in the nation’s far northeast, officials said on Sunday. The fighting in Baga began Friday and lasted for hours, sending people fleeing into the arid scrublands surrounding the community on Lake Chad. Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and soldiers sprayed [...]
Nigerian Church Boasts of Largest Gathering of Christians
April 14, 2013 | Posted by
In Nigeria, faith-healing Pentecostal churches promising instant miracles are drawing more worshippers than more traditional institutions. The Redeemed Christian Church of God prides itself on holding what it calls the largest gathering of Christians in the world. The church pastor, Enock Adeboye, has become one of the richest people in Nigeria. Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow [...]
Nigeria’s Boko Haram Rejects Government’s Amnesty Offer
April 11, 2013 | Posted by
The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has rejected the idea of an amnesty. Last week Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan asked a high-level team to look into the possibility of granting the militants a pardon. The announcement was made via an audio statement believed to be from the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau. In recent years Boko [...]
In Nigeria, 1 in Every 13 Women Die During Childbirth
April 5, 2013 | Posted by
The United Nations has 1,000 days left to achieve its Millenium Development Goals, which include targets to reduce poverty, increase education and improve health. In Nigeria, the U.N.’s World Health Organization says one in every 13 women die during childbirth, making it the country with the second highest rate of maternal mortality in the world. [...]
70 percent of Nigerian Women Admit to using Bleaching Products
April 5, 2013 | Posted by
In Nigeria, a growing number of men and women are using skin whitening creams because they believe a fairer complexion will help them succeed in life. According to the World Health Organization, more than 70 percent of Nigerian women admit they use such products — despite the health hazards. That compares with 59 percent in [...]
Nigerian Female Professor Francisca Okeke Wins $100,000 Prize
April 1, 2013 | Posted by
A Nigerian female scientist has bagged a prize of $100,000 as one of the winners of the 2013 L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards in Physical Sciences. Professor Francisca Okeke, the first female Head of Department, University of Nigeria Nsukka won the 2013 Laureate Award for her significant contributions “to the understanding of daily variations of the ion currents [...]
Dozens Killed In Central Nigeria Religious Attack
March 31, 2013 | Posted by
A series of attacks on villages in central Nigeria has left dozens dead, leading officials to issue a public call for peace during the Easter weekend. The attacks are the result of religious tension between Muslims and Christians in the region, with Fulani Muslims targeting Christian villages in Plateau state. Plateau is the home of [...]
Nigerian Literary Giant Chinua Achebe Dead at 82
March 22, 2013 | Posted by
The Nigerian novelist and poet Chinua Achebe, who first made his mark with 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, has died aged 82. News reports from Nigeria this morning suggest he died at a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts of an undisclosed ailment. Achebe’s British publisher Penguin confirmed his death to The Independent of England this morning. [...]
Nigeria Projected to Surpass South Africa as Continent’s Largest Economy
March 7, 2013 | Posted by
LAGOS, Nigeria – The ever-expanding moonscape that stretches behind a wall holding back the Atlantic Ocean here will one day host a project designed to help anchor Nigeria as Africa’s biggest economy. But if the ambitious plan to construct a new city on land reclaimed from the sea represents Nigeria’s future, it is one that [...]
Nigeria’s Alhaji Aliko Dangote is Forbes 43rd Richest Man on Earth
March 5, 2013 | Posted by
Nigeria’s business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is the 43rd richest man on earth today, according to the 2013 list of world’s billionaires, compiled by Forbes Magazine. He is worth $16.1 billion, with assets from his cement, sugar, flour and other businesses. He is number one in Nigeria and Africa. LEADERSHIP recalls that Dangote was number [...]
