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NIGERIA: Fighting lethal Lassa fever

Nigerian health officials are working to contain a resurgence of Lassa fever, a highly infectious disease that has killed at least eight people in the past month. The World Health Organization (WHO) said over 93 cases of the virus had been confirmed in the capital Abuja and neighboring Nasarawa state since December. At the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo state, confirmed cases rose by 60 percent between from December to January. “That is a major increase and furthermore these are...

Nigerian states urged not to execute

Nigeria’s state governments have been urged not to extend the death penalty to include crimes such as kidnapping. Nigeria currently operates a self-imposed moratorium on executions but Anambra, Enugu and Rivers states have all expressed their intention to make kidnapping punishable by death. In Abia, legislative amendments have been made which provide for kidnapping as a capital offence. Amnesty International, along with the Nigerian Bar Association Human Rights Institute (NBAHRI) and Nigerian...

NIGERIA: Urbanisation chokes commerce

Shop owners in Nigeria’s northern Kano state told IRIN a government plan to wipe out illegal businesses has thousands of small business owners floundering in a region where population density and unemployment are among the highest nationwide. “I was not given any notice to vacate,” said Sani Abdullahi, who told IRIN he sold household goods out of a stall for the past eight years in Kano city, the state capital. “More than a dozen armed policemen accompanied by officials from KNUPDA [Kano Urban...

Greenpeace undercover operation exposes illegal dumping of e-waste in Nigeria

Electronics companies must take responsibility for recycling their products Electronic waste intended for recycling is being illegally exported from the United Kingdom to Nigeria disguised as second-hand goods, Greenpeace exposed in an undercover operation. Nigeria is just one of many destinations for the developed world's toxic e-waste. The operation, carried out with Sky television, highlights how electronic companies' failure to take responsibility for recycling their products is...

WEST AFRICA: Hopes for "re-eradicating" polio

Health specialists are increasingly optimistic that growing acceptance of the polio vaccine in northern Nigeria offers hope that an upcoming immunisation campaign across West Africa will succeed in “re-eradicating” the disease in countries affected in 2008 after several polio-free years. Health officials in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), are vaccinating nearly 40 million children in a “synchronised”...

NIGERIA: Painkiller leaves 84 children dead

Health authorities in Nigeria announced on 4 February that 84 children have died and a further 27 have fallen ill since November as a result of ingesting a pain-relief syrup called ‘My Pikin’. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) discovered in November that the product contained the chemical Diethylene glycol, which can be lethal to babies and children. The chemical has been involved in a number of poisonings in the past after being added to medicines,...

NIGERIA: Northern states on high alert for meningitis

Nigerian health authorities have placed northern states on high alert following a meningitis outbreak in neighbouring Niger, which according to the World Health Organization (WHO) killed 17 people and infected 382 in January. “In view of the fact that there are certain states sharing boundaries with Niger Republic, we have adopted a stitch-in-time strategy of putting these states on a state of high alert,” said Nigerian Health Minister Babatunde Osotimehin in a 4 February statement. The...

Nigerian pirates grab French ship

Pirates have seized a ship owned by a French company off the Nigerian coast, taking nine crew members hostage. The company - Bourbon - said the captain had assured them that all crew members were unharmed. The hostages are from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Indonesia. Piracy is common in Nigerian waters, often linked to militants targeting oil companies.Militants attack vessels and strip them of valuables, taking hostages for ransom. The hostages are usually released later.

Militants Blowup Oil pipeline In Delta State

An oil pipeline was blown up with dynamite in Nigeria's restive south, a military official said Saturday.Regional army chief Brig. Gen. Wuyep Rimtip said he did not know how severe the damage was or if there were any casualties as a result of the blast late Friday in Delta State in Nigeria's restive south. Officials from the pipeline's owner Agip — a subsidiary of Italian energy giant Eni SpA — were not immediately available for comment.Rimtip said he suspected local youths rather than...

Over 1,000 Nigerian riders arrested for not wearing crash helmet

About 1,097 commercial motorcycle operators (Okada) were arrested nationwide as the law on the use of crash helmets by motorcyclists went into force at beginning of the new year. Local media reported Friday that 60 were arrested in Asaba, the Delta State capital, while 1,037 were arrested in Lagos. Lagos State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Kayode Olagungu confirmed the arrests, saying "the measure was to show the seriousness of the Federal Government in...