When the African Union (AU) Heads of State committed to allocating at least 15% of annual government budgets to their health sectors In Abuja, Nigeria in 2001, they also called on high income countries to fulfil their own commitment to devote at least 0.7% of their GNP as ODA to developing countries and to cancel Africa’s external debt in favour of increased investment in the social sector.

The Abuja target, thus, consists of three components; African countries should:

- mobilise domestic resources for health (15% now);

- unencumbered by debt servicing (Debt cancellation now); and

- be supported by ODA (0.7% GNP to ODA now).

After the significant fall in public sector funding of the health sector funding associated with structural adjustment programmes and market reforms, most African countries clearly need to increase public sector investment in health. Poorer groups have considerably worse health than the better off and economic growth and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the region is seriously undermined by the prevalence of HIV and AIDS, TB, Malaria and other diseases. Eleven of the 16 countries in east and southern Africa spend in their public sectors less than the US$34 needed for the most basic interventions for these conditions, let alone the US$80 needed for more comprehensive health services. Very few East and Southern African (ESA) countries have health care spending levels anywhere near this amount, and there are thus major unmet health needs. Ten of the sixteen countries in the region, if they met the Abuja target, would, however, increase their public financing to health above the level of US$34/capita needed for the basic health programmes.

An outbreak of polio has hit northern Nigeria again and started spreading into neighbouring countries, the United Nations health agency says, warning of a potential international outbreak on the scale of the one that struck 20 countries between 2003 and 2006.

Nigerian militants responsible for the bombing of oil pipelines and the kidnapping of foreign workers in the Niger delta said yesterday they would not take part in a peace summit called by the government. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, whose campaign of violent sabotage against Nigeria's oil industry has helped push world oil prices to record highs, said next month's summit was bound to fail.

Russian oil giant, Gazprom, is among several foreign companies jostling to replace Royal Dutch Shell in Ogoniland following Federal Government’s decision to award the oil fields to another company. It is also reported that many Chinese companies have indicated interest in the oil fields, which hold proven reserves of over 10 trillion cubic metres of gas – one of the world’s largest.

The 1st Annual Conference of the Working Class and Trade Union Studies Association of Nigeria (WCTUSAN) was convened and held at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan on 30 - 31st May 2008. Participants were drawn from the trade unions, academics, labour NGO’s, youths and students from different geo-political zones of Nigeria. The Key- note Address on the theme: ‘Towards A Liberating Self-understanding of The Working Class By The Working Class: The Case of Industrial Relations’ was delivered by the socialist former National President of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. Festus Iyayi.

Just over half of a sample of Nigerian patients on failing antiretroviral therapy had extensive cross-resistance to all nucleoside analogues, including tenofovir, according to findings from Nigeria’s national treatment programme presented on Wednesday at the 2008 HIV Implementers’ meeting in Kampala, Uganda.

The planned removal of oil giant Shell from southern Nigeria's Ogoniland will finally give the impoverished region a chance to develop, the son of executed activist Ken Saro-Wiwa said on Thursday. Saro-Wiwa was hanged in 1995 by Nigeria's then-military government for leading protests against Royal Dutch Shell over pollution and a lack of development, provoking an international outcry and turning Nigeria into a pariah state.

Nigeria's Senate has approved a former top police officer to head the country's anti-corruption agency, rejecting opposition and rights campaigners' concerns that President Umaru Yar'Adua disregarded the law in naming her. Senators voted unanimously on Thursday in support of the appointment of Farida Waziri, a retired high-ranking police officer chosen by Yar'Adua last month to head the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber, the House of Representatives on June 3, 2008, for the seventh time, refused to take the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill at the Committee of the Whole (Third Reading). This came barely 24 hours after the upper chambers, the Senate, held a Public Hearing on the Bill.

Respect for due process is a critical element to safeguard the independence and accountability of institutions. The ongoing discussions in the Nigerian Senate on the appointment of Farida Waziri as new head of the country’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, are needed to ensure the EFCC’s ability to fulfil its anti-corruption mandate, said Transparency International (TI), the global anti-corruption organization.

The foremost Nigerian rebel group has threatened to carry out a series of attacks on oil installations and military checkpoints. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said in a statement on Wednesday that it would carry out car bombings to mark the one-year anniversary since Umaru Yar'Adua was inaugurated as president.

Reverend Jide Macaulay of House of Rainbow, who is gay, fears for his life following death threats he received after Nigeria’s PM News published his picture alongside an article titled ‘Homosexual Act Not Against Bible’. Written by Samuel Ateba, the story which appeared on PM News’s front page on 12 May followed an exclusive interview that Macaulay had with Mo Abudu’s on A Moment with Mo talk show discussing homosexuality.

A human rights group said on Thursday that 800 000 residents of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, were forcibly evicted over a four-year period as town planners sought to clear space for the fast-growing city. The Swiss-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions said in a new report that many of those removed from their homes by authorities between 2003 and 2007 were not given due notice or afforded other usual rights. The group said some evictees were tear-gassed or beaten.

The absence of last mile equipment and high cost of bandwidth have been identified as the major reasons why broadband Internet access penetration is low in Nigeria. Latest figures released by Internet Statistics, a global Internet usage measurement firm, put the number of broadband users in Nigeria at just 500, compared to over 800,000 in South Africa.

Shell says it requires an additional $3 billion (N375 billion) and the resolution of the Niger Delta crisis to be able to end gas flaring in the country, insisting that it will be unable to meet the December 2008 deadline due to insecurity in the oil-rich region and funding shortfalls.

Shell-headquarters in the Netherlands is held liable by Friends of the Earth Netherlands/Nigeria and four Nigerians, for the massive damage that oil spills are causing to villages in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Last Friday, Dutch lawyers representing the plaintiffs summoned Shell to clarify its role concerning oil spills. In early June, based on Shell-headquarters' response, the plaintiffs will decide whether to proceed with the lawsuit.

On 6 May 2008, about a dozen armed, plain-clothed policemen from the Niger State Command (in north-central Nigeria) raided the head office of "Leadership" newspaper in Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital, and arrested the newspaper's deputy editor, Danladi Ndayebo, over a feature article published by the paper.

The theme of the conference is The Nigerian Trade Union Movement: Retrospect and Prospects. The keynote speaker isDr. Festus Iyayi, Department of Business Administration, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. Date: 30-31 May 2008.

Aimed at building leadership, advocacy and technical expertise of women - particularly HIV positive women - who are working on the frontlines in the fight against AIDS throughout Nigeria, this intensive, three-week workshop represents a collaboration between the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) Washington D.C., and Africa regional master trainers who have graduated from CEDPA's past training programs.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the members of Nigeria's House of Representatives to stop delaying the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill after its consideration was deferred for the fifth time last week.