United Nations officials have launched development efforts to help communities affected by a Nigerian-Cameroonian boundary settlement that saw several border modifications, including Nigeria’s transfer to Cameroon of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula. At the request of both Governments, the UN country teams (UNCTs) in the two nations met during a meeting chaired by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for West Africa Said Djinnit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to identify ways to create development programme synergies along the border, including in Bakassi and the Lake Chad area.

Nigeria has filed charges against former US Vice-President Dick Cheney over a scandal involving a former subsidiary of Halliburton energy firm. The case, brought by the country's anti-corruption agency, centres on engineering firm KBR, which admitted bribing officials. Cheney's lawyer has called the allegations 'entirely baseless'. Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive before becoming vice-president to George W Bush in 2001.

In early 2010, unresolved conflicts and simmering tensions between different social and ethnic groups led to renewed displacement in the city of Jos in the heart of the 'middle belt' region of Nigeria. As in the rest of the country, no clear figures on the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) were available for this latest incident of violence. Ad-hoc local registration exercises have hinted at the scale of displacement, but many people sought shelter and support from family and friends and so were not counted, says a December report form the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

Compelling new evidence suggests the Nigerian military killed four Ogoni elders whose murders led to the execution of the playwright and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995. The evidence also reveals that the notorious military commander Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Okuntimo, whose troops were implicated in murder and rape, was in the pay of Shell at the time of the killings and was driven around in a Shell vehicle.

The military Joint Task Force (JTF) battling militants in Nigeria's oil producing Niger Delta region last Wednesday raided and destroyed three camps operated by militant John Togo, seizing several weapons, a military spokesman said. The JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col Timothy Antigha, however said Thursday it was too early to give casualty figures, while denying rebels' claim that 100 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack, in the creeks of Delta state.

In an interview with The Africa Report, the founder of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force. explains why the Niger Delta's troubles remain central to Nigeria's politics. 'The NDPVF was formed after the 2003 elections when the government threatened that they wanted me dead because of my views. I had offered to be a witness at Muhammadu Buhari’s election tribunal hearing. They were shocked that as close as I was to Odili, I would be willing to give evidence against his party’s conduct of the 2003 election in Rivers State.'

The Nigerian government needs to show commitment to the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa by passing relevant laws and allocating funds to women’s rights, argues Omoyemen Odigie-Emmanuel.

Media workers in the employ of Nigeria's federal government returned to work last Tuesday after they suspended their three day warning strike over the implementation of a new media salary structure. The suspension came following a meeting with key government officials. Members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the Radio, Television and Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU) had on Monday begun a three-day warning strike to force government to implement a new media pay structure for federal media workers who are said to be earning the lowest in the west African sub region.

Nigeria's military confirmed on Thursday it had freed 19 foreign and local hostages being held by militants in the Niger Delta oil region. The hostages included two Americans, two Frenchmen, two Indonesians, one Canadian and 12 Nigerians, Major General Charles Omoregie, commander of a military taskforce in the Niger Delta, told a news conference in oil hub Port Harcourt.

With Nigerian National Assembly officials stressing that they will not submit to pressure from oil multinationals, Uche Igwe considers the extent to which the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will facilitate reform of the country’s oil and gas sector.

Nigeria’s main militant group said last week it had seized seven oil workers in a raid on an ExxonMobil facility and threatened a major attack while claiming the military fired rockets at one of its camps. The offshore raid was the latest such incident in recent months in the Niger Delta, the heart of the country’s huge oil industry, and the military warned of action at the weekend, saying residents near militant camps should clear out.

Labour unions suspended their three-day warning strike aimed at forcing the government to enact into law and implement a national minimum wage of 18,000 naira (about $120). The strike was called off Wednesday after an emergency meeting between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria. They agreed to suspend the strike for three weeks on the understanding that President Goodluck Jonathan would place the Minimum Wage Bill before the National Assembly for speedy legislative process after the National Council of State meets on it November 25.

Fifteen years ago Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists who led protests against Shell Oil company were hanged by the Nigerian government after a sham trial on trumped up charges. Justice in Nigeria Now remembers Ken Saro Wiwa and his colleagues, noting new revelations about Shell’s PR strategy after the deaths of the Ogoni activists.

The main suspect behind twin car bombings in Nigeria's capital Abuja last month was also responsible for bomb attacks in the southern oil city of Warri in March, the secret service alleged on Wednesday. The State Security Service (SSS) said Henry Okah, who is facing conspiracy and terrorism charges in South Africa over the Abuja attacks on 1 October, travelled to Warri and wired the car bombs which were detonated on 15 March outside government talks about an amnesty programme.

Some oil companies, including Shell and Chevron, have signed up to what is known as Voluntary Principles, by which they declare how they would change their corporate practices in the area of security and human rights. See the principles at This Environmental Rights Action article asks whether these principles have resulted in any positive change, touches on the principles behind them and how they can be applied to Nigerian oil fields.

Of Nigeria’s 150 million population 40 million are unemployed. 'A capitalist Nigeria is finding it difficult pulling Nigerian youth out of the frustration caused by unemployment simply because it is based on the profit motive. At the base of capitalism are greed and inhuman neglect of the unfortunate condition of the masses in general and the working class in particular,' writes Ola Balogun in an article on the Centre for Civil Society's website.

Gunmen have attacked an off shore oil rig operated by exploration firm, Afren, kidnapping five crew members including foreigners and injuring two others, the company said on Monday. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) made no immediate claim of responsibility but threatened to carry out new attacks on oil infrastructure in the country. A resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta would be an embarrassment for President Goodluck Jonathan, who is the first Nigerian President from the region.

A diplomatic row is brewing between Nigeria and Iran over the shipment of 13 containers of arms and ammunition into the country. Although the arms-laden ship came from the Indian port in Mumbai, it was alleged that the ship originated from Iran. It was also alleged that Nigeria might have been a routing point for the arms, which are believed to be on the way to Gaza Strip in the Middle East, with the consignment belonging to the Hamas Militant Group.

An explosion rocked a government guest house in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta on Wednesday, a month after twin car bombings in the capital Abuja, a local government official said. The explosion damaged two upstairs rooms of the guest house in Asaba, the capital of Delta state, but there were no injuries, Sunny Ogefere, spokesman for the state governor said.

Nigeria still aims to pass a bill this year that will overhaul its energy industry, but the timing of its next oil licensing round is uncertain, a senior government official said on Thursday. The Petroleum Industry Bill will re-write Nigeria's decades-old relationship with its foreign oil partners, altering everything from the fiscal framework for offshore oil projects to the involvement of indigenous firms in the sector.