The ongoing rainy season has delayed efforts to decontaminate the six villages widely affected by lead poisoning resulting from illegal gold mining activities in Nigeria's northern Zamfara state, the state government said. Over 200 children have died from the lead poisoning in the state, forcing the federal government to ban illegal mining activities there.

Nigeria's former corruption fighter Nuhu Ribadu has said no-one will be safe from prosecution if he is elected president next year. The elections have been set for January but may be postponed. Election officials, who have asked for a delay, however insist that the new president will be inaugurated in May, as planned. Mr Ribadu came to prominence as head of Nigeria's anti-corruption agency before being sidelined in 2007. He returned from exile in June, after saying he had fled because attempts had been made on his life.

Although Nigerian authors no longer have to rely on European publishers to have their work disseminated, Nigerian publishing houses still control much of the access to readership for emerging authors, Emmanuel Iduma, publisher of the online literary journal ‘Saraba’, tells Sokari Ekine. Online journals like ‘Saraba’ can help young writers develop confidence and publish their work regardless of their experience level.

The discovery of natural resources worldwide ought to be a blessing. This is because when such natural resources are exploited, it is expected to bring in revenue to contribute to the development of local communities. However, in these communities in developing countries, the reverse is usually the case.
No single event illustrates this more than the recent tragic events in Zamfara State. About 335 suspected cases of strange ailments were reported in several hospitals within the locality. It turned out that 163 lives were lost out of which 111 of them were children between the ages of 5 to 10 years.

Nigeria's science and technology policy, widely seen as inadequate, will be rewritten to serve the wider goals of the country, its science and technology minister said at a stakeholders' meeting in Abuja. Mohammed Ka'oje Abubakar told representatives from government ministries, international agencies and professional bodies that a review of the policy is necessary to harmonise it with socio-economic policies in the country.

Former Nigerian anti-corruption Czar Nuhu Ribadu has joined the country's presidential race, widening the field ahead of the Jan. 2011 presidential election. 'I'll contest for President to remake Nigeria,' the local press Friday quoted Ribadu as saying during a breakfast session with journalists in the capital city of Abuja.

Friends of the Earth International says it is outraged by reports that a major UN investigation into Nigerian oil spills funded by oil giant Shell relies more on figures produced by oil companies and Nigerian state statistics than on community testimony and organisations on the ground who work with communities.

With former Nigerian president Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) suggesting a desire to run the country once more, Okachikwu Dibia argues that IBB would be wise to clarify the question marks around his past actions, in particular by agreeing to be prosecuted over his government’s annulment of the 12 June 1993 elections.

Nigeria had a strong agricultural base before the oil boom, but throughout the years its big farms and plantations have been neglected, says this Global Voices article. As a result, Nigeria has become one of the world's biggest importers of food staples, particularly rice and wheat. Even with these imports though, more than a quarter of Nigerians younger than five suffer from malnutrition.

Poor diagnostics and weak surveillance are hampering government efforts to stem cholera in Nigeria says a government health worker. The disease is most severe in the north; as of 8 September 781 people have died and 13,000 cases were reported.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his main rivals are expected to formally declare their candidacy for January elections this week and the political temperature is already rising, reports Reuters. From alleged death threats against a presidential aspirant's adviser to calls from the opposition for the date to be postponed, the vote looks set to be just as contentious as previous elections in Africa's most populous nation.

The opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has described as 'unrealistic and a recipe for failure' the 2011 general elections timetable, which was released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) showing the staggered elections will be held in January. According to the timetable, the elections will start 15 January with the National Assembly (parliamentary) polls, followed by the presidential poll 22 Jan and the Governorship/State Assembly polls 29 Jan.

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria has been told by his party chairman that he has the right to contest the upcoming January primaries. Okwesilieze Nwodo of the ruling People's Democratic Party however stopped short of giving the president his full backing

Umuorie Isimiri Community is located in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State. Umuorie Isimiri is an hour and 20 minutes drive from Umuahia, capital of Abia State. It is a community of about 5,000 people, made up of mostly farmers. Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Isimiri Flow Station in Umuorie Isimiri Community is by the Imo River at the boundary between Abia and Rivers State. ERA monitors visited the community on 3 August 2010 to ascertain SPDC level of compliance with a court judgement delivered by Court of Appeal Owerri, Imo State ordering it to pay special damages of N1.49 billion to the community for oil spill and environmental degradation.

Indications emerged that erstwhile number two man in Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, would on Sunday formally declare his presidential ambition for the 2011 presidential elections in the country. An invitation supposedly signed Atiku's spokesperson, Shehu Garba states that the former vice president under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration would make public, his plans to return to the government house, but this time around, as the President.

The third Africa Union Communications and Information Technologies Ministerial Conference got underway in Abuja, the Nigerian capital city, Tuesday, with a communications expert stressing the n eed for countries to invest more in the sector so as to generate employment for their peoples.

The Non-Governmental Organisation Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued Nigeria's federal government for allegedly maltreating pensioners in the country. In the suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP said 'owing to the government’s failure to faithfully implement the Pensions Reform Act, several pensioners continue to have their internationally recognized human rights to life, to an adequate standard of living, to equality and non-discrimination, and to humane treatment violated, with impunity.”

Following a century of colonialism, contemporary neoliberal imperialism is the cause of many of the crises ravaging Africa, writes Ayo Ademiluyi, with particularly harsh consequences for Nigeria’s working class. With oil accounting for over 90 per cent of government revenue, local industry has collapsed, leading to widespread unemployment and increasing poverty. As child and maternal mortality rates continue to increase and life expectancy decreases despite the wealth oil exports have brought the government, Ademiluyi calls for the workers’ movement to galvanise itself to transform society.

On 24 July 2010 at about 12:15 p.m., thugs suspected of being loyal to the Action Congress (AC) political party assaulted three journalists in Edo state during the re-run election for a constituency in the state House of Assembly. The thugs, numbering over 30, were reportedly led by a leader of the AC, the ruling party in Edo state.

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is targeting 70 million voters in its planned fresh voter registration exercise, after the government acceded to the commission's de mand for 72 billion naira (about US$500 million) to compile a new electoral register ahead of 2011 polls.