The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has declared in Abuja that about $450 million out of the over $3 billion alleged to have been stolen by the late Head of State of Nigeria, General Sani Abacha, could not be traced.

Nigeria's oil militants, routed from some of their key bases in the oil producing Niger Delta, have vowed to strike back at the military as well as the oil industry as the military offensive in the region continued Thursday. Against allegations that the offensive, launched on Friday, has targeted innocent civilians and razed palaces and traditional shrines, the region's largest militant group - Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) - said: ''We promise to pay back the oil industry and the government the same measure of destruction that was meted out to the innocent civilians by this cowardly act.''

Nigerian gunboats exchanged fire with militants in the western Niger Delta on Friday, security sources and a prominent ethnic activist said, the latest sign of deepening unrest at the heart of Africa's biggest oil industry. More than a dozen navy gunboats opened fire on militants along Chanomi Creek in Delta state, the sources said. The region is home to U.S. energy giant Chevron's Escravos export terminal and Nigeria's 125,000 barrels per day Warri refinery.

Members of the Nigerian National Assembly in charge of investigating the country's electricity crisis have been charged with fraud. The 10 MPs denied charges of siphoning off $42m (£27m) of public funds in a hearing that stretched over two days.

On May 26, oil giant Shell will face a groundbreaking trial in U.S. federal court for complicity in human rights abuses. Shell faces a number of serious charges, including conspiring with a Nigerian military dictatorship to bring about the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight fellow activists who led a mass movement against Shell's environmental devastation of their homeland in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua has sent a bill to the national assembly (parliament) which, if passed into law, will make it an offence to discriminate against any person on the grounds of actual or perceived HIV status. The bill makes it an offence for employers of labour, religious houses and operators of other public places to discriminate against those living with or affecte d by HIV and AIDS.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to invite all visitors to the 8th Nigeria International Book fair (NIBF) to the book exhibition that it is organizing during the NIBF. The 8th Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF 2009) is scheduled to hold from May 11th - 16th, 2009 at the Multi-purpose Halls of the University of Lagos.

Nigeria's federal government has condemned the post-election violence in the South-west state of Ekiti, where opposition party supporters have continued to protest the alleged rigging of the state's governorship re-run by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The re-run, ordered by the court, rounded off on Tuesday, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the PDP candidate, Segun Oni, winner.

The T. Y. Danjuma Foundation (TYDF) seeks to hire an outstanding individual to serve as its first Executive Director based Abuja, Nigeria. The Foundation is a new, independent foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life of the people of Nigeria. The trustees seek a dynamic and creative leader with impeccable integrity to further establish the foundation, and develop and implement strategic grantmaking programs.

On 27 April 2009, Nigeria's broadcast regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), fined private radio station Adaba FM 500,000 Naira (approx. US$3,350) for allegedly transmitting on 25 April "materials that were capable of inciting members of the public to violence and consequently leading to breakdown of law and order", while covering the re-run of the governorship elections in Ekiti State in the southwest.

This latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, argues that the Technical Committee report submitted on 1 December 2008 represents the most promising effort to develop a coherent strategy in the Delta. It urges the government to seize the opportunity for ending armed conflict and beginning longer-term development in the oil-rich region.

Highlighting the relative strength of Kenyans' voting power despite the country's difficulties, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem contends that Nigerians have no illusions around their own votes. With Ekiti State witnessing the re-run of its local election following the Court of Appeal's 17 February 2009 ruling, the State Governor and People's Democratic Party's (PDP) Olusegun Oni faced Dr Kayode Fayemi of Action Congress (AC) on 25 April. Of national significance in potentially denting the PDP's near-monopoly of political power, the determination of electoral monitors to oversee a clean count led to their suffering a brutal attack by PDP thugs while en route back to the state capital Ado Ekiti, an attack observed with amusement by local police. While the intervention of a senior officer stopped the attack, the victims were then ludicrously arrested and detained over a 48-hour period in Abuja. This situation, Abdul-Raheem contends, is tantamount to a June 12 1992 – when Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida oversaw the forceful detention of a candidate he found unpalatable – at state level, the overall responsibility for which must lay at President Umaru Yar' Adua's door.

Days after a judge confirmed Shell Oil will stand trial here May 26 on charges it was complicit in the murders of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Nigerian activists, environmental and human rights groups announced they have formed a global campaign to hold Shell accountable and demand that it stop gas flaring in Nigeria.

Judge Susan Illston has denied Chevron Corp’s request to recoup over $485,000 in costs associated with a human rights case filed by Nigerian villagers. The corporation said the plaintiffs owed them the costs - including the cost of photocopies and deposition fees - after they were found not liable last fall. However, the judge disagreed.

In a rare move, Nigeria's main opposition Action Congress (AC) has commended President Umaru Yar’Adua over his decision not to deploy soldiers to South-west Ekiti state for Saturday’s governorship election re-run. In a statement issued in Lagos, the party described the President’s decision as perhaps ''the single most overt act he has taken in furtherance of his administration’s rule of law mantra and commitment to free and fair elections."

Nigeria's most vocal opposition party, the Action Congress (AC), has criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its failure to accredit "credible observer groups" for Saturday’s governorship re-run in South West Ekiti state. In a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said INEC’s decision to accredit "only the groups that catch its fancy", rather than those widely acclaimed as credible, could be a signal to how the commission would conduct the elections.

The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CEPACS), University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, invites applications from international students into its M Sc Programme in Humanitarian and Refugee Studies for the 2009/2010 academic session.

Nigeria’s main militant group gave warning yesterday of further clashes with the military in the oil-producing Niger Delta and said it had moved two British hostages “out of harm’s way” in anticipation of unrest. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it would “join the fray” between the military joint task force and youths who it said were protesting against oil giant Royal Dutch Shell in the southern state of Bayelsa.

Multinationals accused of human rights abuses can no longer feel safe now that the oil giant is facing allegations of complicity in the execution of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Could this be the beginning of the end of the age of impunity? Fourteen years after the judicial murder of the Nigerian novelist, environmentalist and human rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Shell is about to go on trial in New York, accused of complicity in his execution.

The Nigerian government has given a final term to end the lingering civil and criminal charges against Pfizer. A lawyer representing the government of that country in the 1996 suit against the drug maker said it will head to court this April if Pfizer fails to comply with the settlement agreement.