A new report by the ICFTU on core labour standards in Nigeria, which coincides with Nigeria's trade policy review at the WTO this week, shows serious shortcomings in the application and enforcement of all eight core labour standards, particularly with regard to the lack of trade union rights of workers including the right to strike, discrimination and child labour.

Information Technology, Publishing and Exhibitions (TEPEX) is organizing a workshop on E-Parliament. The aim of the workshop is to build the capacity of members of the legislative to use ICTs in discharging their mandate. The topics of the workshop include:
1. Understating ICTs for Legislative Functions
2. ICTs AND National Development
3. ICTs in Legislative Work
4. the Concept and Requirements of e-Parliament
5. the Internet as a Reference Library for Legislators
6. developing a Member/Constituency Website
7. ICT Policy Issues
8. Getting Prepared to Go Online.
The workshop will take place from the 8th to 9th June 2005 at Rockview Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria. For more details contact [email protected]

Oil giant ChevronTexaco is to rethink its community aid strategies after acknowledging that some of the policies implemented by its Nigerian subsidiary in the oil-rich Niger Delta have contributed in fuelling violence in the region. ChevronTexaco said in a statement on Tuesday that its system of investment in community development in the region that produces most of Nigeria’s oil, has been “inadequate, expensive and divisive,” and would be revamped.

President-General of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Mrs Peace Obiajulu, has said the anti-strike clause in the new labour act would not prevent workers from going on strike when they wanted to do so. Obiajulu, speaking in Lagos during a rally organised by the congress to mark the May Day celebrations, said she was ready to go to jail for going on strike for the sake of Nigerian workers. "Strike or no strike, that clause makes no difference to the Nigerian worker. If I have reason to go on strike, I will do so. I'm ready to be locked up, they will help immortalise my name," she said.

Nigeria is vigorously campaigning for western donors to write off its $35bn debts - and is backing up its arguments with a crackdown on corruption. When Olusegun Obasanjo won 1999 elections to restore civilian rule, he promised to stamp out the pervasive corruption. He set up two commissions on corruption and fraud but until recently, nothing much had happened.

Shortly before President Olusegun Obasanjo inaugurated the National Political Reform Conference (NPRC), there were great expectations among women that the era of discrimination against them would soon be a thing of the past. This was particularly hinged on the fact that gender inequality limits the ability of women to assert their rights and be co-partners with men in the politics and governance of the nation. Two months into the conference, their agitation has gathered momentum. But how far can this agitation go? asks Ndubuisi Ugah, who was at a conference organised by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC).

Four senior Nigerian MPs and Senators are embarking on an international mini-tour in May, 2005 to urge western campaigners, politicians and officials to support debt cancellation for Nigeria. They will explain why rising frustration with the finance ministers of major creditor nations has led the National Assembly to call on President Obasanjo to halt debt repayments. The four representatives are Senator Udo Udoma – Chief Whip of the Senate; Senator Patrick Osakwe – Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Debt; the Hon. Farouk Lawan – chair of the House Committee on Finance; and the Hon. Sadiq Sanussi – chair of the House Committee on Aid, Loans and Debt Management.  They will be accompanied by Dr. Mansur Muhtar – Director General of Nigeria's Debt Management Office. The Senators and House Representatives will be visiting Washington, London, Berlin and Rome.  If you live in any of these cities and would like to attend their upcoming meetings, please write to [email protected] for details.

For Nigeria, a nation long considered one of the world's most unrepentantly corrupt, the last few weeks have been remarkable. First the national police chief, who had recently resigned, was arrested and led away in handcuffs, accused of graft and money laundering. Then the housing minister was fired, charged with selling government houses on the cheap to the well connected. Finally, the head of Nigeria's Senate - the third-highest-ranking official in the beleaguered West African country - resigned after being denounced by the president for bribery.

It is estimated there are between 10,000 - 20,000 Nigerian prostitutes working in Italy today. Almost all come from Edo state in southern Nigeria. As yet, no research has been done into why so many come from this one state, but the route may have originally been established by Nigerian women who came over to southern Italy to harvest tomatoes during the 1980s. But it's often not until they arrive in Italy that they are told that they will have to prostitute themselves in order to pay off the debt.

Nigeria is heading towards an Argentinian-style default on its $33bn (£17bn) of overseas debt unless western creditors accept a deal to alleviate the country's financial burden, a delegation from west Africa's biggest economy said in London. As part of a four-country visit, the senior politicians warned that public unrest was growing over the hardline approach adopted by the west and that time was running out for negotiations.

The number of new polio cases recorded in Nigeria has declined sharply in recent months, but the country still accounts for more than half of all new cases of the disease recorded worldwide, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) said. WHO said in its latest surveillance report that 41 cases of polio were recorded in 12 states of Nigeria between 27 February and 16 April, down from 86 cases registered in 23 states of the federation during the same period in 2004.

"The recent intensification of the war against corruption by President Obasanjo has provoked different reactions from different Nigerians. What is not in doubt, however, is that Nigerians want the mess cleaned up. The point of divergence seems to be how different people perceive the war against graft. Some doubt the motive. Others point to a seeming selectiveness. A few are convinced that what we are witnessing is a stage-managed show not billed to last. Put all of these together, you arrive at the point that I have been making, that not every Nigerian has bought into the war on corruption. They still think that it is Obasanjo's personal headache." Read the rest of this commentary from Nigeria's The Vanguard newspaper by clicking on the URL provided.

Fifty-three people who participated in an unusual soccer tournament last year in Nigeria's main city, Lagos, are now fighting for dear life. State prosecutors say the tournament, held in the name of a secessionist group, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), amounted to treason. They have demanded the death penalty.

A 3-Day National Validation Seminar "on Building Community Radio in Nigeria" jointly organized by Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA), World Association of Radio Broadcasters-Africa Region (AMARC Africa), and Institute of Media and Society with the financial support of OSIWA, was held at the Chida International Hotel, Abuja from April 5 to 7 2005. Participants were drawn from the NGOs, CBOs, Development and Donor organizations, the mass media, academia, and Government Agencies. Presentations at the seminar focused on issues of Policy, Legislation and Regulation, Ownership and Editorial Independence, Sustainability and Training.

The Programme Assistant will play an important role in ABGREMO's developmental efforts, in the very challenging Humanitarian services. The incumbent should have experience and be willing to be working in a team effort/office environment and be comfortable with technology. A strong international perspective, comfort with a variety of people and ability to multi-task is also important. This position is ideal for a creative, detail- oriented, high energy team player.

Nigeria’s former senate president and sacked education minister have been charged with corruption as President Olusegun Obasanjo continues his crusade against officials who fail “to toe the line of honesty.” Adolphus Wabara, who as senate president was the country’s third-ranking official until his departure last week, was charged with five other lawmakers.

In the latest corruption scandal to rock Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo has cancelled the sale of 207 government houses at knockdown prices after discovering that close relatives of his wife and several cabinet ministers were to have been among the beneficiaries of this controversial deal. Obasanjo last week ordered Mobolaji Osomo, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, to cancel the planned sale of these houses on well-to-do estates in Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria.

The desire for a platform to discuss the varied national challenges (political) facing Nigeria has been a strong wish of a large segment of the society. This desire cuts across language, religion, and ethnic affiliations amongst the average class, but grudgingly acceded to by the ruling elite. "My vision for civil society in Nigeria is such that we move from the position of debates, knowledge arrogance, posturing and grandstanding, to the position of concrete actions and steps on how to move the country forward," writes John Moru writes from ActionAid International Nigeria, Abuja.

Senior lecturer at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, Prof. Jimi Adesina, has called for a sustained commitment to education in Nigeria. Prof. Adesina, who was a participant at the "Conference on Education Reform in Nigeria", held in Abuja last week told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that sustained commitment to "higher education in particular was imperative as a public good rather than as a commodity".

Nigeria has become the third country to halt clinical trials of the antiretroviral (ARV) drug tenofovir as a prophylactic against HIV after the US-based supervisor of the trials found that proper standards were not being observed. "Regrettably, the tenofovir study in Nigeria will not be continuing because FHI has determined that the study team is not at this point able to comply with all of the standards that have been established for conducting this study," Family Health International (FHI) said in a statement earlier this month.