HEALTH: After Successful U.S. Suits, Nigeria Takes on Big Tobacco

Cigarette packs sold in Nigeria carry a health warning: ‘‘The Federal Ministry of Health warns that cigarette smokers are liable to die young.’’ But, says the government, this warning has not stopped many Nigerian youngsters from smoking.

CLIMATE-NIGERIA: Inefficient Gas Flaring Remains Unchecked

"The Federal Government policy to stop gas flaring commences on Jan. 1, 2008, and any company which flares gas after that time would be shut down." This was the strong warning from the Nigerian government in October last year to multinational oil companies operating in the country.

POLITICS-NIGERIA: Watershed Elections – For Men, That Is

Declarations of no confidence in the electoral commission, threats of an opposition boycott, a key candidate clawing his way back onto the ballot at the last minute...There has been no shortage of political theatre concerning Saturday's milestone elections in Nigeria, or debate on whether the country can successfully hand over power from one civilian government to another for the first time since independence in 1960.

NIGERIA: What Have Eight Years of Democracy Done for Women Politicians?

"Men are the decision makers; women should be cooking in the kitchen while men play politics." This is the type of comment that Dorothy Ukel Nyone's male counterparts repeatedly made when she announced her intention to contest a seat in Nigeria's state elections, which got underway Saturday.

NIGERIA: Vice President Fights for His Political Life

‘'Military democracy,'' this is what Nigeria's vice-president Atiku Abubakar calls the electioneering process that is supposed to produce a successor for president Olusegun Obasanjo in April.

DEVELOPMENT-NIGERIA: Burnt Alive, as History Repeats Itself

"The location, the timing all made a perfect situation for this kind of tragedy," said Bode Olufemi of Environmental Rights Action, the Nigerian affiliate of non-governmental group Friends of the Earth – this after walking through the distressing aftermath of an oil pipeline fire that broke out in Nigeria’s financial hub of Lagos, Tuesday.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: “People Always See Us As Health Hazards”

"When I go home, I often notice that as soon as I come, all the towels, soaps and sponges that were in the bathroom will disappear," says Isaiah Ojeabulu. He chairs the Human Rights Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy, an organisation in Nigeria, and has himself suffered from leprosy.

DEATH PENALTY: No Outrage for Nigerians in Singapore

When Uzonna Tochi picked up the phone last week he heard the most chilling words of his life. "Please do something fast to save my life; they might execute me anytime now," Uzonna's older brother, Iwuchukwu Amara Tochi, pleaded from Singapore.

ENVIRONMENT-NIGERIA: The Downside of Being a “Benchmark for Eco-Tourism”

An initiative that aspires to turn a national park into what officials term a "benchmark for eco-tourism developments" may seem beyond reproach. If the conservation area is Yankari National Park in north-eastern Nigeria, however, it could well give pause for thought.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Universities That Aren’t Worth the Name

"Glorified secondary schools" is the derisive term coined by Nigerians to describe their country's universities. Classrooms are overcrowded, with many students sitting on the floor during lectures. Libraries lack books, and laboratories are ill-equipped to conduct experiments.

ENERGY-NIGERIA: Power Cuts Leave Country in the Dark – And in the Grave

Four days after moving into a new house in Sango Otta, a suburb of Nigeria's commercial hub - Lagos - Soji Alawiye, his pregnant wife, two children and another family member died in their sleep. The cause of death: fumes from a portable generator that was left on overnight after a power cut.

ENERGY-NIGERIA: Power Cuts Leave Country in the Dark – And in the Grave

Four days after moving into a new house in Sango Otta, a suburb of Nigeria's commercial hub - Lagos - Soji Alawiye, his pregnant wife, two children and another family member died in their sleep. The cause of death: fumes from a portable generator that was left on overnight after a power cut.

POLITICS-NIGERIA: Will the National Dialogue Preach to the Converted?

From behind a curtain in her home in Kaduna city, northern Nigeria, Clementina Paul had an unwanted front seat to one of the worst bouts of violence to occur in her country during the past decade: the clashes between Christians and Muslims in 2000.

DEVELOPMENT-NIGERIA: Private Water, Public Good?

In Agege, a suburb of Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos, Augusta Uyi-Evbuomwam has become indispensable.

ECONOMY-NIGERIA: Rebel Leader – Voice for the Masses, or Skilled Opportunist?

"The Nigerian government cannot protect all the oil pipelines in the Niger delta. If somebody says that they can protect all the pipelines that criss-cross the Niger delta, the person is a liar or maybe he does not know...the area," says Alhaji Mujahid Dokubu-Asari, leader of the rebel Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: Taking the Knife to Burn Deformities

An exploding kerosene lantern brought life as Jude Ogbogbo knew it to an abrupt halt, when he was seven years old. "I lit the lantern and I was about to climb a staircase when it exploded. The kerosene splashed all over my body and I was covered in flames," he recalled in an interview with IPS.

LABOUR-NIGERIA: Modified, a Union Bill Still Gives Cause for Concern

Controversy over a bill to amend Nigeria’s trade union laws surfaced again this week, when a modified version of the measure was passed by the country’s senate.

ECONOMY-NIGERIA: The Fires That Burn Too Brightly

At a beach on Akassa Island in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta region, Robert Cole tries to protect the eggs of turtles that come ashore to breed. But, it's not predators or people who collect the eggs that concern Cole: he's worried about gas flares burning around the beach.

LABOUR-NIGERIA: Oil Industry Crisis Worsening

Indigenous oil workers in Nigeria are angry with multinational oil companies operating in the country’s Niger Delta region over the influx of foreign oil workers mainly from the United States and Europe.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: Activists Target Alleged Extra-Judicial Killings

"Kill and go": this is the nickname that has been given to Nigeria’s mobile police unit. Its members have an alleged propensity to gun down people at the slightest provocation, then walk away unconcerned.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: Activists Target Alleged Extra-Judicial Killings

"Kill and go": this is the nickname that has been given to Nigeria’s mobile police unit. Its members have an alleged propensity to gun down people at the slightest provocation, then walk away unconcerned.