COMMODITIES-AFRICA: Cocoa Producers Cut Production to Raise Prices

Nigeria and three other West African members of the Cocoa Producers' Alliance (CPA) - Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana - have set up a monitoring committee to supervise the destruction of some 250,000 tonnes excess cocoa beans, in an effort to boost prices.

PETROLEUM: Nigeria to Press for ‘Reasonable’ Price at OPEC Meetings

Nigeria will urge fellow member nations of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase production dramat ically when the grouping meets in Vienna, Austria this weekend.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: Human Rights Violations Still A Problem

Nigeria celebrated its first anniversary of democratic governance this month with a focus on the human rights record of the Olusegun Obasanjo's administration.

POLITICS-WEST AFRICA: Committee To Visit Sierra-Leone

The six-nation Committee, set up by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to mediate in the protracted Sierra-Leonean war, will soon visit the country on a fact finding mission, Adrienne Diop, ECOWAS spokesperson said Tuesday.

POLITICS-NIGERIA: Resurrecting A 33-year-old Secessionist Bid

A group of Igbo youth, led by Ralph Uwazurike, a 41-year-old lawyer, have embarked on a programme aimed at resurrecting the defunct "Biafra Republic" set up by the Igbo ethnic group in 1967 in a bid to secede from Nigeria.

POLITICS-Nigeria: Sharia Controversy Far From Over

The suspension of the Sharia this week by the Council of State, comprising Governors of States and former Heads of State, has not ended the controversy over the introduction of the Islamic law in several northern states.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: Death Row Convicts Pardoned

Some lucky convicts, who have been on the death row for more than 20 years in Nigeria, have been pardoned by the government in the spirit of the new millennium.

RELIGION: Muslims and Christians Clash Over Sharia Law

The burning down of 17 churches in Ilorin, the capital of the central state of Kwara, has sparked concern of possible clashes between Muslims and Christians because of the proposed plan to introduce Sharia law.

DEVELOPMENT-NIGERIA: 2m Squatters Threatened With Eviction

More than two million squatters in the sprawling Ajegunle slum in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, have been threatened with eviction to make way for modern buildings.

TRANSPORT-NIGERIA: Festivities Increase Road Carnage

Many lives are lost yearly through road accidents especially during Yuletide season in Nigeria.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: The Late Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Trial May Be Reopened

Rights groups in Nigeria have demanded the re-trial of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists hanged in November 1995 for their alleged involvement in the murder of four prominent Ogoni leaders.

RIGHTS-NIGERIA: The Late Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Trial May Be Reopen

Rights groups in Nigeria have demanded the re-trial of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists hanged in November 1995 for their alleged involvement in the murder of four prominent Ogoni leaders.

COMMUNICATIONS-NIGERIA: New Telephone Fees Discourage Investors

Nigeria's decision to slam a new licence fee of 100 million US Dollars on private companies wishing to operate cellular telephone business may affect the government's plan to provide telephone service to every Nigerian. The new fee, introduced on Oct 26, is about 1,000 percent higher than the 350,000 US Dollars announced a year ago when the firms involved in the cellular telephone business, using the Global System for Mobile (GSM), were granted permission to operate in Nigeria. Announcing the policy, Mohammed Arzika, Minister of Communications, said the old fees paid by GSM operators was still too low compared to similar rates paid by operators in other African countries, like Egypt and Morocco where, he said, licence fees have been pegged at 516 million US Dollars and one billion US Dollars respectively. The policy has sparked a heated debate in Nigeria, with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Communications accusing the minister of unveiling the policy without the consent of parliament. Ernest Ndukwe, President of Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), says he prefers the spreading of the licence fees over a period of time to enable "serious" businesspeople to invest in Nigeria's telecommunications industry. Before the new policy, Nigeria's state-owned Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) had announced plans to install three million new lines, both fixed and mobile, into the network in the next two years. More than six billion US dollars investment is required to meet immediate targets of more than two million fixed lines and two million cellular lines in the next two years in the West African country of 110 million people, according to government officials. The government in September ordered the installation fee for fixed telephone line reduced from 50,000 naira (about 500 US Dollars) to 20,000 naira (about 200 US Dollars) as a means of making Nigerians to have access to the service. The government, believing NITEL's report that 300,000 lines were awaiting subscribers, had reduced the fees. But it turned out that there were 6.75 million applications on the waiting list.

ECONOMY: Nigerians Gear Up For The Millennium Budget

For the first time in 16 years, Nigeria's budget will be prepared and presented to parliament by an elected government, on Jan 1.

/REPEAT/ /ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/ARTS: Painting Of A Black Virgin Mary Sparks Debate In Nigeria

The painting of a Black Virgin Mary by a London-based Nigerian artist, Chris Ofili, has sparked a heated debate in Nigeria.

ENERGY-NIGERIA: Army Supports Troop Deployment In Oil-Rich Region

Nigeria's military has urged the government of President Obasanjo Olusegun to deploy troops in the oil-rich Niger Delta to protect the country's oil installations from saboteurs.

ENERGY-NIGERIA: Army Supports Troop Deployment In Oil-Rich Region

Nigeria's military has urged the government of President Obasanjo Olusegun to deploy troops in the oil-rich Niger Delta to protect the country's oil installations from saboteurs.

RELIGION-NIGERIA: Muslim States Announce Plan To Introduce Sharia

Nigeria may be heading for a religious chaos as the predominantly Muslim states in the north have announced plans to introduce Islamic Sharia (Laws) in their region.

RELIGION-NIGERIA: Muslim States Announce Plan To Introduce Sharia

Nigeria may be heading for a religious chaos as the predominantly Muslim states in the north have announced plans to introduce Islamic Sharia (Laws) in their region. One state, Zamfara, has already adopted Sharia, which will come into force on Oct 27, while four other states in the region are already debating the prospect of introducing the legal system. The Sharia, derived from the Holy Koran, and practised in Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Sudan, calls for amputation of limbs for stealing, flogging for consuming alcohol and stoning to death for committing adultery. While signing the bill into law on Oct 8, Zamfara State Governor, Ahmed Sani, said: "The new legal system will clear the way for a radical restructuring of a system of justice that has failed, considering the current high level of crime, moral decadence and anti-social behaviours in the society". "The high crime rate shows that the present Western system of administration of justice has failed and needed to be restructured and replaced by another more effective legal system," Sani said. The law will not only, he said, prescribe offences and punishment, but will also touch on the faith of both Muslims and non-Muslims, targeting deviant behaviours like drinking of alcohol, adultery, fornication and gambling prohibited in the Holy Koran. Already, the Zamfara government has canceled all liquor licences as well as gambling permits and banned the sale of alcohol in beer parlours and hotels throughout the state. The bill, like the 1986 controversial decision by Nigeria to join the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), has generated heated debates between Christians and Muslims, with opponents warning that the move will drag Nigeria, which is a secular state, into a religious war. Segun Aribike, a Christian living in the commercial capital of Lagos, wonders whether "the northern states which practise Sharia can guarantee the laws will not be used to punish non-Muslims since not all citizens living in their states are Moslems". "What happens to a Southern Muslim if he does not want to be tried under Islamic law in the north. Will such an offender have a right to decide where he wants to be tried?", she asks.

ECONOMY-NIGERIA: Manufacturing Sector Struggles To Find Its Feet

Nigeria's ailing manufacturing industry is struggling to find its feet, five months after the new civilian administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo assumed power.

NIGERIA: Youth Disrupt Liquefied Gas Production in Niger Delta

A multi-billion dollars liquefied natural gas project runs the risk of not meeting its export deadline, following violent demonstrations against the plant by the youth of the local community.