Timeline Nigeria (B) 2016 to Present
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2016 Jan 1, Nigeria unveiled a nine-meter tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble in the village of Abajah, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012.
(AFP, 1/2/16)
2016 Jan 4, In Nigeria Boko Haram gunmen wearing soldiers' uniforms and female suicide bombers unleashed separate attacks on Izghe, a village 123 km (76 miles) southwest of Maiduguri. At least 18 people were killed.
(AP, 1/7/16)
2016 Jan 5, In Nigeria three female suicide bombers sneaked into Izghe and detonated bombs hidden under their garments, killing 7 other people and destroying three houses. A male suicide bomber also blew himself up, killing himself and 4 other people.
(AP, 1/7/16)
2016 Jan 6, In northeastern Nigeria soldiers arrested Duhu village teacher Habu Bello and two other men, Idrisa Dele and Umaru Hammankadi. The men's bodies were later found dumped, with bullet wounds.
(AP, 1/8/16)
2016 Jan 7, The United States donated 24 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles to Nigeria's military, to enable the country's soldiers to combat Boko Haram Islamic insurgents who continued cutting a bloody path through the northeast.
(AP, 1/7/16)
2016 Jan 8, Nigeria’s Health Minister Isaac Adewole said 40 people have died in a suspected outbreak of Lassa fever in 10 states across the country.
(AFP, 1/8/16)
2016 Jan 14, A Nigerian court ordered the arrest of former Niger Delta militant leader Government Ekpemupolo on theft and money laundering charges totaling more than $175 million.
(AFP, 1/14/16)
2016 Jan 18, Nigeria’s information minister Lai Mohammed said state governors, ministers, business leaders, public officials and bankers allegedly stole $6.7 billion in public funds in seven years.
(AFP, 1/18/16)
2016 Jan 24, In Nigeria gunmen believed to be ethnic Fulani herders killed a policeman and 19 civilians and torched homes in northeastern Adamawa state in a spat over grazing rights.
(AFP, 1/25/16)
2016 Jan 25, It was reported that sales of rat poison have taken off in Nigeria following an outbreak of Lassa fever that has left at least 76 people dead and sparked fears of contagion across the country.
(AFP, 1/25/16)
2016 Jan 27, In Nigeria at least 13 people were killed when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in the northeastern town of Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April, 2014.
(AFP, 1/27/16)
2016 Jan 27, Human Rights Watch said Nigeria's new government is violating rights on many fronts in its fight against Boko Haram's Islamic uprising and in bringing corrupt politicians to book.
(AP, 1/27/16)
2016 Jan 29, In northeastern Nigeria a child suicide bomber blew himself up in a market, killing at least 10 people in Gombi, Adamawa state.
(AFP, 1/29/16)
2016 Jan 30, In Nigeria Boko Haram extremists firebombed huts in Dalori village and two nearby camps husing 25,000 refugees. 3 female suicide bombers blew themselves up among people who managed to flee to neighboring Gamori village, killing 86 people.
(AP, 1/31/16) (AP, 2/1/16)
2016 Jan – 2016 May, In Nigeria at least 149 detainees at the Giwa barracks in Borno state died during this period. Some 1200 people, including children, were reported to be incarcerated there.
(Econ, 11/5/16, p.42)
2016 Feb 6, Nigerian health authorities released data that showed a growing Lassa fever outbreak has killed 101 people, as it battles to contain a flare-up of the virus.
(AFP, 2/6/16)
2016 Feb 13, In northeastern Nigeria gun and knife-toting assailants on bikes and in vans stormed the remote villages of Yakshari and Kachifa over the last 4 hours. At least 30 people were killed in the Boko Haram raids.
(AFP, 2/13/16)
2016 Feb 14, Cameroon ended a four day operation during which its special forces reportedly killed 162 Boko Haram militants in Nigeria's northeastern town of Goshi, destroying bomb factories and weapons to retake the extremist stronghold.
(AP, 2/16/16)
2016 Feb 22, Nigeria's anti-graft agency arrested former interior minister Abba Moro, under then-president Goodluck Jonathan, over the death of at least 20 people in a stampede tragedy on March 15, 2014.
(AFP, 2/23/16)
2016 Feb 23, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman before traveling on to Qatar. Analysts forecasted Nigeria’s eventual support for an output freeze to stabilise oil prices.
(AFP, 2/23/16)
2016 Feb 27, The commander of Cameroonian forces said Cameroonian and Nigerian forces have freed several hundred hostages in a border town held by Boko Haram including young girls who were being trained as suicide bombers.
(AP, 2/27/16)
2016 Feb 29, Nigerian officials said Pres. Muhammadu Buhari is launching a probe after week-long clashes between Muslim herdsmen and Christian farmers left "hundreds" dead. Up to 300 people were reported killed.
(AFP, 2/29/16)(Econ, 4/2/16, p.47)
2016 Feb 29, In Nigeria three girls who were abducted by armed men from their school in the eastern suburb of Ikorodu at the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School on the outskirts of Lagos.
(AFP, 3/2/16)
2016 Mar 4, In northeastern Nigeria the Borno state government said it has suspended trading in four cattle markets to prevent the sale of stolen livestock to raise funds for Boko Haram Islamists.
(AFP, 3/5/16)
2016 Mar 7, A Nigerian court charged retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh with a string of corruption charges, in the latest case involving a high-ranking official.
(AFP, 3/7/16)
2016 Mar 8, In Nigeria a five-storey building under construction collapsed in an upmarket area of Lagos. At least 34 people were killed.
(AP, 3/9/16)(AP, 3/10/16)
2016 Mar 10, Nigeria’s governing All Progressives Congress charged that at least 32 of its members have been shot, clubbed and beheaded to death over the last two weeks in Rivers state, a stronghold of the opposition Democrats.
(SFC, 3/10/16, p.A4)
2016 Mar 14, Nigerian drug agents said they arrested four Mexicans last week helping Nigerian criminals build a "super-lab" capable of producing billions of dollars' worth of methamphetamine. Four Nigerians were also arrested.
(AP, 3/14/16)
2016 Mar 16, In northeastern Nigeria an attack by two female suicide bombers killed 25 people and wounded 23 during dawn prayers on a mosque on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
(AP, 3/16/16)(AFP, 3/17/16)
2016 Mar 23, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram gunmen abducted 14 women and two girls in a remote area of Adamawa state.
(AFP, 3/25/16)
2016 Mar 24, Nigeria’s presidency said it has accused 300 firms and individuals, including army officers, of embezzling 48 billion naira ($241.45 million) through overpaid defense contracts or fraud, in a widening a crackdown on graft.
(Reuters, 3/24/16)
2016 Mar 26, Cameroon authorities said a teenager who surrendered before carrying out a suicide bombing attack in the north has said she was one of the 276 girls abducted from a Nigerian boarding school by Islamic extremists nearly two years ago.
(AP, 3/26/16)
2016 Mar 27, In Nigeria 3 people were killed and several wounded when an oil pipeline belonging to Italy's ENI exploded during repair works in the southern Delta region. Workers had been repairing the pipeline when it caught fire.
(Reuters, 3/29/16)
2016 Apr 1, Nigeria's army reportedly arrested Khalid al-Barnawi (aka Usman Umar Abubakar), leader of the Islamist militant group Ansaru, in the city of Lokoja. Ansaru is a splinter faction of Boko Haram that has been accused of kidnapping and killing Westerners.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 5, In Nigeria angry motorists queued overnight at petrol stations across the country and lines of cars blocked traffic in the commercial capital Lagos as the worst fuel shortages for years hit Africa's top oil producer.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 9, Nigerian secret police accused a Biafra separatist group of killing 55 people after discovering their bodies in shallow graves in a thick forest in the country's southeast. The Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria's domestic spy agency, said the graves were found in Umuanyi forest in Abia state, home to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 11, Nigeria’s Kaduna state government secretary Balarabe Lawal told a commission of inquiry that dozens of soldiers and state officials transported 347 bodies from a mortuary and an army base to a bush site where they were buried after the Dec. 12-14 military raids on Shiite compounds in northern Zaria town. The Shiites say those killed number closer to 1,000.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 20, In northeastern Nigeria two female suicide bombers killed at least 8 people in Banki at a camp for people displaced by the jihadist Boko Haram insurgency. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen on horseback killed at least 11 people overnight in Zango village, Yobo state.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)(AFP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Nigeria 20 young Fulani herdsmen descended from the hills and emerged from the palm tree forest, shooting AK-47 assault rifles in the air and waving machetes in the village of Nimbo. At least 10 people were thought to have been killed and scores injured.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 4, In southern Nigeria militants used explosives to blow up the Okan platform, a collection facility for offshore oil and gas that feeds the Escravos terminal. This caused Chevron to lose 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) of net crude oil production.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 6, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said it is suspending aid to Nigeria’s AIDS agency over evidence that $3.8 million was stolen by its workers and consultants.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A2)
2016 May 9, In Nigeria 3 soldiers guarding an oil installation were shot and killed when they came under fierce attack. The Niger Avengers claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 11, In Nigeria Shell closed the terminal exporting the country’s benchmark Bonny Light crude oil as was evacuating workers as renewed militant attacks cut production.
(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 12, In northeastern Nigeria 7 people including 2 police officers were killed when a suicide bomber tried to attack government offices in Maiduguri.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 14, In Nigeria regional and Western powers gathered for talks on quelling the threat from Boko Haram as the UN warned of the militants' threat to African security and ties to the Islamic State group.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 16, The UN said more than nine million people in the Lake Chad region are in desperate need of food aid as the violent insurgency continues being waged there by Boko Haram. Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have significantly weakened Boko Haram but have been unable to vanquish the Islamists entirely.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 17, In Nigeria teenager Amina Ali Darsha, the first of more than 200 schoolgirls missing for over two years after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in Chibok, was found carrying a baby near the Sambisa forest close to the border with Cameroon.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)
2016 May 20, In Nigeria former militants of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) called for a halt to a resurgence of attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria's Niger Delta, saying it is an unnecessary distraction for President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 24, Nigeria’s agriculture commissioner Manzo Daniel said the Tuta absoluta moth, dubbed "tomato Ebola" by local farmers, has destroyed more than 80 percent of tomato farms in the northern state of Kaduna. Tomato prices have been steadily climbing for months, caused by unrest in northern and central states where the crop is grown and this has affected farmers' ability to plant and harvest.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 26, In Nigeria a bomb attack forced US-based oil major Chevron to halt onshore activities at its 160,000-barrel a day Escravos export terminal. Participants in a stakeholders' meeting in Warri accused the government of a heavy-handed military response and warned such a campaign will not stop attacks that have cut oil production by more than 40 percent.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Nigeria militants attacked the Nembe pipeline in the Delta region, hours after the Niger Delta Avengers militant group claimed a strike on the facility.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, In Nigeria militants blew up strategic gas and crude pipelines belonging to Shell and Agip in an increasingly fierce campaign that has chopped Nigeria's oil production in half.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 29, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to keep and "re-engineer" a controversial amnesty program for Niger delta militants designed to stem attacks that have slashed oil exports but set to be scrapped.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Nigeria at least 10 people were killed during protests by pro-Biafra campaigners. Activists wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast were commemorating the 49th anniversary of the declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967.
(AFP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 30, In Nigeria protests by pro-Biafra campaigners, wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast, commemorated the 49th anniversary of the 1967 declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra. Amnesty International later said at least 17 were killed and nearly 50 injured in Onitsha alone in violence linked to the commemoration.
(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 May, In Nigeria annual inflation jumped to almost 16%.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.53)
2016 Jun 2, In Geneva OPEC oil ministers ended a meeting without reaching any kind of consensus on regulating the price and supply of crude, a result that triggered an immediate drop in energy markets. The OPEC oil cartel said that it has appointed Nigeria's Mohammed Barkindo as its new secretary general.
(AP, 6/2/16)(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Niger 28 troops were killed in a clash with Boko Haram jihadists at Bosso on the border with Nigeria. The dead soldiers included 26 from Niger and 2 from Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/4/16)(AFP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 4, Nigeria announced that it has seized more than $10.3 billion in looted cash and assets over the past year under Pres. Buhari’s anticorruption campaign.
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 8, In Nigeria the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group rejected a truce offer to end attacks on key oil infrastructure and claimed another strike. The Nigerian Navy said nine suspected militants blamed for previous attacks around the port city of Warri had been arrested.
(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Chad reportedly sent some 2,000 troops to neighboring Niger, where Boko Haram insurgents inflicted heavy losses in the town of Bosso last week. On June 18 Chadian troops were reported to be in Nigeria but not in Niger.
(AFP, 6/8/16)(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 10, Nigeria fired dozens of senior officers accused of corruption and the theft of billions of dollars meant to buy arms to fight the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Nigeria the Niger Delta Avengers militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a trunk line owned by Agip ENI.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 16, In northeast Nigeria Boko Haram militants opened fire at a funeral, killing 18 mourners including many women and children in the Madagali area of Adamawa state near the Sambisa forest.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 20, The Nigerian naira depreciated 30% as the government allowed the currency to float, with business welcoming the move as an overdue step towards reviving Africa's biggest economy. The central bank released the naira from its peg of 197-199 to the dollar.
(AFP, 6/20/16)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.62)(Econ, 3/4/17, p.35)
2016 Jun 21, Nigeria said it has agreed a one-month ceasefire with militants behind recent attacks on oil facilities in its southern Niger Delta, as efforts continue to end the unrest that has pushed crude output to 30-year lows.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 22, In Nigeria gunmen kidnapped a group of construction workers in an ambush that killed their driver. All seven were on assignment for Australian mining contractor Macmahon Holdings.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 29, In Cameroon a young male suicide bomber belonging to Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram killed at least 11 people when he blew himself up close to a mosque near the Nigerian border.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Nigerian officials said authorities in Lagos have shut down dozens of churches, mosques and hotels in a bid cut noise pollution.
(AFP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun, Interpol and Nigeria's anti-fraud agency arrested a Nigerian, identified as Mike (40), accused of scamming $60 million from companies around the world through fraudulent emails after months of investigation. He was arrested along with a 38-year-old accomplice in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 8/1/16)
2016 Jul 1, In Nigeria kidnappers seized Alfred Nelson-Williams, Sierra Leone's deputy high commissioner, as he was on his way to Kaduna from Abuja. They demanded a $40 million ransom in the first kidnapping of a diplomat from the west African country in more than half a century. The diplomat was freed on July 5 but it was not clear whether or not a ransom was paid.
(AFP, 7/2/16)(SFC, 7/2/16, p.A2)(Reuters, 7/6/16)
2016 Jul 4, Nigeria’s central bank dismissed the management of Skye Bank, the country’s eighth biggest lender by assets, amid concerns that it had failed to keep thick enough buffers of capital to absorb losses on bad debts..
(Econ, 7/23/16, p.57)
2016 Jul 4, In Nigeria suspected militants blew up a pipeline in the southern Batan and Makarava areas of Delta State. Militants from the Niger Delta Avengers said in a short statement on their website that they carried out the attacks.
(AFP, 7/5/16)
2016 Jul 4, Twitter suspended the account of Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group that has carried out a series of attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria in the last few months which pushed the country's crude production to 30-year lows.
(Reuters, 7/4/16)
2016 Jul 7, The Niger Delta Avengers attacked more oil infrastructure in southern Nigeria, ignoring a call for unity from Pres. Muhammadu Buhari.
(AFP, 7/7/16)
2016 Jul 8, In Nigeria a suicide bomber killed at least 9 people and injured around 12 others in an attack on a mosque in Damboa, Borno state, during early morning prayers.
(Reuters, 7/8/16)
2016 Jul 8, Nigerian militants said they have blown up a crude oil pipeline belonging to Italian oil company Agip in Bayelsa state.
(AP, 7/8/16)
2016 Jul 11, Nigeria said gunmen believed to be nomadic Fulani herdsmen have killed scores of villagers in Benue State in a long-running conflict over grazing rights. Nigeria's Channels television put the number of dead at 81 in the past two weeks after attacks on farming villages in the Logo and Ukum areas of the state.
(AFP, 7/11/16)
2016 Jul 19, The IMF slashed its growth forecast for the Nigerian economy this year, saying a combination of plunging oil revenues and weakened investor confidence will push it into recession.
(AFP, 7/19/16)
2016 Jul 28, In Nigeria Boko Haram ambushed a humanitarian convoy in Borno state. Three civilians including a UNICEF employee and contractor for the International Organization for Migration were wounded, along with two of the soldiers escorting the humanitarian workers. The UN in response suspended its missions outside Maiduguri, where it says a half million people are starving. A day later UNICEF said it was returning to full operations in the area.
(AP, 7/29/16)(AFP, 7/30/16)
2016 Jul 29, Nigeria’s army said its troops backed by a regional force have recaptured the northeastern town of Damasak where Boko Haram killed more than 200 and abducted hundreds of children two years ago. The Chad-based MNJTF comprises troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin.
(AFP, 7/29/16)
2016 Aug 1, In Nigeria 5 Islamists were killed as troops thwarted a Boko Haram attack near the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the epicenter of the seven-year insurgency.
(AFP, 8/2/16)
2016 Aug 3, Nigeria said it has resumed the payment of allowances to former Niger delta rebels under an amnesty scheme, after low global crude prices plunged the oil-rich country into a financial crisis.
(AFP, 8/3/16)
2016 Aug 3, The Islamic State group's newspaper identified a new leader of the group's West Africa Province, popularly known as Nigeria's Boko Haram extremists, who promises not to attack mosques or markets used by Muslims. The Arabic-language newspaper al-Nabaa identified Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new "Wali," a title previously used to describe long-time leader Abubakar Shekau.
(AP, 8/3/16)
2016 Aug 6, Nigeria said 11 troops have been killed in clashes with gunrunners and bandits in the violence-wracked north central region. Soldiers and airmen, came under attack from gunmen during operations to confiscate illegal weapons from the villages of Kopa, Dagma and Gagaw in Niger State.
(AFP, 8/6/16)
2016 Aug 10, In Nigeria a previously unknown group called Delta Greenland Justice Mandate said it had attacked a crude pipeline belonging to state oil firm NNPC and local firm Shoreline Natural Resources in Urhobo in Delta state.
(Reuters, 8/11/16)
2016 Aug 11, In Nigeria protesters continued to block the entrance to a Chevron oil depot in the restive southern region for a third day. A youth and protest leader said militants blew up another crude pipeline in the Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 8/11/16)
2016 Aug 12, In Nigeria military helicopters rushed polio vaccines to dangerous parts of the northeast, where Boko Haram operates and two paralyzed toddlers were recently discovered.
(AP, 8/13/16)
2016 Aug 14, Nigerian militant group Boko Haram published a video apparently showing recent footage of dozens of school girls kidnapped two years ago, and saying some of them have been killed in air strikes.
(Reuters, 8/15/16)
2016 Aug 19, Nigeria's air force reportedly killed a number of senior Boko Haram fighters and possibly their overall leader inside the Sambisa forest. Abubakar Shekau was believed to be fatally wounded.
(Reuters, 8/23/16)
2016 Aug 20, Nigeria’s Niger Delta Avengers' (NDA) said on its website late today that it would "observe a cessation of hostilities," although not without conditions.
(AFP, 8/21/16)
2016 Aug 22, In northern Nigeria a Muslim mob killed 8 people after torching the house of a man who tried to save a Christian student accused of blasphemy. A mob of Muslim students in the town of Talata Mafara were enraged over alleged derogatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed by their Christian schoolmate, who they attacked.
(AFP, 8/23/16)
2016 Aug, In northeastern Nigeria an estimated that 240,000 children in Borno state were suffering from severe acute malnutrition according to UN estimates.
(Econ, 9/3/16, p.41)
2016 Oct 7, It was reported that President Barack Obama has issued waivers that continue millions of dollars in US military assistance for troubled South Sudan and six other nations where child soldiers have been used, disappointing advocates who say his administration hasn't made curbing the use of children in combat a higher priority. Waivers also have been granted to Somalia, Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Iraq and Myanmar.
(AP, 10/7/16)
2016 Nov 5, In northern Nigeria one of some 270 schoolgirls abducted by jihadist group Boko Haram from their school in Chibok in 2014 was found by soldiers screening escapees from Boko Haram's base in the Sambisa forest. Maryam Ali A was discovered to be carrying a 10-month-old son, named Ali.
(AP, 11/5/16)
2016 Nov 7, In Nigeria armed bandits killed 36 gold miners at the informal mining site at Gidan Ardo in northwest Zamfara state. 20 miners were reported missing.
(AP, 11/8/16)
2016 Nov 8, In Nigeria a blast rocked a pipeline operated by the state-run oil firm NNPC that feeds the Forcados terminal in the southern Niger Delta energy hub. The explosion occurred while the pipeline was being repaired following an attack last week.
(Reuters, 11/8/16)
2016 Nov 9, Nigerian militants said they have again blown up an oil pipeline carrying crude oil for export from Shell’s Forcados terminal. This was the third attack in eight days on the Trans Forcados pipeline network.
(SFC, 11/10/16, p.A2)
2016 Nov 15, The UN warned that 75,000 Nigerian children risk dying in "a few months" as hunger grips the country's ravaged northeast in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency. Doctors Without Borders said thousands of children have died of starvation in the Boko Haram ravaged northeast.
(AFP, 11/15/16)(SFC, 11/16/16, p.A5)
2016 Nov 18, In Nigeria five suicide bombers targeted a police checkpoint and a bus station near a transit camp in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing four of themselves and two civilian self-defense fighters. The fifth bomber was arrested.
(AP, 11/19/16)
2016 Nov 19, Nigerian troops gunned down a suicide bomber at a transit camp for refugees from Boko Haram in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
(AP, 11/19/16)
2016 Nov 21, An attack by Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists against a Lake Chad army base manned by an anti-insurgent regional force left six Cameroonian soldiers dead.
(AFP, 11/22/16)
2016 Nov 22, In northeastern Nigeria local leaders said Boko Haram fighters are overrunning villages near Chibok, forcing hundreds of people to flee as the insurgents loot and burn in the area where nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped in 2014.
(AP, 11/22/16)
2016 Nov 24, Amnesty International accused Nigeria's security forces of killing at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters and injuring hundreds since August 2015.
(AFP, 11/24/16)
2016 Nov 28, In Nigeria a woman suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint. The shot detonated her explosives, killing the woman and the baby.
(AP, 12/11/16)
2016 Dec 2, A Nigerian court ruled that Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), should be released along with his wife after being held without charge for nearly a year by the country's security agency. Founders of the Nigerian sect were inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Shi'ite Iran.
(Reuters, 12/2/16)
2016 Dec 2, In central Nigeria a petrol tanker skidded off the road and exploded, killing at least 14 people in the transit town of Tegina, Niger state.
(AFP, 12/2/16)
2016 Dec 9, In Nigeria two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in the northeastern town of Madagali, killing 57 people and wounding 177.
(Reuters, 12/9/16)(AP, 12/10/16)
2016 Dec 10, In southeastern Nigeria at least 160 people were killed by the collapse of the Reigners Bible church in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state, while a pastor was being consecrated as bishop in the presence of government officials. The Akwa Ibom state government later said only 23 people died in the tragedy, an apparent attempt to cover up a death toll of more than 150 when metal girders and the corrugated iron roof crashed onto a crowded service.
(Reuters, 12/11/16)(AP, 12/11/16)(AP, 12/13/16)
2016 Dec 11, In Nigeria two girl suicide bombers died when they exploded in a crowded area near a market in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, injuring 17 people.
(AP, 12/11/16)
2016 Dec 17, In Nigeria African leaders at the 50th summit of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) called for a swift resolution of the political impasse in Gambia after disputed elections in which long-term president Yahya Jammeh is refusing to concede defeat.
(AFP, 12/17/16)
2016 Dec 22, In Nigeria a faction of Boko Haram allied to the Islamic State group attacked an army barracks in northeastern Yobe state. President Muhammadu Buhari said troops defeated Boko Haram in its Sambisa Forest stronghold in Borno state.
(AP, 12/24/16)
2016 Dec 23, In Nigeria three convicted criminals on death row for about two decades were secretly executed in the first hangings in the country since 2013. The executions were said to breach a seven-year moratorium on the death penalty.
(AP, 12/29/16)
2016 Dec 24, Nigeria’s Pres. Muhammadu Buhari declared that the Boko Haram extremist group has finally been crushed, driven from its last forest enclave with fighters on the run and no place to hide.
(AP, 12/24/16)
2016 Dec 25, In Nigeria two people were killed when part of a two-storey building in a police training college collapsed in Lagos.
(Reuters, 12/25/16)
2016 Dec 26, Nigerian troops foiled an attempt by two female suicide bombers to attack a cattle market in the restive city of Maiduguri. One of the bombers was killed, while the other was arrested.
(AFP, 12/26/16)
2016 Dec 27, Nigerian minister Mohamed Bazoum said 31 young people from Diffa, who were enrolled a few years ago in Boko Haram, have decided to surrender.
(Reuters, 12/28/16)
2016 Dec 28, Nigerian police said a plot to blow up a major bridge in Lagos has been foiled following the arrest of a 43-year-old man suspected of being part of a gang that planned to carry out the attack.
(Reuters, 12/29/16)
2016 Dec 29, In a video posted on YouTube, Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau announced: "I am here, well and alive" and that "the battle is just beginning." He urged his followers, in graphic terms, to continue the campaign.
(AP, 12/31/16)
2016 Stephen Ellis, a British expert on African affairs, authored “This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organized Crime."
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.76)
2016 Dec 31, In northeastern Nigeria one person was seriously injured when a suicide bomber aged around 10 blew herself up in a New Year's Eve attack in Maiduguri.
(AFP, 1/1/17)
2016 Ngugi wa Thiong’o if Nigeria authored “Birth of a Dream Weaver: A Writer’s Awakening."
(Econ, 10/22/16, p.74)
2016 The Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) split from Nigeria's Boko Haram. In 2018 analysts estimated that ISWA has 3,000-5,000 fighters in the Lake Chad area and that its territory extended more than 100 miles into the northeastern Nigerian states of Borno and Yobe.
(Reuters, 4/29/18)
2017 Jan 3, Nigerian anti-drug officers said they found 9.15 kg (20 pounds) of cocaine worth $4.7 million "factory-packed" inside a new pair of shoes that arrived at Abuja airport on a flight from Brazil.
(Reuters, 1/3/17)
2017 Jan 5, Nigerian soldiers found one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram nearly three years ago wandering in the bush with her baby near the Islamic extremist group's forest stronghold. More than 200 of the girls remain missing.
(AP, 1/5/17)(SFC, 1/6/17, p.A2)
2017 Jan 5, A Nigerian official said three teenage girls suspected of planning a triple suicide bomb attack in a town frequently targeted by Boko Haram have been shot dead. The girls were intercepted at Bakin Dutse village, some five km from Madagali.
(AFP, 1/5/17)
2017 Jan 5, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said women in the Lake Chad basin, where the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria meet, have been forced to sell sex to survive due to an insurgency by Boko Haram fighters that has driven millions from their homes and left children to starve.
(Reuters, 1/5/17)
2017 Jan 8, In Nigeria five suicide bombers trying to infiltrate the northeastern city of Maiduguri and died in explosions that killed at least three civilians.
(AP, 1/9/17)
2017 Jan 13, In northeastern Nigeria three female suicide bombers killed at least six people and injured 14 in a crowded market in the town of Madagali. Gunmen kidnapped five students and two staff, including a Turkish national, from an international school in the southern state of Ogun.
(Reuters, 1/13/17)(Reuters, 1/14/17)(SFC, 1/14/17, p.A2)
2017 Jan 16, In Nigeria three suicide bombers, including a child, exploded at dawn at the northeastern University of Maiduguri, killing a university professor and another child. The bombers also died.
(AP, 1/16/17)
2017 Jan 17, A Nigerian Air Force fighter jet on a mission against Boko Haram extremists mistakenly bombed a refugee camp, killing at least 76 refugees and wounding more than 100 in northeast Rann. Estimates later rose to as many as 236 people killed in the botched air strike.
(AP, 1/17/17)(Reuters, 1/18/17)(AFP, 1/21/17)
2017 Jan 26, Britain’s High Court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell cannot be sued in London over oil spills in Nigeria, in a setback to attempts to hold British multinationals liable at home for their subsidiaries' actions abroad. The court also said the claimants should be able to use Nigerian courts.
(Reuters, 1/26/17)
2017 Jan 26, German geologist Kay Holtzmann, contracted by the Dutch-British multinational Royal Dutch Shell's Nigeria subsidiary, wrote a letter to the Bodo Mediation Initiative saying the company "fiercely opposed" environmental testing and is concealing data showing thousands of Nigerians are exposed to health hazards from a stalled cleanup of the worst oil spills in the West African nation's history.
(AP, 3/24/17)
2017 Jan 27, In Nigeria armed jihadists from the Islamic State-supported Al-Barnawi faction of Boko Haram launched a midnight attack on troops in the village of Kamuya. At least three Nigerian soldiers were killed. Boko Haram claimed it killed five soldiers.
(AFP, 1/28/17)
2017 Jan 27, The World Food Program said around 1.8 million people are at risk of starvation in northeast Nigeria, victims of an Islamist insurgency that is undermining efforts by the WFP.
(Reuters, 1/27/17)
2017 Jan 28, In Nigeria gunmen believed to be Boko Haram Islamic extremists attacked a convoy of motorists along a recently secured highway. At least 15 trucks laden with food were seized when the Islamists struck at the Korowaso forest. More than 20 people were feared dead.
(AP, 1/29/17)(AFP, 1/30/17)
2017 Jan, Nigeria seized OPL 245 oil block, labelling it the proceeds of a crime. In 2011 Eni and Shell had paid $1.3 billion for the block. Prosecutors alleged that over $500 million ended up in front companies for former Pres. Goodluck Jonathan.
(Econ, 3/4/17, p.54)
2017 Feb 2, Nigeria’s government said it will soon pay all the overdue cash stipends it owes former militants who signed up for an amnesty in 2009 in the Niger Delta oil hub.
(Reuters, 2/2/17)
2017 Feb 4, James Ibori, who as governor of oil-rich Delta State became one of Nigeria's richest and most powerful men, returned to the country after serving a sentence for corruption in Britain. Ibori served half his 13-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering.
(Reuters, 2/4/17)
2017 Feb 6, Hundreds of Nigerians marched to protest poverty and corruption as President Muhammadu Buhari's prolonged absence abroad for medical tests raised political and economic tensions.
(AP, 2/6/17)
2017 Feb 7, Nigerian troops saved the life of a young woman strapped with explosives and killed another suicide bomber, apparently primed by Boko Haram Islamic extremists to attack the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
(AP, 2/7/17)
2017 Feb 8, The Russian embassy in Nigeria said seven Russian sailors and a Ukrainian have been kidnapped in Nigerian waters from the BBC Caribbean, a cargo vessel flagged in Antigua and Barbuda.
(AP, 2/8/17)
2017 Feb 9, In Nigeria more than 700 people took to the streets in Abuja to protest against the government's economic policy in a sign of mounting public anger in the oil producer grappling with recession.
(Reuters, 2/9/17)
2017 Feb 9, In northern Nigeria Boko Haram killed one person and abducted a seven-year-old boy from the village of Kaumutaiyahi near Chibok.
(AFP, 2/10/17)
2017 Feb 10, In northern Nigeria at least eight soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram ambush in the Mafa area east of Maiduguri.
(AFP, 2/10/17)
2017 Feb 17, Nigerian troops and civilian self-defense fighters repelled multiple suicide bombers in Maiduguri. Nine bombers and two civilians were reported killed.
(SFC, 2/18/17, p.A2)
2017 Feb 21, UNICEF said nearly 1.4 million children are at "imminent risk" of death in famines in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.
(Reuters, 2/21/17)
2017 Feb 22, In northeastern Nigeria at least seven soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram attack on military positions in the town of Gajiram.
(AFP, 2/24/17)
2017 Feb 23, UN aid agencies and donor countries gathered in Oslo for a two-day meeting to raise emergency aid for millions of people threatened by famine in the Lake Chad region, which comprises northeast Nigeria, northern Cameroon, western Chad and southeast Niger.
(AFP, 2/23/17)
2017 Feb 24, In Norway fourteen donor countries, with the US conspicuously absent, pledged $672 million in emergency aid for people threatened by famine after eight years of Boko Haram violence in the Lake Chad region, but the sum is just a fraction of what the UN says is needed.
(AFP, 2/24/17)
2017 Feb 27, South Africa deported 97 Nigerians for various offences following a series of raids, amid heightened bilateral tensions over anti-immigrant violence in South Africa.
(AP, 3/1/17)
2017 Mar 2, Nigeria filed criminal charges of corruption against oil multinationals Royal Dutch Shell and Eni over the $1.1 billion sale of one of Africa's richest oil blocks. Malabu Oil, secretly set up by former Oil Minister Dan Etete, was awarded OPL 245 while he was oil minister. Nigeria's government got only $210 million from the deal.
(AP, 3/4/17)
2017 Mar 6, Nigeria’s former Adamawa state governor James Bala Ngilari was jailed for five years after being found guilty of corruption related to procurement of cars while in office.
(Reuters, 3/6/17)
2017 Mar 8, Nigeria's capital was cut off by air, as Abuja airport closed for at least six weeks for repairs, forcing flights to divert and lengthening travel times for passengers.
(AFP, 3/8/17)
2017 Mar 10, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari returned home after nearly two months' medical leave in Britain but did little to quell fears about the state of his health by saying he would not start work again immediately.
(AFP, 3/10/17)
2017 Mar 10, The UN warned that the world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II, with more than 20 million people facing starvation and famine in four countries (northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen).
(AFP, 3/11/17)
2017 Mar 13, South Africa and Nigeria said they would launch a jointly run "early warning" system to track and deter xenophobic attacks against Nigerian migrants.
(AFP, 3/13/17)
2017 Mar 18, In Nigeria three suicide bombers suspected to be members of Boko Haram detonated explosive devices strapped on their bodies late today, killing at least four people in Maiduguri.
(AP, 3/19/17)
2017 Mar 21, The UN said more than 2,600 Nigerians who fled into northern Cameroon to escape Boko Haram jihadists have been forced to go home since the start of the year.
(AFP, 3/21/17)
2017 Mar 22, In northeastern Nigeria at least four suicide blasts rocked a camp for migrants fleeing Boko Haram insurgents, killing at least three people and wounding 20.
(AFP, 3/22/17)
2017 Mar 22, The International Red Cross appealed for $400 million to help some 20 million people facing famine or the risk of it in four conflict-ridden countries: Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan and Nigeria.
(AP, 3/22/17)(Econ, 4/1/17, p.39)
2017 Mar 27, The foreign minister of Nigeria visited Poland an effort to develop economic, military and security ties with the fast-growing economy in central Europe.
(AP, 3/27/17)
2017 Mar 30, In Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists raided the village of Pulka near border with Cameroon and kidnapped 18 girls. Jihadists outside Dumba killed a herdsman who had tried to escape after refusing to pay protection money. They shot dead 50 of his cattle and took four women from his family along with the rest of his herd.
(AFP, 4/1/17)
2017 Apr 2, In Nigeria three suicide bombers blew themselves up attempting to get into the northeastern city of Maiduguri. A dog grappled with a suicide bomber at a wedding in Belbelo village near Maiduguri until her explosives detonated, killing the animal as well.
(AP, 4/2/17)(SFC, 4/6/17, p.A2)
2017 Apr 9, In Nigeria gunmen shot dead four policemen, an army captain and a civilian in an attack on a community outside Lagos.
(AFP, 4/9/17)
2016 Apr 9, In southeastern Nigeria two Turkish were kidnapped from a hotel room in the town of Eket, Akwa Ibom state.
(Reuters, 4/11/17)
2017 Apr 12, Nigeria's military destroyed 13 illegal refineries in the restive Niger Delta oil hub, in an operation in which two soldiers died in clashes with "sea robbers".
(AP, 4/13/17)
2017 Apr 19, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari ordered an investigation into corruption allegations against a senior civil servant related to the use of funds intended for handling a humanitarian crisis in the northeast of the country. Buhari suspended two key aides over an alleged contract scam and for keeping an unauthorized stash of cash in a private home.
(Reuters, 4/19/17)(AFP, 4/19/17)
2017 Apr 24, In northeast Nigeria four people were killed in two separate suicide attacks blamed on Boko Haram Islamists.
(AFP, 4/24/17)
2017 May 3, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari (74) missed his weekly cabinet meeting for the third straight time as concerns mounted about his health.
(AP, 5/3/17)
2017 May 6, Nigeria secured the release of 82 of some 270 girls, kidnapped in Chibok in 2014, in exchange for five Boko Haram leaders.
(Reuters, 5/7/17)(AP, 5/7/17)
2017 May 11, The US Center for Disease Control said more than 1,000 people have died in an outbreak of meningitis in Nigeria, but added that the spread of the disease is slowing. A new strain of meningitis C was first reported in Zamfara last November.
(AFP, 5/11/17)
2017 May 13, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists killed six farmers who were working on their land near Maiduguri.
(AFP, 5/15/17)
2017 May 15, In northeastern Nigeria three female suicide bombers killed two people and injured six others in an attack late today on a village Borno state.
(Reuters, 5/16/17)
2017 May 20, Nigerian troops fought Boko Haram in the Lake Chad area, killing 13 of the Islamic extremists and arresting 10 others, including 6 women believed to have helped smuggle supplies to the insurgents.
(AP, 5/21/17)
2017 Jun 7, In Nigeria at least 13 people were killed after Boko Haram launched the deadliest attack in months on Maiduguri, the birthplace of the extremist group. The attack came just hours before a visit by Yemi Osinbajo, the country's acting president.
(AP, 6/8/17)
2017 Jun 11, Nigerian soldiers battled Boko Haram extremists in Jarawa village in Borno state. A large number of rebels were reported killed, including Abu Nazir, who was on the military's wanted list. The soldiers also rescued nine abducted children.
(AP, 6/12/17)
2017 Jun 14, The leader of Nigeria's Senate, Bukola Saraki (54), was cleared of corruption charges, ending of one of the most high-profile trials in President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-graft campaign.
(AP, 6/14/17)
2017 Jun 15, The EU announced a support package of nearly $160 million for recovery and reconstruction in Nigeria's Borno state, which has been devastated by attacks from homegrown Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
(AP, 6/15/17)
2017 Jun 19, In northeastern Nigeria 12 people were killed after suicide bombing attacks by five female bombers in Kofa, not far from Maiduguri.
(AP, 6/19/17)
2017 Jun 25, In Nigeria seven suicide bombers, six of whom were women, targeted the campus of Maiduguri University and residential buildings in a district just northeast of the city. Nine people along with the seven suicide bombers were left dead.
(AFP, 6/26/17)
2017 Jul 8, US President Donald Trump promised $639 million in funding for humanitarian programs, including $331 million to help feed starving people in four famine-hit countries - Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen. Trump's pledge came during a working session of the G20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg.
(AP, 7/8/17)
2017 Jul 11, In Nigeria a graphic video seen by AFP showed Boko Haram publicly executing eight villagers in the northeast Nigeria who opposed the enforcement of its hardline form of Islam.
(AFP, 7/11/17)
2017 Jul 11, In northeastern Nigeria four Boko Haram suicide bombers killed 19 people late today and injured 23 in Maiduguri.
(AP, 7/12/17)
2017 Jul 16, In Nigeria violence erupted between herders and farmers in Kajuru village, 50 km (30 miles) outside the city of Kaduna. Two days of violence left at least 33 people dead.
(AFP, 7/20/17)
2017 Jul 17, In northeastern Nigeria eight people were killed when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a mosque in Maiduguri. Two others were killed shortly before midnight while the third was intercepted shortly after.
(AFP, 7/17/17)
2017 Jul 23, In northeastern Nigeria female suicide bombers attacked two camps for those displaced by the Boko Haram conflict outside Maiduguri. At least 8 people were killed and another 15 wounded.
(AP, 7/24/17)
2017 Jul 25, In Nigeria eight people were killed when a four-storey building collapsed after heavy rains in Lagos.
(AFP, 7/26/17)
2017 Jul 25, In northeastern Nigeria at least 69 people died in a Boko Haram ambush of an oil exploration team in the Magumeri area of Borno state.
(AFP, 7/29/17)
2017 Jul 27, In northeastern Nigeria three young female suicide bombers were killed when their explosives detonated prematurely in Bama.
(AFP, 7/29/17)
2017 Jul 28, In northeastern Nigeria two suicide bombers struck a camp for displaced people in Dikwa, 90 km (56 miles) east of Maiduguri, killing five people.
(AFP, 7/29/17)
2017 Aug 3, Nigeria’s state-run oil firm said it has signed financing deals with oil majors Shell and Chevron to develop projects that would boost reserves and revenue.
(AFP, 8/3/17)
2017 Aug 6, In southeastern Nigeria gunmen killed 11 people and wounded 18 others in St. Philip Catholic Church in an attack arising from a feud between members of the local community in in Ozubulu, Anambra state.
(AP, 8/6/17)(Reuters, 8/7/17)
2017 Aug 7, Nigerian protesters demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari, receiving treatment in London for an undisclosed ailment for more than three months, either return or resign.
(AFP, 8/7/17)
2017 Aug 11, In Nigeria hundreds of protesters stormed a crude oil flow station owned by Shell in the restive Niger Delta demanding jobs and infrastructure development.
(Reuters, 8/11/17)
2017 Aug 15, In northeastern Nigeria suicide bombers attacked a camp for internally displaced people and a market killing at least 20 people.
(SFC, 8/1617, p.A2)
2017 Aug 18, Nigeria’s government said more than 100 girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in the town of Chibok in 2014 are ready to return to normal life after being released and receiving psychological and medical treatment.
(Reuters, 8/18/17)
2017 Aug 23, In Nigeria Boko Haram fighters entered villages in the Nganzai area, slitting throats and using guns to kill at least 15 people while injuring two others. Suspected Boko Haram fighters also attacked in the Guzamala local council area, killing 12 people and injuring at least four.
(AP, 8/26/17)
2017 Aug 28, A Nigerian court seized $21 million from bank accounts linked to Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former oil minister accused of corruption, as investigators continued to claw back her fortune.
(AFP, 8/28/17)
2017 Sep 1, Nigeria's president said more than 100,000 people have been displaced by flooding in the central part of the country. It was not immediately known whether anyone has died in the flooding in Benue state.
(AP, 9/1/17)
2017 Sep 8, In northeastern Nigeria four farmers were shot dead by Boko Haram fighters. Eight more farmers were killed in a series of raids over the next two days.
(AFP, 9/9/17)
2017 Sep 8, In northeastern Nigeria at least seven people were killed when Boko Haram jihadists attacked a camp in Ngala for people displaced by conflict. The attack came as two people were killed along with two suicide bombers in an explosion outside the Muna Garage camp in Maiduguri.
(AFP, 9/9/17)
2017 Sep 8, In central Nigeria Fulani herdsmen attacked Ancha village, in the Bassa local government area of Plateau state, early today killing 19 people in Plateau state. The attack was thought to be a reprisal attack after a boy from the community was killed.
(AP, 9/9/17)
2017 Sep 14, In Nigeria Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the secessionist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), went missing following an alleged military raid that left his house in the city of Umuahia riddled with bullet holes, its windows smashed and doors hanging off hinges. Around 20 IPOB members were reportedly shot dead but most of the bodies were taken by soldiers. The army later denied the raid.
(Reuters, 10/3/17)
2017 Sep 18, In northeastern Nigeria suspected suicide bombers killed at least 12 people and injured 26 others in Borno state, epicenter of the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency.
(Reuters, 9/18/17)
2017 Sep 19, Nigeria intercepted 470 rifles from Turkey, which had been falsely declared as elbow joints for plumbing. That shipment was uncovered barely a week after a 20-foot container-load of 1,100 pump-action rifles was impounded at the same port. According to Nigeria Customs Service a total of 2,671 action pump rifles allegedly imported from Turkey have been seized in Lagos since January.
(AFP, 9/22/17)
2017 Sep 29, The UN Children's Fund said Boko Haram's ongoing insurgency in northern Nigeria has forced the closure of more than 57 percent of schools in Borno state, leaving about 3 million children without an education as the school year begins.
(AP, 9/29/17)
2017 Oct 1, President Muhammadu Buhari railed against separatists seeking Nigeria's "dismemberment" as it marked its 1960 independence from Britain and said corruption remained the African oil giant's "number one enemy".
(AP, 10/1/17)
2017 Oct 4, Nigeria's financial crimes agency brushed off allegations by the wife of the country's former president that it had conducted a "witch-hunt" against her. Last year, the EFCC froze four US dollar bank accounts that the ex-president's wife said she owned. Her spokesman said in September 2016 that the accounts in total contained around $10 million - a third of the sum reported in the Nigerian press.
(Reuters, 10/4/17)
2017 Oct 12, In southern Nigeria Italian priest Maurizio Pallu (63) was snatched in broad daylight by armed men just outside of Benin City. He was travelling with a group of four other people when they were attacked and robbed by armed men who took Pallu but let the others go.
(AFP, 10/14/17)
2017 Oct 13, In Nigeria four British missionaries giving free medical services were kidnapped in southern Delta state. After three weeks Ian Squire was reported killed and the other three released.
(Reuters, 10/18/17)(Reuters, 11/6/17)
2017 Oct 17, In Nigeria Rev. Maurizio Pallu was released late today, five days after being kidnapped in Benin City.
(AP, 10/18/17)
2017 Oct 19, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and visiting Nigerian Pres. Muhammadu Buhari vowed to ramp up security and economic cooperation between Ankara and Africa's most populous nation.
(AP, 10/19/17)
2017 Oct 21, Pirates In Nigerian waters attacked the Liberia-flagged container ship MV Demeter. Six crew members were kidnapped. Those kidnapped comprise four Filipinos, one Ukrainian and one Hungarian. On Nov. 12 a German shipping company said pirates have released the six crewmembers who were taken hostage from the vessel.
(Reuters, 10/24/17)(AP, 11/12/17)
2017 Oct 22, In Nigeria three bombers, all of them women, detonated their explosives near the sprawling Muna Garage camp on the outskirts of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri. At least 14 people were killed.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 30, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the country's most senior civil servant. Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation, was sacked after a report into corruption allegations recommended his dismissal.
(Reuters, 10/30/17)
2017 Oct 30, Court papers said Nigeria has agreed to pay compensation to victims of the country's civil war, 47 years after it ended, and clear former conflict zones of abandoned bombs and landmines.
(AP, 10/31/17)
2017 Nov 6, In northeastern Nigeria at least two civilians were killed when dozens of Boko Haram fighters tried to storm Gulak town, Adamawa state, but were repelled by troops.
(AP, 11/7/17)
2017 Nov 15, In Nigeria four suicide bombers killed 14 people and wounded 29 in Maiduguri, home of the Boko Haram insurgency.
(SFC, 11/16/17, p.A2)
2017 Nov 16, In Nigeria police broke up a sit-in protest in Lagos, dispersing hundreds of former slum-dwellers demanding compensation after being evicted from their waterfront homes. Earlier this week, Amnesty International published a report calling the evictions "unlawful" and demanded an investigation into the violence.
(AFP, 11/16/17)
2017 Nov 21, In northeastern Nigeria a teenage suicide bomber attacked a mosque and killed at least 50 people in Mubi, Adamawa state.
(AP, 11/21/17)(Reuters, 11/21/17)
2017 Nov 25, Nigeria's military repelled an attempt by suspected Boko Haram militants to seize the northeastern town of Magumeri. At least three soldiers were killed and six others wounded in the fighting.
(Reuters, 11/26/17)
2017 Dec 2, In northeastern Nigeria a female suicide bomber pretending to wait in line for food handouts detonated her explosives, killing at least 13 people at a crowded market in the town of Biu, Borno state.
(AP, 12/2/17)
2017 Dec 3, It was reported that Nigeria's government plans to house displaced people in the northwest in fortified garrison towns, ringed by farms, with the rest of the countryside effectively left to fend for itself.
(Reuters, 12/3/17)
2017 Dec 10, In Nigeria two soldiers were killed after their vehicle hit a homemade explosive planted by Boko Haram insurgents along the Maiduguri-Damboa highway.
(SFC, 12/13/17, p.A2)
2017 Dec 12, Nigeria's court of appeal dismissed 15 charges against Senate president Bukola Saraki related to alleged false declarations of assets, but it upheld three other charges against him.
(Reuters, 12/13/17)
2017 Dec 12, A Nigerian official said two teenage girl suicide bombers attacked the town of Gwoza, Borno state. One girl was shot dead and the other detonated herself killing four others.
(SFC, 12/13/17, p.A2)
2017 Dec 14, Nigerian state governors approved the release of $1 billion from the country's excess oil account to the government to help fight the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.
(Reuters, 12/14/17)
2017 Dec 15, In Nigeria four Chinese expatriates were kidnapped while travelling from Lagos to Ondo state in the south. The military received a distress call, freed the victims and captured one of the kidnappers.
(AP, 12/16/17)
2017 Dec 16, Nigerian authorities said soldiers in a two week operation have arrested 167 Boko Haram fighters as well as 67 women and 173 children associated with the extremist group hiding on the islands of Lake Chad.
(AP, 12/16/17)
2017 Dec 18, A major Nigerian oil union said it would suspend a nationwide strike after securing worker demands through dispute resolution with the government and an oil firm.
(Reuters, 12/18/17)
2017 Dec 25, In northeastern Nigeria four civilians were killed in an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
(Reuters, 12/26/17)
2017 Dec 31, In Nigeria a new report said at least 5,247 Muslims have been killed in Adamawa state over the past four years because of Boko Haram.
(SFC, 1/1/18, p.A2)
2017 Nigerian writer Chibundo Onuzo (25) authored her 2nd novel: “Welcome to Lagos".
(https://hkrbooks.com/2017/01/25/welcome-to-lagos/)(Econ, 1/7/17, p.65)
2017 Ziki Nelson and Tolu Foyeh of Nigeria co-founded Kugali, an animation enterprise, along with Hamid Ibrahim of Uganda. In 2020 the company announced a deal with Disney to make "Iwaju" a sci-fi series imbued with Yoruba culture.
(Econ., 1/16/21, p.37)
2018 Jan 2, Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video message claiming a series of attacks in the northeast during the festive season.
(AFP, 1/2/18)
2018 Jan 2, Nigeria's electricity grid was shut down late today by a fire on a gas pipeline, the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada in the southern state of Edo.
(Reuters, 1/3/18)
2018 Jan 3, In northern Nigeria a suicide bomber entered a mosque in and detonated his explosives, killing 14 people during early morning prayers in Gamboru Ngala town, Borno state.
(AP, 1/3/18)
2018 Jan 4, The Nigerian military said it had rescued Salomi Pogu, one of more than 270 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in 2014.
(Reuters, 1/4/18)
2018 Jan 5, In Nigeria Julius Ayuk Tabe, the Nigeria-based chairman of the Governing Council of Ambazonia, a Cameroon separatist movement, was taken into custody in Abuja along with six aides.
(Reuters, 1/6/18)
2018 Jan 8, Nigerian government and police officials said at least 83 people have been killed in communal violence since Dec. 31, much of it involving clashes between Muslim cattle herders and Christian farmers. Terve Akase, chief press secretary to the governor of Benue, attributed 71 of the deaths from Dec. 31 to Jan. 6 in the state to killings by the Fulani. In neighboring Taraba state at least 12 people were killed in similar, ethnically-charged attacks in the Lau region on Jan. 5 and Jan. 7.
(Reuters, 1/8/18)
2018 Jan 9, Nigeria’s military said troops from Nigeria and neighboring countries have launched major offensives against the two Boko Haram factions and their leaders. Soldiers from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria were targeting Abubakar Shekau in the Sambisa Forest, and Mamman Nur, on and around Lake Chad, both in Borno state.
(AFP, 1/9/18)
2018 Jan 11, The United Nations refugee agency and Nigerian government officials said more than 15,000 Cameroonian refugees have fled to Nigeria amid a crackdown on Anglophone separatists.
(Reuters, 1/11/18)
2018 Jan 12, Nigeria’s army said that militant leader Peregbakumo Oyawerikumo was killed in a gun battle after his gang members ambushed a military unit that was transporting him following his arrest a day earlier in Delta state.
(SFC, 1/13/18, p.A2)
2018 Jan 15, In Nigeria a video released by Boko Haram Islamic extremists purportedly showed some of the young women kidnapped from a school nearly four years ago who vow never to return home.
(AP, 1/15/18)
2018 Jan 15, Nigeria's army released 244 Boko Haram suspects who have denounced their membership in the deadly extremist group. The public release at the Maiduguri military barracks was done to mark Nigeria's Armed Forces Remembrance Day.
(AP, 1/16/18)
2018 Jan 16, In Nigeria kidnappers abducted one American and one Canadian in the northern state of Kaduna, killing two police officers.
(Reuters, 1/17/18)
2018 Jan 17, In northern Nigeria a double suicide bombing at a market in Maiduguri killed at least 12 people and wounded 45 others.
(SFC, 1/18/18, p.A2)
2018 Jan 17, In Nigeria two Americans and two Canadians were ambushed by unknown gunmen while traveling from the town of Kafanchan in Kaduna state to the capital, Abuja. The four were freed on January 19.
(Reuters, 1/20/18)
2018 Jan 18, In Nigeria five oil workers from local firm Sahara Energy were kidnapped in the southern Niger Delta region.
(Reuters, 1/20/18)
2018 Jan 25, Nigeria said it will protest to the United States over conditions imposed on its planned $494 million purchase of 12 A-29 Super Tucano fighter planes. The sale of the aircraft, with weapons and service, includes thousands of bombs and rockets.
(Reuters, 1/25/18)
2018 Jan 25, Local aid officials said more than 43,000 Cameroonians have fled as refugees to Nigeria to escape a crackdown by the government on Anglophone separatists.
(Reuters, 1/25/18)
2018 Jan 30, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists killed at least five loggers, in the latest attacks against civilians in the violence-hit region.
(AFP, 2/1/18)
2018 Jan 30, Amnesty Int’l. said Nigeria’s military has killed at least 35 people in air raids during attempts to combat growing violence between farmers and herdsmen over land in five states.
(SFC, 1/31/18, p.A2)
2018 Jan 30, Cameroonian troops crossed into neighboring Nigeria in pursuit of separatist rebels. More than 43,000 Cameroonians have fled as refugees to Nigeria to escape the government crackdown on the separatists.
(Reuters, 1/31/18)
2018 Jan 31, The UN refugee agency appealed for $157 million (126 million euros) to help over a quarter of a million people affected by the insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. Since 2013, the Boko Haram conflict has internally displaced another 2.4 million people in northeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
(AFP, 1/31/18)
2018 Feb 3, Nigerian court papers showed that Danladi Umar, a top judge handling corruption cases against public officials, has himself been charged with bribery.
(AFP, 2/3/18)
2018 Feb 4, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram fighters stormed a village and murdered two civilians, while six people were killed in an attack in northern Cameroon.
(AFP, 2/5/18)
2018 Feb 6, It was reported that India is seeking the help of the navies of Benin and Nigeria to find the Marine Express oil tanker that has gone missing in the Gulf of Guinea with 22 Indian crew members.
(SFC, 2/6/18, p.A2)
2018 Feb 14, The Court of Appeal in London ruled that two Nigerian communities cannot pursue Royal Dutch Shell in English courts over oil spills in Nigeria's Delta region.
(Reuters, 2/14/18)
2018 Feb 16, In northern Nigeria a trio of suicide bombers detonated at a crowded fish market late today in Konduga, Borno state, killing at least 20 people.
(AP, 2/17/18)
2018 Feb 16, Nigeria’s justice ministry ordered 475 Boko Haram suspects to be freed following a series of mass trials in which most cases were dropped for lack of evidence. The court imposed a second 15-year sentence on Haruna Yahaya (35), who was involved in the 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok.
(AFP, 2/18/18)
2018 Feb 19, A Vatican statement said the pope had accepted the resignation of Peter Ebere Okpaleke as bishop of Nigeria’s diocese of Ahiara. It said the position had been declared vacant and that a papal administrator would run it for the time being. Rebel priests and faithful had rejected him as an ethnic outsider.
(Reuters, 2/19/18)
2018 Feb 20, In northeastern Nigeria more than 90 schoolgirls went missing after Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram attacked Dapchi village in Yobe state.
(Reuters, 2/21/18)
2018 Feb 27, In northeastern Nigeria soldiers killed at least 10 people after attackers struck a village in the Gwamba region of Adamawa state. The region been a flashpoint for communal clashes between farmers and herders.
(Reuters, 2/28/18)
2018 Feb 28, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari's office said security forces have been ordered to defend all schools in "liberated areas" of the country's northeast to avoid further mass abductions from schools by Boko Haram extremists.
(AP, 2/28/18)
2018 Mar 1, In northeastern Nigeria three workers for UN agencies were among 11 people killed in an attack by armed Boko Haram militants on a military base near the border with Cameroon. Aid agencies soon pulled out of Rann, leaving tens of thousands uprooted by the fighting living again in parlous conditions with little or no international humanitarian support.
(AP, 3/2/18)(Reuters, 3/22/18)
2018 Mar 2, The UN suspended aid work helping tens of thousands of people in northeastern Nigeria after an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants a day earlier in the town of Rann, Borno state. The suspected militants killed at least 11 people, including the three aid workers. Three other aid workers were missing.
(Reuters, 3/3/18)
2018 Mar 5, Nigerian police said least 10 people were killed in several days of violence between herdsmen and farmers in a number of remote herding villages in the Mambilla district of Taraba state. Cattle drivers said 19 people have been killed and 23 injured.
(AFP, 3/5/18)
2018 Mar 7, It was reported that between 10,000 and 30,000 Nigerian prostitutes are estimated to be walking Italian streets, often to pay off the debts they incurred to get there.
(AP, 3/7/18)
2018 Mar 7, In eastern Nigeria rural communities in Taraba state were put on indefinite lockdown as the authorities tried to contain mounting violence between cattle herders and farmers.
(AFP, 3/9/18)
2018 Mar 9, In central Nigeria gunmen suspected to be herdsmen killed at least five people in Plateau state. The attack happened just as President Muhammadu Buhari was rounding up a tour of Plateau and four other flashpoint states.
(AFP, 3/10/18)
2018 Mar 16, Nigerian Senator Shehu Sani's revelation that lawmakers in the upper house of parliament receive about $37,500 each month for personal expenses prompted anger in the country, where most people live on less than $2 a day.
(Reuters, 3/16/18)
2018 Mar 21, Nigeria's government said 101 of the 110 schoolgirls abducted a month ago by Boko Haram are confirmed freed, and it indicates that the release is not over.
(AP, 3/21/18)
2018 Mar 22, Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, said police have smashed a Nigerian organized crime ring in one of the largest European operations against human trafficking. It says 89 people have been arrested in Britain and Spain and 39 victims rescued. The gang had trafficked victims to Europe through Libya and Italy, forcing women into prostitution to pay for their journey.
(AP, 3/22/18)
2018 Mar 30, In northeastern Nigeria four teenage girl suicide bombers killed two people in multiple attacks in Maiduguri.
(AFP, 3/31/18)
2018 Apr 1, In Nigeria Boko Haram tried to enter Maiduguri but were repelled by army soldiers. Six insurgents and seven suicide bombers were killed.
(SFC, 4/3/18, p.A2)
2018 Apr 2, In Nigeria Boko Haram extremists attacked two villages on the outskirts of Maiduguri, killing at least 15 people and wounded 83, in the biggest strike since the government said it was in talks with the Islamist militant group.
(Reuters, 4/2/18)(SFC, 4/3/18, p.A2)
2018 Apr 5, The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said Lassa fever has killed 142 people in Nigeria since the start of the year, reporting a rise of 32 fatalities in a month.
(AFP, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 9, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari departed for Britain for talks with PM Theresa May after announcing that he would seek re-election in 2019.
(Reuters, 4/9/18)
2018 Apr 12, In northern Nigeria gunmen killed 26 people in Zamfara state, in the latest in a series of attacks blamed on cattle thieves. The victims were miners from Kuru-Kuru that were attacked and residents of Jarkuka village who had come to help their neighbors.
(AP, 4/13/18)
2018 Apr 17, Nigeria's upper chamber of parliament said it would invite the central bank governor and the ministers of finance and defence to explain the release of $462 million to buy helicopters.
(Reuters, 4/17/18)
2018 Apr 17, Nigerian police fired teargas for a second day at protesters in Abuja demanding the release of Shiite leader Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been in jail without charge since December 2015.
(AFP, 4/17/18)
2018 Apr 18, In Nigeria three men burst into the Senate and snatched the legislature's ceremonial mace. The body's spokesman blamed lawmaker Ovie Omo-Agege, who had been suspended.
(Reuters, 4/18/18)
2018 Apr 26, In Nigeria at least four people were killed when Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked Maiduguri. Five suicide bombers also died trying to detonate their explosives while trying to reach the city's Giwa Barracks, where suspected militants are held. At least one member of the security forces was killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a military vehicle. Air strikes killed an unspecified number of jihadists as they fled. It was also announced that 22 soldiers from a regional force have been killed in fighting this month.
(AFP, 4/27/18)
2018 Apr 30, President Donald Trump met with Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari, president of Africa's most populous and wealthiest country. Buhari sought support in his battle against Boko Haram, as well as investment in Nigeria's rickety infrastructure.
(AFP, 4/30/18)
2018 Apr, In central Nigeria 33 people, including a number of policemen, were killed during a brutal bank robbery in Offa, Kwara state.
(AFP, 8/10/18)
2018 May 1, In northeastern Nigeria explosions in and around a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa state, killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 2, In northern Nigeria 13 people were killed over the last two days in prolonged clashes between cattle thieves and local civilian militia in Zamfara state.
(AP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 5, In northwestern Nigeria as many as 40 people were killed by armed bandits in Gwaska, Kaduna state.
(SFC, 5/7/18, p.A2)
2018 May 8, Lawyers said Nigerian migrants, who survived a deadly sea crossing last year, filed a lawsuit last week against Italy for violating their rights by supporting Libya's efforts to return them to North Africa.
(Reuters, 5/8/18)
2018 May 18, In Nigeria anti-corruption representatives from around Africa vowed to "strengthen cooperation and partnership in the tracing, recovery and return of (stolen) assets".
(AFP, 5/20/18)
2018 May 31, Nigerian soldiers on patrol in the southwest intercepted three trucks carrying boxes of ammunition from Benin. The UN Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament (UNREC) has said more than 350 million small arms and light weapons are circulating in Nigeria -- nearly two for every member of its population.
(AFP, 6/8/18)
2018 Jun 6, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari faced a threat of impeachment after lawmakers issued a raft of demands over security and corruption in a deepening rift with the executive.
(AFP, 6/6/18)
2018 Jun 16, In northeastern Nigeria six suicide bombers killed at least 20 people in Borno state, in the Shuwari and Abachari districts of the local government area. Residents said at least 31 people were killed.
(AP, 6/17/18)(Reuters, 6/17/18)
2018 Jun 20, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (75) signed the 2018 budget into law, more than six months after the 9.1-trillion-naira ($25 billion, 22-billion-euro) spending plan was first presented to parliament.
(AFP, 6/20/18)
2018 Jun 21, In northeastern Nigeria at least five people were killed late today and six others injured in a night-time Boko Haram raid and suicide attack on Tungushe village, Borno state.
(AFP, 6/23/18)
2018 Jun 23, In central Nigeria scores were dead after vicious clashes between mostly Muslim herders and Christian farmers. One report citing police saying 86 people were killed in Plateau State. Multiple local sources said that more than 100 people died in the violence, an apparent reprisal after ethnic Berom farmers allegedly killed five Fulani herders on June 21.
(AP, 6/25/18) (AFP, 6/27/18)
2018 Jun 28, Nigeria's army said they have arrested 17 people in connection with the killing of more than 200 people in the central state of Plateau.
(AFP, 6/28/18)
2018 Jul 1, Nigerian police found the bodies of 41 men with their throats cut in Zamfara state, a northern area that is notorious as a hideout for criminal gangs. Police soon arrested four suspects after searching the bush area and also found machetes and guns.
(AFP, 7/4/18)
2018 Jul 4, In Nigeria French President Emmanuel Macron called for Africa and Europe to reach a "win-win" solution to migration during an address to 300 young entrepreneurs on the second day of his visit to Lagos.
(AP, 7/4/18)
2018 Jul 6, Nigeria's Supreme Court dismissed all outstanding charges against Senate president Bukola Saraki related to alleged false declarations of assets.
(Reuters, 7/6/18)
2018 Jul 11, In northern Nigeria 26 people were killed over the last two days in violence blamed on cattle thieves.
(AFP, 7/11/18)
2018 Jul 14, Nigeria's ruling party won a governorship election in southwestern Ekiti state, unseating the opposition and giving President Muhammadu Buhari a boost ahead of national polls next year.
(Reuters, 7/15/18)
2018 Jul 18, The Nigeria Police Force said eight suspected members of Islamist militant group Boko Haram have confessed to involvement in the 2014 abduction of some 270 girls from the town of Chibok.
(Reuters, 7/18/18)
2018 Jul 21, In northeastern Nigeria military troops killed "scores" of Boko Haram fighters in Yobe state. Jihadists had been intending to attack and loot the market in the town of Babangida when they ambushed troops.
(AFP, 7/22/18)
2018 Jul 23, In northern Nigeria seven people were killed in a suicide attack on a mosque in Konduga town.
(AP, 7/23/18)
2018 Jul 24, Fifteen Nigerian senators quit the ruling All Progressives Congress party, making it a minority in parliament's upper house and indicating worsening rifts in President Muhammadu Buhari's political camp months ahead of an election.
(Reuters, 7/24/18)
2018 Aug 1, In northern Nigeria Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal dumped President Muhammadu Buhari's All Progressives Congress for the opposition, in the latest defection to hit the ruling party.
(AFP, 8/1/18)
2018 Aug 9, In southern Nigeria armed robbers killed at least 10 people, including a policeman, when they raided a police station and two banks in Igarra, Edo state.
(AP, 8/10/18)
2018 Aug 9, In Nigeria 13 people burnt to death when a bus burst into flames after a head-on collision with a digger near the oil hub of Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 8/10/18)
2018 Aug 12, In Nigeria hundreds of soldiers protested in the airport of Maiduguri, the capital of restive northeast Borno state, for several hours, shooting into the air and disrupting flights. They were furious about a planned redeployment to a battlefront in the remote Lake Chad region after fighting Boko Haram jihadists for years without relief.
(AFP, 8/15/18)
2018 Aug 14, Nigerian reporter Samuel Ogundipe was arrested for refusing to reveal the source of a letter, which identified who was blamed for a blockade on parliament last week by members of the Department of State Security. His article cited a confidential letter from the chief of police. On August 17 he was released on bail.
(Reuters, 8/17/18)
2018 Aug 28, In Nigeria eight people were killed in the Barakin Ladi district of Plateau state in a long-running resource conflict between farmers and herders.
(AFP, 9/4/18)
2018 Aug 29, Nigeria's central bank ordered South African telecoms giant MTN to refund $8.13 billion (6.96 billion euros) that it allegedly illegally repatriated and fined four banks involved in the transfer.
(AFP, 8/30/18)
2018 Aug 29, Britain's Theresa May landed in Nigeria's capital on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the EU. Britain said it would open new embassies in Chad and Niger to boost its diplomatic presence in Africa's troubled Sahel region.
(AFP, 8/29/18)
2018 Aug 30, In Nigeria an attack by suspected members of Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA), on a base in Zari village in the north of Borno State, killed up to 30 soldiers. The known death toll of Nigerian troops soon rose to 48, but state media quoted an official army spokesman as saying such reports were wrong.
(AFP, 9/1/18)(Reuters, 9/3/18)
2018 Aug 31, In Nigeria German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari wrapping up a three-day Africa visit with a meeting that focused on migration.
(AP, 8/31/18)
2018 Sep 2, In central Nigeria gunmen shot dead 11 people in an attack suspected to be part of ongoing communal violence in Lopandet Dwei Du village, Plateau state.
(AP, 9/3/18)
2018 Sep 3, In Nigeria eleven people were shot dead in the Lopandet Dwei Du area of Plateau state in a long-running resource conflict between farmers and herders.
(AFP, 9/4/18)
2018 Sep 5, It was reported that Nigeria's two main political parties have asked election hopefuls to pay huge fees for the chance to stand at next year's general election, in a move criticized as favoring the rich and well-connected. According to newspaper adverts the All Progressives Congress (APC) wants 45 million naira ($125,500, 108,000 euros) per presidential primary candidate.
(AFP, 9/5/18)
2018 Sep 7, In northern Nigeria Boko Haram extremists overran Gudumbali, a key crossroads and military outpost. In June the government encouraged displaced people to return to the town in Borno state.
(AP, 9/8/18)(Reuters, 9/8/18)
2018 Sep 10, In Nigeria at least 18 people were killed and more than 40 others were burned in a gas explosion at a gas station in Lafia.
(SFC, 9/11/18, p.A2)
2018 Sep 14, Nigerian finance minister Kemi Adeosun (51), accused of forging a document to avoid compulsory national service, said she was quitting to protect government integrity.
(AFP, 9/15/18)
2018 Sep 17, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced that one of its employees, midwife Saifura Khorsa, had been killed in Nigeria after more than six months in captivity by Boko Haram.
(AFP, 9/18/18)
2018 Sep 19, The UN said more than 500 people have died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, representing the worst outbreak to hit the area in four years. The Lake Chad region straddles parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are also grappling with a jihadist insurgency.
(AFP, 9/19/18)
2018 Sep 22, In southwestern Nigeria voters in the state of Osun went to the polls to elect a new governor amid growing concerns about free and fair voting, six months ahead of a presidential election.
(AFP, 9/22/18)
2018 Sep 22, The United Nations said a cholera outbreak in north-eastern Nigeria has claimed nearly 100 lives over the past two weeks.
(AFP, 9/22/18)
2018 Sep 22, Pirates off Nigeria's coast attacked the MV Glarus early today as it sailed from Lagos to Port Harcourt with a load of wheat. The next day Geneva-based Massoel Shipping said 12 of the ships 19 crew members had been kidnapped.
(AP, 9/23/18)
2018 Sep 23, In Nigeria the governorship election in southwest Osun state ended in a stalemate when the nation's electoral body failed to declare a clear winner. A run off between Gboyega Oyetola from President Muhammadu Buhari's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ademola Adeleke of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is expected to be held on October 27.
(AFP, 9/23/18)
2018 Sep 27, Nigerian authorities said the death toll from large-scale flooding in recent weeks has jumped to nearly 200 people.
(SFC, 9/28/18, p.A2)
2018 Sep 29, Nigeria's women's affairs minister submitted her resignation in a letter to the president, becoming the second cabinet member to step down this month and adding that she would leave the ruling party. The minister said she was resigning and leaving the leader's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party because she had been barred from running for governor of eastern Taraba state.
(Reuters, 9/29/18)
2018 Oct 4, Vietnam seized eight tons of pangolin scales and elephant ivory shipped from Nigeria, the second such haul in a week.
(AFP, 10/5/18)
2018 Oct 7, In Nigeria Atiku Abubakar (71) won almost half the votes cast in a primary race to become the main opposition challenger to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in next year's elections.
(AP, 10/7/18)
2018 Oct 12, Nigerian troops foiled an attempt by Boko Haram fighters to overrun a military base in the restive northeast leaving six soldiers wounded.
(AP, 10/13/18)
2018 Oct 12, In southeastern Nigeria at least 19 people were killed when a leaking oil pipeline exploded in Abia state. Oil thieves were suspected of hacking into the pipe
(SSFC, 10/14/18, p.A4)
2018 Oct 12, The UN children's agency UNICEF said a militia fighting against the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria has released 833 children from its own ranks, some as young as 11.
(AP, 10/12/18)
2018 Oct 15, The Nigerian government said a medical aid worker held hostage by Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) militants was killed after a deadline they set expired. The next day the Red Cross named the health worker as Hauwa Mohammed Liman, a 24-year-old midwife. She and two other Nigerian aid workers, Alice Loksha and Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, were working in the northeastern town of Rann when they were kidnapped by ISWA in March. Khorsa, also a midwife, was killed in September.
(Reuters, 10/16/18)
2018 Oct 21, Nigerian police said communal violence in the northern state of Kaduna over the last few days has killed 55 people.
(Reuters, 10/21/18)
2018 Oct 23, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari flew in by helicopter to cut the ribbon at the new Seme-Krake Joint Border Post with his Beninese counterpart Patrice Talon.
(AFP, 10/28/18)
2018 Oct 27, In Nigeria three members of the IMN (IMN) were killed during protests in Abuja. The IMN has staged a series of demonstrations demanding the release of leader Zakzaky, who has been detained since bloody clashes broke out in the northern city of Zaria in 2015.
(AFP, 10/30/18)
2018 Oct 27, Pirates off the coast of Nigeria struck the MV Pomerania Sky, a container ship bound for the Nigerian port of Onne and abducted 11 of the crew, including 8 from Poland.
(Reuters, 10/29/18)
2018 Oct 29, In Nigeria three more IMN supporters were killed during a protest on the outskirts of Abuja.
(AFP, 10/30/18)
2018 Oct 30, Nigerian police fired shots and tear gas at thousands of supporters of an imprisoned Shiite cleric in Abuja.
(AFP, 10/30/18)
2018 Oct 31, In northeast Nigeria suspected members of the Islamist Boko Haram insurgency killed at least 15 people late today in an attack on a group of villages.
(Reuters, 11/1/18)
2018 Nov 3, Nigeria's main Shiite Muslim movement said the army killed at least 50 of its members who were protesting this week. Nigeria's military said it killed six people and claims the protesters had fired first.
(AP, 11/3/18)
2018 Nov 18, In Nigeria 44 soldiers were killed in an attack in Metele in the northeastern state of Borno. Nigerian troops later released a video claiming dozens had died in the attack and deploring the poor state of their equipment.
(Reuters, 11/22/18)(AP, 11/24/18)
2018 Nov 22, Nigerian security sources said attacks blamed on Islamic State West Africa have killed around 100 soldiers in northeast Nigeria since Nov. 18.
(Reuters, 11/22/18)
2018 Nov 28, Nigeria's military revealed a death toll of 39 from five attacks by extremists on soldiers between Nov. 2 and Nov. 18.
(SFC, 11/29/18, p.A2)
2018 Nov 28, At least 15 Nigerian news organizations joined forces on the CrossCheck Nigeria project to fight misinformation ahead of February's elections in a collaborative first as the country's main political parties trade accusations of fabrication and exaggeration.
(AFP, 11/28/18)
2018 Nov 29, Nigeria's Pres. Buhari said Islamic extremists in Nigeria have begun using drones.
(SFC, 11/30/18, p.A2)
2018 Nov 29, Top leaders from Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon held talks in N'Djamena (Chad) to discuss the recent escalation of attacks by Boko Haram jihadists in the Lake Chad area.
(AFP, 11/29/18)
2018 Dec 12, Nigerian opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar signed an election peace accord, a day after his absence from the official signing ceremony raised concerns about the conduct of the February 2019 vote.
(Reuters, 12/12/18)
2018 Dec 14, The Nigerian military accused United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) staff of spying for Islamist militants in northeast Nigeria, and suspended the agency's activities there. A new military statement hours later lifted a suspension of UNICEF's work in the extremist-threatened northeast. The reversal came after an emergency meeting with UNICEF representatives.
(Reuters, 12/14/18)(AP, 12/14/18)
2018 Dec 15, In Nigeria leaders of countries in the Lake Chad region met to give fresh impetus to their fight against Boko Haram. Benin, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria will hold a follow-up to a November gathering in Chad to tackle a surge in Boko Haram attacks in the restive region.
(AFP, 12/15/18)
2018 Dec 24, Nigeria said it has resolved a dispute with Africa's largest mobile operator over $8.13 billion (6.96 billion euros) which it accused MTN of illegally repatriating to South Africa.
(AFP, 12/24/18)
2018 Dec 24, In Nigeria 14 military and police personnel were killed in an ambush by Boko Haram exstremists outside Damaturu town in Yobe state.
(SFC, 12/26/18, p.A2)
2018 Dec 26, In Nigeria militants attacked a military base late today in Baga, in eastern Borno state. 10 people were killed and clashes were continued as the militants tried to capture the town. The attacks in the Baga-Kawa area caused more than 6,357 people to flee east into Chad and some 20,000 others to flee to safety within Nigeria.
(Reuters, 12/28/18)(Reuters, 1/18/19)
2018 Dec 28, Shehu Shagari (93), Nigeria's second president (1978-1983), died. His civilian tenure was sandwiched between two military rulers in an era rocked by coups.
(AP, 12/29/18)
2018 Dec 30, Five Nigerien and five Nigerian" troops and 11 enemy fighters were killed over the last 24 hours in an operation launched against gangs in the Maradi region.
(AFP, 12/31/18)
2018 Dec, Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) began collaborating with French data firm Kpler to help it ferret out the smugglers from the thousands of ships plying Nigerian waters.
(Reuters, 4/30/19)
2019 Jan 2, A Nigerian Air Force helicopter crashed in combat at Damasak in northern Borno state, killing five crew members.
(AP, 1/3/19)
2019 Jan 3, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari appointed his niece, Amina Zakari, to the election commission ahead of presidential elections in February, when he will seek a second term. The opposition quickly objected to the appointment.
(AFP, 1/5/19)
2019 Jan 4, In Nigeria the Koluama Seven Brothers militant group carried out an unconfirmed warning strike on an oil facility owned by local energy firm Conoil in the southern state of Bayelsa. The group soon threatened a production shut-down and demanded action from Conoil and a traditional ruler called King Solomon Eddy on issues such as job creation.
(Reuters, 1/6/19)
2019 Jan 6, In Nigeria two journalists of the Daily Trust were arrested in Maiduguri. They had written a critical report of the army's performance fighting against Boko Haram extremists.
(SFC, 1/8/19, p.A2)
2019 Jan 11, In Nigeria an overturned oil tanker exploded while dozens of people were scooping up the leaking fuel and many were killed. About 60 people were inside a pit scooping fuel when the explosion occurred.
(AP, 1/12/19)
2019 Jan 14, In northeastern Nigeria 7 people were killed when Boko Haram fighters attacked a military base in Rann, setting fire to shelters for those displaced by the conflict.
(AFP, 1/15/19)
2019 Jan 18, The United Nations said it was "extremely alarmed" by the forced return by Cameroon of thousands of refugees to northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram Islamists pose a continuing threat to civilians. The UN refugee agency said Cameroon forced "several thousand" refugees back to Nigeria this week. According to the UNHCR Cameroon is currently hosting 370,000 refugees, 100,000 of whom are Nigerians.
(AFP, 1/18/19)
2019 Jan 24, A Nigerian appeals court issued an interim order stopping a tribunal from charging Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen with breaching asset-declaration rules, a month before a presidential election.
(Reuters, 1/24/19)
2019 Jan 25, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari set off an uproar by announcing the suspension of the chief justice, citing corruption allegations.
(AP, 1/26/19)
2019 Jan 28, In Nigeria the militant group Boko Haram killed at least 60 people when it renewed its attack on the northeastern town of Rann.
(AP, 2/1/19)
2019 Jan 29, The United Nations refugee agency says more than 30,000 Nigerians fled the border town of Rann over the weekend to seek safety in Cameroon as attacks by Boko Haram extremists continue. Spokesman Babar Baloch said thousands more have fled to neighboring Chad because of the violence in northeastern Nigeria.
(AP, 1/29/19)
2019 Feb 9, Nigeria's main political opposition said it had been forced to cancel a key presidential campaign rally in the capital Abuja, and blamed President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling party.
(AFP, 2/9/19)
2019 Feb 12, In southern Nigeria fifteen people were killed in a stampede at an election campaign rally by President Muhammadu Buhari.
(AFP, 2/13/19)
2019 Feb 12, In Nigeria three people were reported killed when insurgents attacked a motorcade on route to an election rally in Borno state. Survivors of the assault later put the toll much higher. One survivor said he saw about 40 bodies; another estimated that as many as 100 died. The militants also took between 100 and 200 people captive.
(Reuters, 2/22/19)
2019 Feb 13, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar joined other candidates to sign a "peace accord", in front of foreign observers.
(AFP, 2/13/19)
2019 Feb 15, In Nigeria Boko Haram insurgents killed eight people during an attack late today on the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
(AFP, 2/16/19)
2019 Feb 15, In Nigeria authorities in Kaduna state reported at least 66 deaths in fighting said to be between Christian farmers and Fulani Muslim herdsmen. The death toll from the attack soon doubled to more than 130 people.
(SFC, 2/15/19, p.A2)(Reuters, 2/19/19)
2019 Feb 16, Nigeria's president and the leading opposition candidate urged people to remain calm after a national election scheduled for today was postponed by a week just five hours before polls were due to open.
(Reuters, 2/16/19)
2019 Feb 21, In northwestern Nigeria two people were killed in clashes between rival party supporters in the village of Kofa, 2-days ahead of rescheduled general elections.
(AP, 2/22/19)
2019 Feb 23, Nigeria held presidential elections. In the northeast one soldier was killed and 20 others were injured in a Boko Haram rocket attack in Maiduguri, just hours before elections began.
(AP, 2/23/19)(AFP, 2/23/19)
2019 Feb 24, In Nigeria some polling stations remained open in several states while votes were counted in the previous day's presidential election, widely seen as a tight race between the president and a former vice president. The death toll in election-related violence continued to climbed to 39 after one election worker was hit by a bullet after completing work in Rivers state.
(AP, 2/24/19)
2019 Feb 26, Nigeria's incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari extended his early election lead based on official results from a third of the country's districts as the death toll from sporadic poll-related violence rose to 47.
(Reuters, 2/26/19)
2019 Feb 26, In Nigeria gunmen suspected to be Fulani herders stormed into villages of ethnic Adara farmers, killing 29 people and burning some 40 homes. The bloodshed was believed to be in retaliation for gunmen attacking eight Fulani settlements in Kaduna state on February 11, which state governor Nasir El-Rufai said killed more than 130 people.
(AFP, 2/28/19)
2019 Feb 27, Nigerian election authorities said President Muhammadu Buhari (76) has comfortably won a second term at the helm of Africa's largest economy, but his main rival planned a fraud challenge after a vote marred by delays and violence. Some 327 people died in election-related violence since the campaign began in October, 67 of them during or after the Feb. 23 vote.
(Reuters, 2/27/19)
2019 Feb 27, Aid agency Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities have ordered 40,000 refugees in Cameroon to return to northeast Nigeria.
(Reuters, 2/27/19)
2019 Mar 1, In southern Nigeria more than 50 people were left missing after a leaking oil pipeline exploded and caused a stampede in Bayelsa state. The Nembe Creek Trunk pipeline exploded, but no fatalities were reported. It runs from an oil terminal in Bonny to the state of Bayelsa with capacity of 150,000 barrels per day.
(AP, 3/2/19)(AFP, 3/3/19)
2019 Mar 3, It was reported that a Nigerian court last week condemned as "illegal and unconstitutional" the arrest and deportation of Cameroonian separatists who had applied for asylum in Nigeria.
(AFP, 3/3/19)
2019 Mar 8, In northeastern Nigeria at least five farmers were killed and dozens wounded after their vehicle struck a land mine buried by Boko Haram extremists. Three people were reportedly killed in Rivers state, following clashes between APC and PDP supporters, one day ahead of regional elections.
(SFC, 3/9/19, p.A2)(AFP, 3/10/19)
2019 Mar 9, Nigerians voted for a second time in a fortnight in governorship and state assembly elections.
(AP, 3/9/19)
2019 Mar 10, In Nigeria dozens of soldiers in armored vehicles encircled a vote counting center in the opposition-held oil-rich southern city of Port Harcourt, in the latest flashpoint as violence overshadowed the previous day's closely-watched regional elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission halted the vote count in Rivers state, citing violence at polling stations, kidnapping of staff, confiscation and destruction of results.
(AFP, 3/10/19)(AP, 3/11/19)
2019 Mar 12, In Nigeria gunmen abducted a Lebanese construction worker and killed another man in the northern city of Kano.
(Reuters, 3/12/19)
2019 Mar 13, In Nigeria a three-story building that housed a school collapsed in Lagos. 20 people were soon confirmed dead in the school building, and most of them are children. The school had been operating illegally on the top two floors.
(Reuters, 3/13/19)(AP, 3/14/19)(AP, 3/15/19)
2019 Mar 16, In northeastern Nigeria a fire killed at least eight people and left 15,000 others without shelter after raging through a camp for people displaced by a war against Islamist insurgents in the town of Gajiram, Borno state.
(Reuters, 3/16/19)
2019 Mar 23, Nigerians returned to vote in governorship and state elections after polling a fortnight ago was declared invalid in some areas because of violence.
(AFP, 3/23/19)
2019 Apr 1, In Nigeria an Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) video, dated April 1 and said to have been filmed in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, was published online by the IS propaganda arm Amaq. It claimed to have executed five Nigerian soldiers but security sources the next day said three of those killed were civilian militia members.
(AFP, 4/2/19)
2019 Apr 7, A presidential aide and the police chief said Nigeria has suspended mining in the restive northwestern state of Zamfara, amid concerns that illegal miners were connected to a surge in banditry.
(Reuters, 4/7/19)
2019 Apr 7, In northern Nigeria 14 people were killed in Katsina state in clashes between cattle thieves and a civilian militia armed by the government to support the security forces.
(AFP, 4/9/19)
2019 Apr 8, In Nigeria eight people were killed early today in the southeastern state of Rivers when armed men attacked the village of Emohua in the Ogoni region.
(AFP, 4/9/19)
2019 Apr 9, Nigerian media reported that 20 people had been massacred in the region of Kajuru, in Kaduna state, in fighting between crop farmers and nomadic herders.
(AFP, 4/9/19)
2019 Apr 13, In Nigeria twelve people were killed and 16 others badly injured when a fuel tanker exploded in the northern city of Gombe.
(AFP, 4/14/19)
2019 Apr 25, In Nigeria two Royal Dutch Shell oil workers were kidnapped, and their police escorts killed, in the restive Delta region.
(Reuters, 4/26/19)
2019 Apr 29, In Nigeria jihadists, packed into four trucks and flanked by gunmen on motorbikes, swept into Kuda in Adamawa state late today, shooting down villagers as they ran away killing at least 21 people. Nine more bodies were soon found, taking the total massacred to 30.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 10, In Nigeria hundreds of protesters marched through Abuja demanding an end to police impunity, after police officers were accused of carrying out a string of sexual assaults.
(AFP, 5/10/19)
2019 May 10, In Nigeria a regional militia allied with government forces freed almost 900 children it had used in the war against Islamist Boko Haram insurgents.
(Reuters, 5/10/19)
2019 May 10, In Nigeria the Islamic State (IS) killed 11 government soldiers in an attack on the northeastern town of Gajiganna.
(Reuters, 5/11/19)
2019 May 13, The Nigerian army said it rescued 54 women and children over the weekend held captive in Borno State by the extremist group Boko Haram.
(AP, 5/13/19)
2019 May 18, It was reported that Nigeria has experienced 685 kidnappings countrywide in the first quarter of the year -- an average of seven per day. Half of the kidnappings took place in the northwestern state of Zamfara.
(AFP, 5/18/19)
2019 May 28, The United Nations refugee agency said violence in northwest Nigeria has forced around 20,000 refugees to flee to neighboring Niger since April.
(Reuters, 5/28/19)
2019 May 29, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (76) was sworn in for a second term in office, vowing once more to tackle crippling security threats and root out corruption in Africa's key economy.
(AFP, 5/29/19)
2019 Jun 7, In Nigeria's Federal High Court in Abuja said African Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM radio should be allowed to operate until a ruling on their legal challenge to the ban. Broadcasting resumed the next day.
(AFP, 6/8/19)
2019 Jun 7, In Nigeria gunmen in oil-rich Rivers state kidnapped two Lebanese workers helping to build a road.
(AP, 6/9/19)
2019 Jun 12, In Nigeria there was an attack on an army base in northeastern Borno state in the town of Kareto. The Islamic State later said its fighters had killed 20 soldiers.
(Reuters, 6/14/19)
2019 Jun 13, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists launched a pre-dawn attack a military base near in Kareto village, killing several troops and stealing weapons.
(AFP, 6/14/19)
2019 Jun 14, In northwest Nigeria an armed gang killed at least 34 people in attacks on villages late today in Zamfara state.
(Reuters, 6/16/19)
2019 Jun 16, In northeastern Nigeria 30 people were killed late today in a triple suicide bombing outside a hall in Konduga in an attack bearing the hallmarks of the Boko Haram jihadist group.
(AFP, 6/17/19)
2019 Jun 17, In Nigeria assailants late today arrived on nine armored trucks and stormed into the military base outside the town of Gajiram, 80 km (50 miles), north of Maiduguri, Borno state.
(AFP, 6/18/19)
2019 Jun 21, The Islamic State fighters reportedly killed 15 Nigerian soldiers in fighting at Garno, a town in northeastern Borno state near Lake Chad. West African (MNJTF) troops reportedly killed 42 suspected Islamic State fighters in the battle, the heaviest death toll suffered by the insurgents in the last six months.
(Reuters, 6/23/19)
2019 Jun 24, In Nigeria Islamist insurgents struck the village of Ngamngam in Borno state late today. By the next morning at least 20 civilians were killed.
(Reuters, 6/26/19)
2019 Jul 1, In central Nigeria at least 45 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a petrol tanker crashed off the road and exploded as people gathered fuel in Benue state.
(AFP, 7/2/19)
2019 Jul 11, Two members of Nigeria's pro-Iran Shia Muslim sect, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, were killed and several injured in the northern city of Kaduna when police fired on an anti-government demonstration. The killings happened at a protest against the detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.
(AP, 7/12/19)
2019 Jul 13, Ten Turkish sailors were taken hostage by armed pirates who attacked the Paksoy-1, a Turkish-flagged cargo ship, off the coast of Nigeria. Another eight sailors were left safely aboard.
(Reuters, 7/16/19)
2019 Jul 18, In northeastern Nigeria one Action Against Hunger staff member, two drivers and three other health workers went missing after an attack on a convoy in which one driver was killed.
(Reuters, 7/19/19)
2019 Jul 20, In western Nigeria four Turkish nationals were kidnapped late today in Gbale village, Kwara state. Police soon began conducting a rescue operation.
(Reuters, 7/21/19)
2019 Jul 22, Nigerian police and a group of Shi'ite Muslim protesters clashed in the capital Abuja, with at least one marcher appearing to be dead.
(Reuters, 7/22/19)
2019 Jul 23, Nigerian troops and police clashed with Shi'ite Muslim marchers in the capital Abuja and gunfire could be heard.
(Reuters, 7/23/19)
2019 Jul 27, In northeastern Nigeria suspected Boko Haram extremists killed more than 60 people during an attack on villagers leaving a funeral in the Nganzai local government area.
(SFC, 7/29/19, p.A2)
2019 Aug 13, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the central bank to stop dollar supply for food imports, saying food security has been achieved and agricultural production has increased.
(Bloomberg, 8/30/19)
2019 Aug 27, Nigeria said it will not relinquish assets to a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands following a court ruling related to a $9 billion gas project dispute. Earlier this month a judge in London granted Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) the right to attempt to seize some $9 billion in assets from the Nigerian government over an aborted gas project.
(Reuters, 8/27/19)
2019 Aug 29, Nigeria's biggest telecoms firm MTN said it launched a mobile money transfer service, targeting those without bank accounts, and that it plans to become a payment services bank once it obtains approval from the central bank.
(Reuters, 8/29/19)
2019 Sep 3, Nigerian youths took to the streets this evening in some Nigerian cities to attack South African owned businesses, amid a growing outcry about the attacks on many Nigerians living in South Africa.
(AP, 9/4/19)
2019 Sep 10, A Nigerian Shi'ite group, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), banned by the government said police killed 12 of its members and injured more on during marches in the north of country to mark the Ashura Muslim holiday.
(Reuters, 9/10/19)
2019 Sep 12, OPEC agreed to trim oil output by asking over-producing members Iraq and Nigeria to bring production in line with their targets as the group strives to prevent a glut amid soaring US production and a slowing global economy. Oil prices have dropped below $60 per barrel in recent weeks from their 2019 peaks of $75.
(Reuters, 9/12/19)
2019 Sep 20, In Nigeria residents of Africa's most populous city, Lagos, joined a global day of demonstrations over climate change. The low-lying city of more than 20 million people is among the many African coastal cities at risk from flooding due to global warming.
(AP, 9/20/19)
2019 Sep 22, Nigeria's army said it will require anyone moving through three northeastern states to carry identification cards in an effort to root out members of Boko Haram and Islamic State.
(Reuters, 9/22/19)
2019 Sep 24, A court in Nigeria's capital Abuja ordered the State Security Service to release activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore while charges of treason against him are pending.
(Reuters, 9/24/19)
2019 Sep 26, Nigerian police rescued hundreds of boys and men from a building in Kaduna state where they had been beaten, starved, sexually assaulted and chained.
(AP, 9/27/19)
2019 Sep 27, The UN said worsening violence has doubled the number of people displaced from northwest Nigeria to some 40,000 over the past four months.
(Reuters, 9/27/19)
2019 Sep 29, In northeastern Nigeria militants killed at least nine people in an attack. The Islamic State soon claimed responsibility.
(Reuters, 9/30/19)
2019 Oct 3, In northern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped six schoolgirls and two staff members from a boarding school near the village of Kakau Daji in Kaduna state.
(Reuters, 10/3/19)
2019 Oct 8, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari presented a record 10.33 trillion-naira ($33.8 billion) budget for 2020 to lawmakers as he aims to spur growth in Africa's largest economy at the start of his second term in office.
(Reuters, 10/8/19)
2019 Oct 9, A new study by the World Health Organization said more than one-third of women in Ghana, Guinea, Myanmar and Nigeria had been abused during child birth in health centers.
(SFC, 10/10/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 11, In Nigeria global ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc launched a pilot test of a boat service in Lagos to attract commuters seeking to avoid the megacity's notoriously congested roads.
(Reuters, 10/11/19)
2019 Oct 12, It was reported that thousands of Nigerian hunters on the northest are preparing an offensive against Boko Haram extremists. They were backed by Borno state Gov. BabaganaZulum and were armed with charmed amulets and knowledge of the harsh terrain.
(SFC, 10/12/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 16, Nigerian police freed about 500 men and boys from a northern Islamic school in Katsina where some had been chained to walls, molested and beaten.
(Reuters, 10/16/19)
2019 Oct 30, The UN humanitarian office said that humanitarian groups are "relieved" that Nigeria's has suspended the ban on Mercy Corps and Action Against Hunger.
(AP, 10/31/19)
2019 Nov 5, Nigerian police said they have freed 259 people from an Islamic rehabilitation center in the southwestern city of Ibadan, taking the number rescued from abusive institutions since September to nearly 1,500.
(Reuters, 11/5/19)
2019 Nov 11, Human Rights Watch published a report saying thousands of people with mental health conditions are held in chains in institutions across Nigeria and urged the government to ban the practice.
(Reuters, 11/11/19)
2019 Dec 3, Pirates kidnapped 19 crew members from a crude oil tanker off Nigeria in an area where acts of piracy are on the rise. The Nave Constellation was attacked 77 nautical miles off Bonny Island and 18 Indians and one Turk from the crew were seized.
(Reuters, 12/5/19)
2019 Dec 6, Lawyers for the Nigerian government filed "new and substantive" allegations of fraud with a British court in an ongoing fight against an arbitration award now worth some $10 billion. The government has been fighting efforts by British Virgin Islands-based Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) to enforce the award for a failed gas project and is also seeking to overturn the underlying award.
(Reuters, 12/6/19)
2019 Dec 23, Armed groups in northern Nigeria reportedly executed many civilians and abducted many others in Borno state where Boko Haram is active.
(AP, 12/25/19)
2019 Dec 27, Nigeria's government condemned extremists linked to the Islamic State group after a video circulated of 11 hostages, most of them Christians, being executed. They were thought to be killed on Christmas Day.
(AP, 12/27/19)
2020 Jan 18, In northeast Nigeria heavily armed jihadists have carried out an "extremely violent" attack on a vital aid facility housing UN workers. One soldier and four assailants died in the ensuing gunfight.
(AFP, 1/20/20)
2020 Jan 20, In Nigeria Islamic militants killed a Christian pastor who had appealed for help life in a video just days earlier. Rev. Lawan Andimi was abducted earlier this month when Boko Haram militants attacked the Michika local government area, where he was the chairman of a local chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
(AP, 2/22/20)
2020 Jan 31, In Nigeria More than 1,000 motorcycle taxi drivers marched to the gates of the Lagos state legislature to protest against a measure that will bar them from much of the traffic-choked commercial capital.
(Reuters, 1/31/20)
2020 Jan 31, The Trump administration announced that it was restricting immigrants from six additional countries that officials said failed to meet minimum security standards, as part of an election-year push to further clamp down immigration. Immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania will face new restrictions in obtaining certain visas to come to the United States.
(AP, 1/3120)
2020 Feb 1, Nigeria's government said it has created a committee to address the issues that led to a suspension of US immigrant visas to its citizens.
(Reuters, 2/1/20)
2020 Feb 1, Nigerian authorities bannd two-and three-wheeled motor bike taxis. Drivers asked "How do we feed our families?"
(Econ, 3/14/20, p.36)
2020 Feb 4, Nigeria said it has eased its visa rules in an effort to boost trade and tourism as an African trade agreement promoting freer movement of goods and services comes into effect.
(Reuters, 2/4/20)
2020 Feb 4, The United States and the British dependency of Jersey said they have agreed with Nigeria to repatriate more than $300 million in funds stolen by former military ruler General Sani Abacha. Corruption watchdog Transparency International estimates he stole as much as $5 billion of public money from 1993-1998.
(AP, 2/4/20)
2020 Feb 28, The list of countries hit by the COVID-19 illness edged toward 60 as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Nigeria reported their first cases.
(AP, 2/28/20)
2020 Mar 2, Nigerian stocks fell as authorities contacted around 100 people who may have been exposed to an Italian man who is the country's first coronavirus patient.
(Reuters, 3/2/20)
2020 Mar 9, In Nigeria the emir of Kano, a former central bank governor and critic of Pres. Buhari's economic policies, was ousted for showing "insubordination" to local authorities.
(Econ, 3/14/20, p.36)
2020 Mar 15, In Nigeria a pipeline explosion killed at least 15 people and destroyed about 50 buildings after a fire broke out in a suburb of Lagos.
(Reuters, 3/15/20)
2020 Mar 21, Nigeria announced it is closing airports as of March 23 to all incoming international flights for one month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
(AP, 3/21/20)
2020 Mar 21, In Nigeria Boko Haram extremists killed at least 50 government soldiers in an ambush hear Goneri village, Yobe state.
(SFC, 3/25/20, p.A2)
2020 Mar 23, In northeastern Nigeria around government 70 soldiers were killed in an Islamist militant ambush in the village of Gorgi, Borno state. 47 soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram ambush on a convoy that had left the north-eastern city of Maiduguri carrying ammunition.
(Reuters, 3/24/20)(BBC, 3/25/20)
2020 Mar 29, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the cessation of movement in Lagos and the capital Abuja for 14 days in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Nigeria had 97 confirmed cases. The country has shut international airports, closed all land borders and imposed curbs on cargo vessels allowed to dock at its ports in an effort to contain the outbreak. Nigeria's petroleum regulator ordered oil and gas companies to reduce their offshore workforce and move to 28-day staff rotations as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
(Reuters, 3/29/20)
2020 Mar 31, Africa's confirmed cases of coronavirus climbed to at least 5,300, with more than 170 recorded deaths. The Nigerian cities of Lagos and Abuja entered a two-week lockdown to stop the spread of the virus.
(Reuters, 3/31/20)
2020 Apr 13, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari announced a two-week extension of a lockdown in three states, including the capital Abuja, to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
(BBC, 4/15/20)
2020 Apr 15, Nigerian doctor Emeka Chugbo (60) died following exposure to a coronavirus patient at his private clinic.
(BBC, 4/16/20)
2020 Apr 16, Nigeria's the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said the country's security forces have killed 18 people in two weeks while enforcing lockdowns imposed to halt the spread of the new coronavirus.
(Reuters, 4/16/20)
2020 Apr 17, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, died after contracting the coronavirus in Germany.
(Bloomberg, 4/18/20)
2020 Apr 21, Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper reported the recent deaths of around 150 people in the northern commercial city of Kano, prompting investigations to determine if they were related to the coronavirus pandemic. The state government acknowledged the deaths but said they were caused by complications from hypertension, diabetes, meningitis and acute malaria and not the COVID-19 pandemic. Nigeria has 1,182 coronavirus cases and a national death toll of 35.
(Reuters, 4/26/20)
2020 Apr 23, It was reported that the governors of Nigeria's 36 states have agreed to ban interstate movement for two weeks.
(Reuters, 4/23/20)
2020 Apr 27, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said the coronavirus lockdowns, which had been due to end today, needed to continue until 4 May. He also ordered new nationwide measures against Covid-19, including a night-time curfew and mandatory face masks. Nigeria has reported 1,273 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 40 deaths. Buhari said a lockdown would be imposed in Kano for an additional two weeks, and that he was sending a government team to investigate a high number of unexplained deaths.
(BBC, 4/28/20)
2020 Apr, In Nigeria residents of Lagos and neighboring Ogun state resorted to forming vigilante groups as reports spread that hundreds of gangsters belonging to One Million Boys and Awawa Boys were attacking some neighborhoods.
(BBC, 6/2/20)
2020 May 4, In Nigeria businesses reopened on the first working day after the easing of a lockdown imposed on key urban areas in a bid to restart Africa's largest economy. The government said this is the first phase of easing the lockdown and that the situation will be assessed in the next two weeks. Nigeria has recorded 2,558 cases of coronavirus and 87 deaths.
(AP, 5/4/20)
2020 May 6, Nigeria said it will extend a ban on all flights by four weeks as part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
(Reuters, 5/6/20)
2020 May 7, Nigeria has recorded 3,145 cases of coronavirus and 103 deaths.
(Econ., 5/9/20, p.34)
2020 May 10, Authorities in Nigeria's oil-rich southern Rivers state demolished two hotels over an alleged breach of lockdown rules intended to contain the spread of coronavirus. The state currently has 15 active cases of the virus and has recorded two deaths. One owner said authorities were asking for a bribe and denied that the hotel was operating.
(BBC, 5/11/20)
2020 May 12, The United Nations refugee agency said violence in northwest Nigeria has forced about 23,000 refugees to flee to Niger since April and raised concerns about the deteriorating security situation.
(Reuters, 5/12/20)
2020 May 15, It was reported that in northern Nigeria tens of thousands of Koranic school children were recently crammed into open vans and sent back home from cities and towns across 19 states in a controversial move by state governments to prevent the spread of coronavirus within their territories. Hundreds of the children already had coronavirus, so officials inadvertently contributed to spreading the virus rather than containing it.
(BBC, 5/15/20)
2020 May 18, Nigeria said it would impose precisely targeted lockdown measures in areas that report rapid increases in coronavirus cases, while the phased reopening of the economy as a whole would go ahead more slowly than planned.
(Reuters, 5/19/20)
2020 May 25, Fifty trafficked Nigerian women, rescued from Lebanon, returned home. A further 19 Nigerians, stranded in Lebanon because of Covid-19 lockdowns, were also repatriated.
(BBC, 5/26/20)
2020 May 29, In Nigeria nearly 9,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed as worries grew about undetected spread in the north.
(AP, 5/29/20)
2020 Jun 2, The board of governors of the 55-year-old US and the African Development Bank met to discuss whether to bring in an outside investigator into the allegations concerning the conduct of Akinwumi Adesina, the head of the Nigerian branch of the AfDB, just days after the US rejected an initial inquiry that cleared him. Besides the core 54 African countries, the US is one of the 27 non-regional members of the AfDB and its second largest shareholder.
(BBC, 6/2/20)
2020 Jun 9, Nigerian police arrested a man after 40 people were raped in one town over the period of a year. A mother in the northern town Dangora caught the man in her children's bedroom. The man ran away but neighbors gave chase and caught him.
(BBC, 6/10/20)
2020 Jun 9, In north-eastern Nigeria at least 69 people were killed in a suspected jihadist attack on a remote village in the Gubio district of Borno state. It was unclear who carried out the attack.
(AP, 6/10/20)
2020 Jun 10, It was reported that an outbreak of African swine fever in Nigeria's largest pig farm co-operative in the south-west of the country has been confirmed and that some 300,000 pigs have been killed.
(BBC, 6/10/20)
2020 Jun 11, The Nigerian Minister of Women Affairs called on law enforcement to speed up prosecution of rape cases which had reached an "alarming rate" three times the typical level as women and children are locked down with their abusers.
(Reuters, 6/11/20)
2020 Jun 13, In Nigeria three attacks by Islamic extremists, including an assault on Monguno, a military garrison town, have killed more than 40 people in northeastern Borno state. At least 20 soldiers and more than 40 civilians are said to have been killed in the attacks.
(AP, 6/14/20)(BBC, 6/15/20)
2020 Jun 19, In Ghana a building inside the Nigerian High Commission compound in Accra was demolished. Armed men reportedly stormed the compound and destroyed buildings under construction. Days later Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo apologized to Nigeria.
(BBC, 6/24/20)
2020 Jun 24, It was reported that police in Nigeria have rescued more than 100 people they say were locked in a rice-processing factory and forced to work throughout a coronavirus lockdown. Five managers at the Indian-owned mill have been arrested.
(BBC, 6/24/20)
2020 Jun, Nigeria's government announced that it would phase out petrol subsidies. When ten days of protests followed along with 12 deaths, the government backed down and reduced subsidies instead of eliminating them.
(Econ., 10/10/20, p.42)
2020 Jul 3, US prosecutors said Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a Nigerian man charged with conspiring to launder a fortune from email scams, has arrived in Chicago to face charges. UAE authorities arrested Abbas last month. Abbas, aka Hushpuppi, had showed off his wealth to 2.4 million Instagram followers. Hushpuppi, and another cyber-heist suspect Olalekan Jacob Ponle (aka Mr Woodberry) appeared in a Chicago court. They had been arrested in Dubai, where they lived, in June. Dubai police said they had been extradited to the US.
(NBC News, 7/4/20)(BBC, 7/10/20)
2020 Jul 4, It was reported that motorcycle-riding armed bandits operating out of abandoned forest reserves in Katsina state are ransacking communities in Nigeria's north-west. The recent attacks in the president's home state killed more than 100 people between April and June.
(BBC, 7/4/20)
2020 Jul 14, In New York City the body of Fahim Saleh (33), a technology entrepreneur who founded Nigeria's Gokada ride-hailing app, was found decapitated and dismembered in a luxury apartment with a power saw plugged in nearby. Nigerian state officials in February banned all motorcycle taxis, known locally as 'okada'.
(Reuters, 7/15/20)
2020 Jul 23, It was reported that five aid workers abducted last month in north-east Nigeria's Borno State have been killed. Pres. Muhammadu Buhari blamed Boko Haram and vowed to bring the killers to justice.
(BBC, 7/23/20)
2020 Aug 1, According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the Nigerian city of Onitsha is the most polluted in the world.
(Econ., 8/1/20, p.38)
2020 Aug 10, In Nigeria musician Sharif-Aminu (22) was sentenced in northern state of Kano to death by hanging for blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad. Critics said the song was blasphemous as it praised an imam from the Tijaniya Muslim brotherhood to the extent it elevated him above the Prophet Muhammad. An appeal was allowed.
(AP, 8/10/20)
2020 Aug 12, It was reported that a court in Nigeria has fined three men $52,000 (£40,000) each for hijacking a ship in March and securing a ransom of $200,000 for the release of its crew.
(BBC, 8/12/20)
2020 Aug, In Nigeria a boy (13) in northern Kano state was handed a decade-long jail sentence for blasphemy. In 2021 a secular appeals court overturned the sentencing, saying the child was a minor.
(BBC, 1/21/21)
2020 Sep 4, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that there is a risk of famine and widespread food insecurity in four countries affected by conflict — Congo, Yemen, northeast Nigeria and South Sudan — and that the lives of millions of people are in danger.
(AP, 9/4/20)
2020 Sep 7, It was reported that two Nigerian men have been arrested for allegedly scamming a German state that tried to buy 2.3m euros (£2m) of personal protective equipment (PPE).
(BBC, 9/7/20)
2020 Sep 11, It was reported that lawmakers in Nigeria's Kaduna State have approved surgical castration as punishment for those convicted of raping children under the age of 14. State governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai needs to sign the bill for it to become law in the state.
(BBC, 9/11/20)
2020 Sep 14, Nigerian health workers demanding the payment of a hazard allowance for treating coronavirus patients went on strike only a week after doctors in Africa's most populous country staged a walk out.
(Reuters, 9/15/20)
2020 Sep 16, The UN children's agency UNICEF has called on the Nigerian authorities to urgently review an Islamic court's decision to sentence a 13-year-old boy to 10 years in prison for blasphemy. The boy was convicted in August of making uncomplimentary remarks about God during an argument with a friend in northern Kano state.
(BBC, 9/16/20)
2020 Sep 19, In Nigeria Gracious David-West (40), a member of the Greenlanders - also known as Dey Gbam, a mafia-styled street gang that sprung out of the armed militant groups, was arrested. In October he sentenced to death in Port Harcourt for killing nine women. Authorities said he had sex with his victims before binding their arms and feet with strips of white sheets and then strangling them.
(BBC, 10/9/20)
2020 Sep 21, Nigerian health workers who went on strike in mid-September for a hazard allowance for treating coronavirus patients returned to work, without their demands being met.
(Reuters, 9/21/20)
2020 Sep 23, In central Nigeria at least 25 people have been killed after a fuel tanker exploded following a collision with other vehicles on a major highway in Lokoja.
(AP, 9/23/20)
2020 Sep 25, In northeastern Nigeria 18 people were left dead after an ambush on a government convoy in Borno state. The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack, claiming 30 people had been killed.
(BBC, 9/27/20)
2020 Sep 27, In Nigeria militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) used a donkey strapped with explosives to ambush the convoy of the governor of north-eastern Borno state. A number of insurgents were killed in the ensuing shoot-out.
(BBC, 9/28/20)
2020 Oct 4, Nigeria's inspector general of police banned a notorious unit from carrying out stop and search duties and setting up roadblocks amid growing anger at routine harassment and atrocities allegedly committed by its officers. The ban was triggered by the alleged killing of a young man by officers from the unit in the city of Lagos a day earlier.
(BBC, 10/4/20)
2020 Oct 9, In Nigeria police fired tear gas at a protest against police brutality in Abuja. This followed the alleged killing of a young man by officers from the Sars unit on Oct. 9.
(BBC, 10/9/20)
2020 Oct 11, It was reported that Nigeria has dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), the police force at the center of protests against police brutality. The officers from the controversial unit will be redeployed. It was unclear where to.
(BBC, 10/11/20)
2020 Oct 12, In Nigeria two people were killed in Lagos as protests continued against police brutality for a sixth day.
(BBC, 10/12/20)
2020 Oct 13, Nigeria's police chief ordered the unconditional release of all demonstrators arrested during protests against police brutality.
(BBC, 10/13/20)
2020 Oct 14, Nigeria announced that the new Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) team will fill the gaps left from the dissolution of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (Sars).
(BBC, 10/14/20)
2020 Oct 15, Nigeria's government announced a ban on all protest in Abuja, saying the demonstrators were violating public safety measures introduced to tackle Covid-19. The military has issued a warning to "subversive elements and trouble makers" to desist after a week of protests about police brutality. Amnesty International said at least 10 people have been killed and hundreds injured.
(BBC, 10/15/20)(AP, 10/15/20)
2020 Oct 16, Nigerian protests against police brutality continued for the ninth day, with demonstrators fending off attacks from gangs suspected to be backed by the police, warnings from the Nigerian military, and a government order to stop because of COVID-19.
(AP, 10/16/20)
2020 Oct 20, Nigeria's police chief ordered the nationwide deployment of anti-riot officers to quell violence following protests against police brutality. The announcement came as an indefinite 24-hour curfew was imposed in the commercial hub of Lagos. Some 1,000 protesters gathered at the Lekki toll gate to prevent cars using a major motorway. Soldiers were reportedly seen barricading the protest site moments before shooting started. Amnesty International later said 12 people were killed. The Nigerian army rejected the claim. In 2021 a panel identified 48 "casualties", including 11 killed, four missing and presumed dead and multiple who suffered gunshot wounds.
(NY Times, 10/21/20)(BBC, 10/22/20)(BBC, 11/15/20)(Reuters, 11/16/21)
2020 Oct 21, In Nigeria unrest saw buildings torched and looted, and police shooting into the air to enforce a curfew in Lagos.
(BBC, 10/22/20)
2020 Oct 22, In Nigeria plumes of smoke rose from a prison in Lagos and gunfire could be heard as people ran through streets in the area, signs of continued unrest in the West African nation that has been gripped by protests against police brutality.
(AP, 10/22/20)
2020 Oct 23, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said 69 people have been killed in protests against police brutality that have rocked the country. A group that has been key in organizing the demonstrations has now urged people to stay at home.
(BBC, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 24, Nigeria's chief of police ordered the immediate mobilization of all police resources to put an end to days of street violence and looting.
(BBC, 10/25/20)
2020 Oct 25, In Nigeria there were reports of government warehouses being ransacked in the central city of Jos, as well as in Adamawa and Taraba states, with people taking away food and agricultural supplies.
(BBC, 10/25/20)
2020 Oct, In Nigeria 26 girls were kidnapped in Katsina state. They were freed following a ransom payment.
(Econ., 12/19/20, p.80)
2020 Nov 3, In Nigeria Ipob activists were accused of burning down three police stations in southern Rivers state. and killing three policemen, after one of them was killed during a protest at a police station in Oyigbo.
(BBC, 11/3/20)
2020 Nov 18, The United Nations humanitarian office said it is releasing $100 million in emergency funding to seven countries at risk of famine in Africa and the Middle East amid conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic. A statement overnight said $80 million of the money will go to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. Another $20 million has been set aside for "anticipatory action to fight hunger in Ethiopia.
(AP, 11/18/20)
2020 Nov 28, In Nigeria attackers tied up agricultural laborers working in rice fields and slit their throats near Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. More than 43 people were killed. About 15 women were kidnapped. The death toll was later raised to 78 and Boko Haram claimed credit.
(AP, 11/29/20)(Econ., 12/5/20, p.50)
2020 Dec 8, Amnesty International charged that at least 10,000 civilians have died in Nigerian military custody since 2011 after being detained in connection with the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria.
(AP, 12/8/20)
2020 Dec 11, In north-western Nigeria hundreds of students were feared missing after gunmen raided a secondary school in Katsina state. On Dec. 15 the Islamist militant group Boko Haram said it was behind the kidnapping.
(BBC, 12/12/20)(AP, 12/15/20)
2020 Dec 17, In Nigeria the governor of Katsina state announced that all of the boys, abducted on Dec. 11, had been released, and would be reunited with their parents the next day. The governor of Katsina has insisted bandits were responsible for the recent attack.
(NY Times, 12/17/20)(BBC, 12/18/20)
2020 Dec 19, In Nigeria 84 schoolchildren were seized by gunmen late today as they returned home to Mahuta village after taking part in a religious ceremony. The children were soon released following a gun battle between the abductors, security forces and local vigilantes.
(AP, 12/20/20)
2020 Dec 24, The head of Africa's disease control body said that another new variant of the novel coronavirus seems to have emerged in Nigeria. In the past week, Nigeria reported a 52% increase in cases.
(AP, 12/24/20)
2021 Jan 23, In Nigeria seven children and a man were abducted by a large group of armed men who broke into Rachel's Orphanage Home in Abuja.
(AP, 1/25/21)
2021 Jan 23, Pirates off Nigeria's coast kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship in the Gulf of Guinea in a brazen and violent attack. One sailor was killed. the 15 sailors arrived back in Turkey on Feb. 14. Pirates in the Gulf, which borders more than a dozen countries, kidnapped 130 sailors in 22 incidents last year, accounting for all but five of those seized worldwide.
(Reuters, 1/23/21)(Reuters, 2/14/21)
2021 Jan 26, It was reported that Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has fired the heads of the country's armed forces whom he appointed when he first took office in 2015.
(BBC, 1/26/21)
2021 Jan 29, A Dutch appeals court ruled that the Nigerian branch of oil giant Shell is responsible for damage caused by leaks in the Niger Delta.
(AP, 1/29/21)
2021 Feb 2, Facebook removed the page of Nigerian separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu for violating its rules on harm and hate speech. Kanu had posted a video of a militia group attacking and killing cattle in a herders' settlement. He also used the live broadcast to accuse herders of destroying farmlands in eastern Nigeria. The Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) said it will appeal the ban.
(BBC, 2/4/21)
2021 Feb 5, Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was poised to become the first African and first woman to lead the embattled World Trade Organization, after a South Korean rival withdrew and the United States reversed its previous opposition.
(AP, 2/5/21)
2021 Feb 7, Ten hostages were kidnapped off the Atlantic coast of the West African country, Gabon. They included six Chinese nationals, three Indonesians and a Gabonese, all thought to be fishermen. On March 6 the victims were released unharmed by Nigeria’s security forces in Rivers state, after Nigerian mediators paid a $300,000 ransom for their freedom.
(AP, 3/7/21)
2021 Feb 12, Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that a group of Nigerian farmers and fishermen can sue Royal Dutch Shell PLC in English courts over pollution in a region where the Anglo-Dutch energy giant has a subsidiary.
(AP, 2/12/21)
2021 Feb 15, Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (66) was appointed to head the World Trade Organization, becoming the first woman and first African to take on the role amid disagreement over how the body decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs.
(AP, 2/15/21)
2021 Feb 15, In north-central Nigeria about 20 people who were returning from a wedding ceremony were abducted after an attack on their bus in Niger state. Their fate is unclear.
(BBC, 2/17/21)
2021 Feb 16, Nigerian businessman Obinwanne Okeke, who once appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine, was jailed for 10 years in the US over a cyber fraud scam that led to the theft of about $11m (£8m). Okeke, also known as Invictus Obi, used Nigerian-based companies to defraud people in the US.
(AP, 2/17/21)
2021 Feb 17, In north-central Nigeria gunmen killed a school pupil overnight and abducted 27 other children in a night-time raid on their boarding school in Niger state. On Feb 27 a total of 42 people including 27 students, kidnapped from the boarding school in Kagara were freed.
(BBC, 2/17/21)(BBC, 2/27/21)
2021 Feb 21, In Nigeria 7 people died after a Nigerian Air Force plane crashed short of a runway in Abuja this morning.
(BBC, 2/21/21)
2021 Feb 23, In Nigeria at least 10 people were killed and about 60 others injured in an attack by suspected jihadist rebels on the northern city of Maiduguri.
(AP, 2/24/21)
2021 Feb 23, A Covid-19 antibodies survey in Nigeria suggested that four million people in Lagos state alone have had the virus, more than has been officially recorded for the whole of Africa. The official figure for Nigeria is 153,000 cases with 1,862 deaths.
(BBC, 2/23/21)
2021 Feb 26, In northern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped 317 schoolgirls early today in Jangebe town, Zamfara state. This was the second abduction in a little more than a week.
(AP, 2/26/21)
2021 Feb, Nigeria barred its banks and financial institutions from dealing in or facilitating transactions in cryptocurrencies after exponential growth in monthly cryptocurrency transfers to and from Africa.
(Reuters, 6/18/21)
2021 Mar 2, It was reported that kidnappers in Nigeria released 279 of girls they abducted last week from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara state. The total number of girls kidnapped was corrected down from 317.
(NY Times, 3/2/21)
2021 Mar 2, Nearly 4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the third and largest delivery so far to an African country by the global COVAX initiative.
(AP, 3/2/21)
2021 Mar 5, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda started inoculating frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable citizens against COVID-19 as Africa, the world's poorest continent and home to 1.3 billion people, stepped up its vaccination campaigns.
(Reuters, 3/5/21)
2021 Mar 6, President Muhammadu Buhari had his first COVID-19 vaccine shot, part of a bid to boost public confidence as Nigeria attempts to inoculate 80 million people this year.
(Reuters, 3/6/21)
2021 Mar 9, The UK promised to return to Nigeria £4.2m ($5.8m) which was stolen by a former governor. Former Delta State Governor James Ibori was convicted of money laundering in the UK in 2012. He is thought to have stolen around £50m from the oil-rich state.
(BBC, 3/9/21)
2021 Mar 12, In Nigeria gunmen overnight abducted dozens of students from a college in the northern state of Kaduna. State authorities said that 180 students and staff were rescued by the Nigerian army early today, but 39 students remained missing.
(BBC, 3/12/21)(Reuters, 3/13/21)
2021 Mar 15, In Nigeria gunmen on motorcycles stormed the primary school in Rama village in Birnin Gwari local government area as children were arriving for classes. Three teachers were abducted.
(BBC, 3/15/21)
2021 Mar 17, In Italy Eni SpA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and several of their current and former executives were acquitted of corruption charges related to a Nigerian oil deal by a court in Milan. Sentences in Italy aren’t definitive until appeals are exhausted. It could take years before a final decision.
(Bloomberg, 3/17/21)
2021 Apr 5, In Nigeria 1,844 inmates escaped from a prison after it was attacked by gunmen in the south-eastern town of Owerri, Imo state.
(BBC, 4/5/21)
2021 Apr 16, UN agencies said that tens of thousands of Nigerians are fleeing deadly attacks by armed groups and the continuing clashes between the rebels and national forces in the country's troubled northeastern Borno state. Up to 65,000 people were on the move.
(AP, 4/16/21)
2021 Apr 20, Nigerian influencer Ramon Abbas (37), also known as Hushpuppi, pleaded guilty to money laundering in a US court. The court records were only unsealed in late July.
(BBC, 7/29/21)
2021 Apr 30, In Nigeria Auwalu Daudawa, a notorious gang leader behind the abduction of more than 300 students in December, was killed by a rival gang in a forest near the border with Katsina.
(BBC, 5/1/21)
2021 Apr 30, It was reported that Germany has agreed to return to Nigeria priceless artefacts that were stolen during the colonization of Africa.
(BBC, 4/30/21)
2021 May 7, In Nigeria a night of violence left at least seven police officers dead in oil-rich Rivers State. A day earlier gunmen killed two police officers during an attack on another police station in nearby Anambra state.
(BBC, 5/8/21)
2021 May 14, Abedemi Rufai, a Nigerian state government official, was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport as he prepared to fly first class back to Nigeria. An FBI hunt through his Google accounts revealed stolen bank, credit card and tax information on Americans as well as money transfers and emails showing dozens of false unemployment claims in seven states that paid out $350,000.
(https://tinyurl.com/29wsvpes)(NBC News, 8/15/21)
2021 May 18, Nigerian authorities said some $5.8m (£4.2m) recovered by UK agencies that was stolen by a Nigerian former governor and laundered in Britain have now been returned to Nigeria. Former Delta state Governor James Ibori was convicted of money laundering in the UK in 2012.
(BBC, 5/18/21)
2021 May 19, In Nigeria reports began to emerge that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had detonated a suicide vest while besieged by rival ISWAP fighters in his forest stronghold.
(SFC, 5/22/21, p.A2)
2021 May 21, Nigeria's army chief, Lt-Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, was killed in a plane crash in the north-western state of Kaduna. Ten other officers, including the plane's crew also died.
(BBC, 5/22/21)
2021 May 26, In Nigeria scores of people were missing feared dead after a boat carrying about 180 broke in two and sank in the Niger River. Most passengers were women and children traveling from Niger state to neighboring Kebbi state. Authorities later confirmed that at least 60 people died in the boat accident. 83 missing passengers were also feared dead.
(BBC, 5/27/21)(AP, 5/28/21)
2021 May 29, In Nigeria kidnappers released the remaining 14 students who had been held captive after being abducted last month from a northern university.
(Reuters, 5/29/21)
2021 May 30, In Nigeria gunmen seized an unknown number of students from the school in the town of Tegina. A teacher told the BBC that 150 students were missing, while other reports put the figure at about 200.
(BBC, 5/31/21)
2021 Jun 1, Nigeria's Pres. Buhari referred on Twitter to the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War and to treating "those misbehaving today" in "the language they will understand." Twitter soon removed the statement for breaching the site's rules.
(BBC, 6/5/21)
2021 Jun 4, Nigeria's government said it was suspending Twitter operations in the country "indefinitely." The move by the government came just days after a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari was removed for breaching the site's rules, though no mention of this was made in its statement.
(BBC, 6/5/21)
2021 Jun 5, In Nigeria Temitope Balogun Joshua (57), one of Africa’s most popular televangelists, died. The pastor, known as T.B. Joshua, was founder of the mega church Synagogue Church Of All Nations, or SCOAN, which also runs the Emmanuel Television Station in Lagos.
(AP, 6/6/21)
2021 Jun 8, Former US president Donald Trump has praised Nigeria's government for banning Twitter after it deleted President Muhammadu Buhari's post for breaching its rules.
(BBC, 6/9/21)
2021 Jun 12, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari admitted that he has failed to end insecurity in the country, a promise he made when he was elected in 2015.
(AP, 6/12/21)
2021 Jun 14, Nigerian jihadists of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) freed 10 hostages including seven local aid workers, two of them employed by the United Nations, after weeks of mediation.
(AFP, 6/16/21)
2021 Jun 17, In northwestern Nigeria gunmen abducted about 70 children from a school in Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State.
(SSFC, 6/20/21, p.A6)
2021 Jun 18, It was reported that Nigeria's Central Bank is preparing a digital currency pilot that could launch as early as the end of this year.
(AP, 6/18/21)
2021 Jun 27, In Nigeria Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of a separatist group that wants a breakaway state in eastern Nigeria, was arrested. His movement, the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), has been labelled as a terrorist organization by the Nigerian authorities.
(BBC, 6/29/21)
2021 Jul 1, Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS), a security agency, raided the residence of Sunday Igboho (aka Sunday Adeyemo) in the southwestern city of Ibadan and reportedly found a stockpile of weapons there. Igboho has risen to prominence in recent months with calls for herdsmen from the Fulani ethnic group to be driven out of Yoruba lands in the southwest of the country.
(Reuters, 7/20/21)
2021 Jul 4, In Nigeria gunmen kidnapped at least 140 schoolchildren in the north-west of the country. At least eight people were also abducted from the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Center in Zaria.
(BBC, 7/5/21)
2021 Jul 18, Bandits in Nigeria shot down an air force plane in a rare case of a military jet being brought down by a criminal gang in the country. Flight Lt Abayomi Dairo ejected and used "survival instincts" to avoid capture and find shelter, before rejoining his comrades.
(BBC, 7/19/21)
2021 Jul 20, Sunday Adeyemo, more commonly known in Nigeria by his nickname of Sunday Igboho, was arrested at Benin's Cotonou airport while on his way to Germany. The Nigerian activist has been accused by the authorities of plotting a violent insurrection.
(Reuters, 7/20/21)
2021 Jul 21, The authorities in north-west Nigeria said they have freed 100 women and children - mainly mothers nursing infants - who were seized on June 8 by bandits in Zamfara state.
(BBC, 7/21/21)
2021 Jul 24, In Nigeria 28 of the 121 children taken from the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna state earlier this month were freed late today. Kidnappers in Nigeria seized a man who was sent to deliver a ransom payment to secure the release of dozens of the abducted school children. 136 students were taken from an Islamic school in Tegina, Niger state, in late May.
(BBC, 7/25/21)
2021 Jul, The US government transferred six A-29 Super Tucano fighter planes to Nigeria to assist in its war against Islamist militants.
(Reuters, 9/28/21)
2021 Aug 1, It was reported that Nigeria has suspended Deputy commissioner Abba Kyar, one of its most highly respected police officers, after he was indicted in the US on money laundering charges. He was accused of taking bribes from Nigerian Instagram celebrity Ray Hushpuppi.
(BBC, 8/1/21)
2021 Aug 2, It was reported that Nigeria has been hit by a surge in cholera cases in recent weeks, focused on the country's north and adding to a public health crisis accompanied by a rise in COVID-19 cases.
(Reuters, 8/2/21)
2021 Aug 7, In southwestern Nigeria a Swiss national was kidnapped along with a Nigerian citizen. Two of the gunmen were shot dead by police while the others escaped with the hostages in Ogun state.
(AP, 8/9/21)
2021 Aug 8, It was reported that one of the Nigerian schoolgirls seized by Islamist militants Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in 2014 has been freed and reunited with her family. Ruth Ngladar Pogu and a man she is said to have married in captivity recently surrendered to the Nigerian military. Pogu and her 2 children were received by the Borno state governor.
(BBC, 8/8/21)
2021 Aug 9, Niger's health minister said a cholera outbreak in the south has killed 12 people and infected 201 others across three regions, with heavy rains helping to further spread the disease. Nigeria was also dealing with a cholera outbreak, which has killed at least 653 people since March across 22 of its 36 states. The outbreaks were believed to be connected.
(Reuters, 8/9/21)
2021 Aug 10, Nigeria said it will restart COVID-19 inoculations on Aug. 16 after taking delivery of 4 million doses of Moderna vaccine, with shipments of Johnson & Johnson shots also due imminently. The rollout of vaccines was halted on July 9 because supplies had run out.
(Reuters, 8/10/21)
2021 Aug 10, In Nigeria some 19,000 other doctors across the country were on strike for the fourth time since the pandemic began, leaving government-run hospitals and COVID-19 treatment centers short-staffed.
(AP, 8/10/21)
2021 Aug 12, It was reported that oil giant Shell will pay a Nigerian community $111m (£80m) to the Ejama-Ebubu community over a spill during the 1967-70 Biafran War.
(BBC, 8/12/21)
2021 Aug 14, In Nigeria Borno state's governor said a second young woman abducted seven years ago from the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants was freed this week. The army handed over Hassana Adamu, along with her two children, to Governor Babagana Zulum. just over 110 of some 270 remained missing.
(Reuters, 8/14/21)
2021 Aug 15, In Nigeria 19 persons including 15 students were abducted from a school in Zamfara State.
(AP, 8/19/21)
2021 Aug 16, It was reported that the Islamic police force in Kano, a Muslim-majority state in Nigeria, has ordered shops to only use headless mannequins to advertise clothing. Sharia police commander Ibn-Sina also wants the headless mannequins covered at all times because to show "the shape of the breast, the shape of the bottom, is contrary to the teachings of Sharia [Islamic law]".
(BBC, 8/16/21)
2021 Aug 17, In Nigeria gunmen abducted nine students in Katsina state.
(AP, 8/19/21)
2021 Aug 20, In northwest Nigeria armed gunmen kidnapped at least 75 people from the Rini village, Zamfara state.
(Reuters, 8/21/21)
2021 Aug 22, Nigerian officials said bandits have released 15 more students kidnapped last month from a Baptist school in the northwest. They were among more than 100 taken on July 5 from the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna state.
(Reuters, 8/22/21)
2021 Aug 23, School principal Abubakar Garba Alhasan said six of the 136 students kidnapped from an Islamic school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger have died of illness.
(Reuters, 8/23/21)
2021 Aug 24, In Nigeria gunmen killed two military personnel and abducted another in an attack on an army training college in the northern state of Kaduna. Attackers shot dead at least 36 people and destroyed buildings in a late night raid on a village near the central city of Jos.
(Reuters, 8/24/21)(Reuters, 8/25/21)
2021 Aug 24, Nigeria said it has recently approved China's Sinopharm (1099.HK) vaccine against COVID-19. Daily new infections were increasing 10 fold from levels seen in July.
(Reuters, 8/24/21)
2021 Aug 25, Nigeria and Russia signed a military cooperation deal providing a legal framework for the supply of equipment and the training of troops.
(Reuters, 8/25/21)
2021 Aug 26, It was reported that gunmen have released students abducted three months ago from an Islamic school in north-central Nigerian state of Niger. It was not confirmed how many students were released. Authorities initially said that 136 students had been taken but revised that figure to 91.
(Reuters, 8/27/21)(AP, 8/27/21)
2021 Aug 27, In Nigeria 15 students were handed over to officials, 11 days after they were abducted from the College of Agriculture and Animal Science in Nigeria's troubled northwest.
(AP, 8/27/21)
2021 Sep 1, In Nigeria 73 children were reported kidnapped from a school in the northwestern state of Zamfara. UNICEF said in a statement that 100 students aged between 14 and 19 and a teacher had been abducted, of whom 23 had managed to escape and had returned home. Police the next day said five girls were rescued.
(Reuters, 9/1/21)(Reuters, 9/2/21)
2021 Sep 3, The Nigerian army said nearly 6,000 Islamic extremists have surrendered in the northeast in recent weeks. Several weeks earlier the army said 335 militants had laid down their arms. Nigeria shut down mobile telephone networks in Zamfara state. Authorities reportedly ordered a blackout while they tackled armed gangs of kidnappers terrorizing the area.
(SFC, 9/4/21, p.A3)(Reuters, 9/6/21)
2021 Sep 6, In Nigeria gunmen invaded a village late today in the northern state of Kaduna and kidnapped 18 residents including seven children.
(Reuters, 9/7/21)
2021 Sep 8, Nigerian police said gunmen have kidnapped 20 people in remote Sokoto State.
(Reuters, 9/8/21)
2021 Sep 10, Nigerian officials cut communication lines in multiple parts of Katsina state as a crackdown on banditry in the northwest of the country spreads. The government directed a communications blackout in 13 local government areas to hinder criminality in the region.
(Reuters, 9/10/21)
2021 Sep 12, In south-central Nigeria heavily armed gunmen raided a jail in Kabba late today, blowing up the perimeter fence and freeing 266 inmates. Many of the inmates in Kabba were suspected Boko Haram fighters.
(Reuters, 9/13/21)(BBC, 9/13/21)
2021 Sep 13, Nigeria said 75 children who were kidnapped on Sept. 1 from their school in northwestern Zamfara State have been released after their abductors came under pressure from a military crackdown. Media outlets over the last 24 hours have reported that bandits in Zamfara had attacked a military base and killed 12 soldiers.
(Reuters, 9/13/21)
2021 Sep 14, Nigeria's prison service said a total of 114 of the 266 inmates who escaped from a prison on Sept. 12 have been recaptured.
(Reuters, 9/14/21)
2021 Sep 15, The Nigerian air force killed and injured civilians while pursuing suspected Islamist insurgents in the northeast state of Yobe, in an incident that residents said left at least six people dead.
(Reuters, 9/16/21)
2021 Sep 15, It was reported that Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years. At least 69,925 suspected cases were recorded as of Sept. 5 in 25 of the country's 36 states as well as 2,323 deaths.
(SFC, 9/15/21, p.A2)
2021 Sep 20, Nigerian authorities imposed a communications blackout in several parts of Sokoto state as a crackdown against armed kidnappers in the country's northwest region spreads.
(Reuters, 9/20/21)
2021 Sep 23, A Nigerian court ordered the immediate release of a woman held in detention since February accused of being a member of the banned separatist Indigenous People of Biafra. The court in Abuja ruled that the police had illegally detained Ngozi Umeadi and ordered it to pay her damages of 50 million naira ($121,500).
(Reuters, 9/23/21)
2021 Sep 26, Nigerian troops killed scores of Islamist insurgents and suffered casualties among their own ranks during heavy fighting around a remote army base on the border with Niger. Gunmen killed at least 22 security personnel at the base in Sokoto state.
(Reuters, 9/27/21)
2021 Sep 26, The Nigerian Air Force fired upon and killed dozens of civilians in the village of Daban Masara in the northeast. Resident said they saw the corpses of at least 60 people after the air force's strike on a fish market.
(Reuters, 9/28/21)
2021 Sep 28, In Nigeria members of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) said that security forces had shot dead eight Shi'ites who were taking part in a procession in Abuja to mark the religious ritual of Arbaeen. Police denied killing members of the banned Shi'ite group, saying they had arrested 57 of them and recovered petrol bombs and bags of stones.
(Reuters, 9/28/21)
2021 Oct 1, Nigeria got approval for $400 million in World Bank financing to procure and deploy COVID-19 vaccinations.
(Reuters, 10/1/21)
2021 Oct 2, In northwestern Nigeria nurse Mohammad Hassan (37), employed by Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), was killed when armed men opened fire on the public transport vehicle in which he was travelling in Zamfara state.
(Reuters, 10/5/21)
2021 Oct 4, Resident doctors in Nigerian public hospitals called off a nine-week strike, saying some of their grievances had been addressed but others including salary arrears remained outstanding.
(Reuters, 10/4/21)
2021 Oct 7, Nigerian security agents rescued 187 people who had been abducted by armed gangs in the northwestern state of Zamfara.
(Reuters, 10/7/21)
2021 Oct 8, In Nigeria five more students who were kidnapped by gunmen from a school in Kaduna three months ago have been released after ransoms were paid.
(Reuters, 10/9/21)
2021 Oct 11, In Nigeria Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State met with six women and their nine children after they were held by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group in a forest in Buni Yadi, an area of Yobe State. They had escaped and walked for six days to the town of Damboa in neighboring Borno.
(Reuters, 10/12/21)
2021 Oct 11, In northwestern Nigeria gunmen seized three student priests from a Catholic seminary in Kaduna state. Six seminarians were injured in the attack.
(AP, 10/12/21)
2021 Oct 14, Nigeria's top general said that Abu Musab al-Barnawi, leader of the insurgent group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), was dead. ISWAP, an offshoot of the Boko Haram, has been fighting against the Nigerian armed forces for 12 years.
(Reuters, 10/14/21)
2021 Oct 15, Cambridge University's Jesus College said that it would return a looted bronze cockerel to Nigeria later this month, making it the first UK institution to hand back one of the artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes.
(AP, 10/15/21)
2021 Oct 17, In northern Nigeria gunmen killed at least 30 people in an attack on a market in Goronyo, Sokoto state.
(Reuters, 10/18/21)
2021 Oct 25, In northern Nigeria armed men on motorbikes killed at least 18 people at a mosque in Niger state.
(Reuters, 10/25/21)
2021 Oct 28, Scotland’s University of Aberdeen handed over to a Nigerian delegation a Benin Bronze that was among thousands looted by British troops in 1897, the third European institution in two days to return cultural artefacts to their African homelands. Aberdeen had acquired the bronze head at an auction in 1957.
(Reuters, 10/28/21)
2021 Nov 1, In Nigeria rescuers searched for survivors in the wreckage of a 21-storey apartment building that collapsed under construction in Lagos. The death toll soon rose to 43 with dozens still missing.
(Reuters, 11/3/21)(SFC, 11/2/21, p.A4)(AP, 11/5/21)
2021 Nov 2, In Nigeria gunmen abducted six people, four staff members and two children, overnight from the staff quarters of the Univ. of Abuja.
(AP, 11/2/21)
2021 Nov 5, In Nigeria an oil spill was discovered in the Niger Delta. Aiteo Eastern E&P later reported an "extremely high order" oil spill from the jointly owned well and has had to abort immediate efforts to control the leak due to the pressure emanating from the well head.
(Reuters, 11/10/21)
2021 Nov 13, A Nigerian army general and three soldiers were killed during an attack by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) militants in the northeast of the country.
(Reuters, 11/13/21)
2021 Nov 14, In northwest Nigeria armed men killed at least 15 people in raids in Sokoto state. The death toll was soon raised to at least 43.
(Reuters, 11/16/21)(Reuters, 11/17/21)
2021 Nov 22, Italian customs police dismantled a Nigerian organized crime syndicate that forced dozens of young women into prostitution and begging on the streets of Italy and then smuggled out millions of euros in ill-gained revenues to Nigeria, with cash hidden in suitcase handles or pasta packages.
(AP, 11/22/21)
2021 Nov 24, A Danish frigate killed four pirates in waters south of Nigeria in an operation to protect shipping in the Gulf of Guinea. Four pirates remaining were taken on board the frigate, and no Danish personnel were hurt in the incident.
(Reuters, 11/25/21)
2021 Nov 28, In Nigeria gunmen freed more than 260 inmates late today during an attack on a prison in the central city of Jos, in the country's fourth such raid this year. A gunbattle left one guard and nine prisoners dead.
(Reuters, 11/29/21)
2021 Nov 30, In northern Nigeria a boat carrying students capsized on the Watari dam in Kano state, killing at least 29.
(Reuters, 12/1/21)
2021 Dec 1, Nigeria confirmed its first cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in air passenger arrivals, but amended an earlier statement to say the travelers had arrived in Nigeria only over the past week.
(Reuters, 12/1/21)
2021 Dec 7, In Nigeria at least 30 passengers on a bus in Sokoto state were burnt to death when gunmen torched it.
(Reuters, 12/7/21)
2021 Dec 7, It was reported that up to one million COVID-19 vaccines are estimated to have expired in Nigeria last month without being used, one of the biggest single losses of doses that shows the difficulty African nations have getting shots in arms.
(Reuters, 12/7/21)
2021 Dec 8, In Nigeria a state minister said a wellhead that has been spilling oil and gas in Bayelsa state has been successfully shut, more than a month after it started polluting the Delta creeks.
(Reuters, 12/8/21)
2021 Dec 10, The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority announced that it was restricting Emirates to just one weekly flight from 21 that had been initially approved. The Emirates airline in response said it will suspend all flights to Nigeria from next week.
(Reuters, 12/10/21)
2021 Dec 12, Nigeria said it plans to ban flights from Argentina, Britain, Canada and Saudi Arabia from this week in retaliation for being added to those countries' red lists over the detection of the Omicron coronavirus variant last month.
(Reuters, 12/12/21)
2021 Dec 13, Nigeria said it will destroy around one million expired COVID-19 vaccines. Some COVID-19 doses donated by rich Western countries had a remaining shelf life of only weeks.
(Reuters, 12/13/21)
2021 Dec 13, It was reported that a violent mafia-style gang in Nigeria linked to murder and fraud has infiltrated the country's political system and launched a global scamming operation well beyond Nigeria's borders. The "Black Axe" gang has been operating for decades in Nigeria and is among the country's most-feared organized crime syndicates.
(BBC, 12/13/21)
2021 Dec 14, The African Development Bank (AfDB) said it will lend Nigeria $210 million to support smallholder farmers producing strategic crops and livestock.
(Reuters, 12/14/21)
2021 Dec 15, Nigeria's upper chamber of parliament approved President Muhammadu Buhari's request for $5.8 billion in borrowing from international lenders.
(Reuters, 12/15/21)
2021 Dec 15, Nigerian senators rejected, for the third time in five years, a bill that seeks to promote gender equality, citing “socio-cultural and Islamic concerns".
(AP, 12/16/21)
2021 Dec 20, It was reported that a female soldier has been arrested in Nigeria for accepting a marriage proposal while on duty.
(BBC, 12/20/21)
2021 Dec 22, Nigeria destroyed more than a million doses of expired AstraZeneca vaccines in a bid to assure a wary public that they have been taken out of circulation.
(Reuters, 12/22/21)
2021 Dec 23, In Nigeria at least five people were killed and more than a dozen injured after several explosions near an air force base in Maiduguri town, ahead of a visit by President Muhammadu Buhari.
(Reuters, 12/23/21)
2021 Dec 30, A joint military force said six troops from Nigeria and Niger were killed by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) militants during an operation this month.
(Reuters, 12/30/21)
2022 Dec 31, In northwestern Nigeria at least 21 schoolchildren were rescued hours after they were abducted by armed groups. The next day the Nigeria Air Force launched “successful" airstrikes targeting the camps of the gunmen in Zamfara state.
(AP, 1/3/22)
2021 Dec, In Nigeria Abdulmalik Mohammed Tanko (34), the owner of her school, allegedly kidnapped Hanifa Abubakar in the northern Kano state to demand a ransom of $14,600 (£10,800). Police later said he killed Hanifa after realizing she had recognized him. Tanko was later arrested and his establishment closed.
(BBC, 1/21/22)
2022 Jan 2, In Nigeria group of bandits killed six rural residents in several attacks in Kaduna state.
(AP, 1/3/22)
2022 Jan 4, In Nigeria armed men kidnapped three Chinese nationals and killed two local staff working on a power project in the central state of Niger. Bandits arrived in large numbers in the Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas of Zamfara state this evening, shooting and burning down houses until Jan. 6. Estimates of those killed soon rose to over 200.
(Reuters, 1/6/22)(AP, 1/7/22)(Reuters, 1/8/22)
2022 Jan 7, In Denmark a suspected Nigerian pirate captured by the Danish navy in the Gulf of Guinea in November and brought to Denmark for prosecution appeared in court in Copenhagen charged with the attempted manslaughter of Danish soldiers. Three other suspected Nigerian pirates picked up by a Danish frigate at the same time and who faced the same charges were freed a day earlier after Denmark failed to find a country in the region to take them.
(Reuters, 1/7/22)
2022 Jan 8, In Nigeria gunmen released 30 students who spent nearly seven months in captivity, the latest batch in the release of Kebbi state students abducted last June 17.
(AP, 1/9/22)
2022 Jan 13, Nigeria's government said Twitter had agreed to establish a local office among other conditions set by the west African nation. Nigerians reacted with mingled relief and indifference to the government's decision to lift a ban on Twitter, saying many in Africa's biggest economy had stayed connected via virtual private networks (VPN).
(Reuters, 1/13/22)
2022 Jan 14, In northwest Nigeria dozens of gunmen on motorbikes ransacked a village late today and killed more than 50 people in Dankade village, Kebbi state.
(Reuters, 1/16/22)
2022 Jan 17, Nigeria's interior minister ordered prison guards to "shoot to kill" those involved in jailbreaks.
(BBC, 1/18/22)
2022 Jan 21, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the Islamic extremist insurgency in northeast Nigeria is a “very, very dangerous (and) very threatening" crisis that needs more than $1 billion in aid in 2022 to assist those hit by the decade-long conflict.
(AP, 1/21/22)
2022 Feb 1, Nigeria launched a 62 billion naira ($149 million) fund to help fight HIV/AIDS, especially targeting the prevention of mother-to-child transmissions as foreign funding for such programs was under strain due to focus on COVID-19.
(Reuters, 2/1/22)
2022 Feb 2, An oil production and storage vessel exploded off the coast of Nigeria early today It was not yet clear if there were any casualties or how much crude might have spilled into the sea. The vessel was holding around 50,000 to 60,000 barrels of crude oil. 10 crew members remained unaccounted for. two bodies were later seen lying dead in front of the vessel, while three crew members jumped into the sea with life jackets and were taken to a hospital.
(Reuters, 2/3/22)(Reuters, 2/5/22)
2022 Feb 3, Nigeria's financial crimes agency said it has recovered at least $750 million in local and foreign currency linked to corruption and fraud last year.
(Reuters, 2/3/22)
2022 Feb 7, Government officials said Nigeria has received 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine from Finland, Greece and Slovenia, with more EU donations set to arrive in the coming weeks.
(Reuters, 2/7/22)
2022 Feb 8, It was reported that local authorities in Nigeria have started a crackdown to try put a stop to illegal refining of stolen crude, a process known locally as "Kpo Fire", which officials say is worsening air pollution in the Delta and causing respiratory problems for some residents. 128 of 142 illegal refining sites identified by authorities in the area have been destroyed since the crackdown started in January.
(Reuters, 2/8/22)
2022 Feb 10, It was reported that religious police in Nigeria have destroyed nearly four million bottles of beer in a crackdown on alcohol in the northern city of Kano.
(BBC, 2/10/22)
2022 Feb 13, In Nigeria the Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said it had filed a lawsuit to compel President Buhari and his information minister Lai Mohammed to publish a copy of the January Twitter agreement to ensure it did not include agreements that could jeopardize freedom of expression.
(Reuters, 2/13/22)
2022 Feb 14, In Nigeria highly a decorated police officer was arrested following accusations he belongs to an international drugs cartel. Abba Kyari, already suspended for allegedly helping self-avowed fraudster Hushpuppi to launder his money in the US, was now accused in a cocaine plot. Four other officers were also arrested and one remained at large.
(BBC, 2/14/22)
2022 Feb 14, EU Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said the EU plans to invest 820 million euros to support Nigeria's digital economy over the next three years.
(Reuters, 2/15/22)
2022 Feb 19, Two Benin bronzes were returned to a traditional palace in Nigeria, more than a century after they were pillaged by British troops, raising hopes that thousands more artefacts could finally be returned to their ancestral home.
(Reuters, 2/20/22)
2022 Feb 21, The governor of Niger's Maradi region said seven children have been killed in an air strike by the Nigerian army targeting "bandits" in Nachade village.
(AP, 2/21/22)
2022 Feb 21, In Nigeria at least four security personnel were killed when their patrol vehicle detonated a landmine in the western-central state of Niger.
(Reuters, 2/22/22)
2022 Feb 28, Nigeria's government condemned reports that its citizens, and those of other African countries, have been stopped from leaving war-torn Ukraine.
(BBC, 2/28/22)
2022 Mar 1, Nigeria's Senate voted to reject changes to the constitution to allow citizens living abroad to vote in national elections, while a provision to allocate special seats for women to increase their political representation failed to pass.
(Reuters, 3/1/22)
2022 Mar 3, Nigeria said at least 200 gunmen were killed in the past three days in the central-northern state of Niger during a security operation to clear armed gangs from the area.
(Reuters, 3/3/22)
2022 Mar 6, In Nigeria gunmen began attacks on members of a volunteer vigilante group in northwestern Kebbi state. At least 67 people were later confirmed dead from the attacks.
(AP, 3/8/22)
2022 Mar 7, In Benin Nigerian activist Sunday Adeyemo, imprisoned in Benin since last year for allegedly plotting an insurrection in Nigeria, was released under judicial supervision with the condition that he cannot leave Benin.
(Reuters, 3/8/22)
2022 Mar 8, The Smithsonian Institution, one of the world’s largest cultural organizations, said that it planned to return most of its collection of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.
(NY Times, 3/8/22)
2022 Mar 11, A Nigerian court stopped Shell Plc from selling any assets in Nigeria until a decision is reached on the company's appeal of a nearly $2 billion penalty for an alleged oil spill. The ruling also ordered Shell to deposit the money in an account controlled by the court within two working days. Shell's appeal hearing was set to begin on May 5.
(Reuters, 3/14/22)
2022 Mar 22, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote opened a 3-million-ton fertilizer plant at a cost of $2.5 billion to target African and foreign markets even as the war in Ukraine has driven up prices for natural gas, a key ingredient for making urea.
(Reuters, 3/22/22)
2022 Mar 23, A Dutch court rejected a suit against Shell brought by four widows of activists who were executed by the Nigerian government in 1995 after they protested against the oil's company's exploitation of the Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 3/23/22)
2022 Mar 26, In northern Nigeria gunmen killed one person during an airport attack in the state of Kaduna, the latest in a series of attacks by gunmen in the north of the country.
(Reuters, 3/27/22)
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2016 Jan 1, Nigeria unveiled a nine-meter tall statue of Jesus Christ carved from white marble in the village of Abajah, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Africa. It was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman who hired a Chinese company to carve it and placed it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012.
(AFP, 1/2/16)
2016 Jan 4, In Nigeria Boko Haram gunmen wearing soldiers' uniforms and female suicide bombers unleashed separate attacks on Izghe, a village 123 km (76 miles) southwest of Maiduguri. At least 18 people were killed.
(AP, 1/7/16)
2016 Jan 5, In Nigeria three female suicide bombers sneaked into Izghe and detonated bombs hidden under their garments, killing 7 other people and destroying three houses. A male suicide bomber also blew himself up, killing himself and 4 other people.
(AP, 1/7/16)
2016 Jan 6, In northeastern Nigeria soldiers arrested Duhu village teacher Habu Bello and two other men, Idrisa Dele and Umaru Hammankadi. The men's bodies were later found dumped, with bullet wounds.
(AP, 1/8/16)
2016 Jan 7, The United States donated 24 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles to Nigeria's military, to enable the country's soldiers to combat Boko Haram Islamic insurgents who continued cutting a bloody path through the northeast.
(AP, 1/7/16)
2016 Jan 8, Nigeria’s Health Minister Isaac Adewole said 40 people have died in a suspected outbreak of Lassa fever in 10 states across the country.
(AFP, 1/8/16)
2016 Jan 14, A Nigerian court ordered the arrest of former Niger Delta militant leader Government Ekpemupolo on theft and money laundering charges totaling more than $175 million.
(AFP, 1/14/16)
2016 Jan 18, Nigeria’s information minister Lai Mohammed said state governors, ministers, business leaders, public officials and bankers allegedly stole $6.7 billion in public funds in seven years.
(AFP, 1/18/16)
2016 Jan 24, In Nigeria gunmen believed to be ethnic Fulani herders killed a policeman and 19 civilians and torched homes in northeastern Adamawa state in a spat over grazing rights.
(AFP, 1/25/16)
2016 Jan 25, It was reported that sales of rat poison have taken off in Nigeria following an outbreak of Lassa fever that has left at least 76 people dead and sparked fears of contagion across the country.
(AFP, 1/25/16)
2016 Jan 27, In Nigeria at least 13 people were killed when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in the northeastern town of Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April, 2014.
(AFP, 1/27/16)
2016 Jan 27, Human Rights Watch said Nigeria's new government is violating rights on many fronts in its fight against Boko Haram's Islamic uprising and in bringing corrupt politicians to book.
(AP, 1/27/16)
2016 Jan 29, In northeastern Nigeria a child suicide bomber blew himself up in a market, killing at least 10 people in Gombi, Adamawa state.
(AFP, 1/29/16)
2016 Jan 30, In Nigeria Boko Haram extremists firebombed huts in Dalori village and two nearby camps husing 25,000 refugees. 3 female suicide bombers blew themselves up among people who managed to flee to neighboring Gamori village, killing 86 people.
(AP, 1/31/16) (AP, 2/1/16)
2016 Jan – 2016 May, In Nigeria at least 149 detainees at the Giwa barracks in Borno state died during this period. Some 1200 people, including children, were reported to be incarcerated there.
(Econ, 11/5/16, p.42)
2016 Feb 6, Nigerian health authorities released data that showed a growing Lassa fever outbreak has killed 101 people, as it battles to contain a flare-up of the virus.
(AFP, 2/6/16)
2016 Feb 13, In northeastern Nigeria gun and knife-toting assailants on bikes and in vans stormed the remote villages of Yakshari and Kachifa over the last 4 hours. At least 30 people were killed in the Boko Haram raids.
(AFP, 2/13/16)
2016 Feb 14, Cameroon ended a four day operation during which its special forces reportedly killed 162 Boko Haram militants in Nigeria's northeastern town of Goshi, destroying bomb factories and weapons to retake the extremist stronghold.
(AP, 2/16/16)
2016 Feb 22, Nigeria's anti-graft agency arrested former interior minister Abba Moro, under then-president Goodluck Jonathan, over the death of at least 20 people in a stampede tragedy on March 15, 2014.
(AFP, 2/23/16)
2016 Feb 23, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari met with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman before traveling on to Qatar. Analysts forecasted Nigeria’s eventual support for an output freeze to stabilise oil prices.
(AFP, 2/23/16)
2016 Feb 27, The commander of Cameroonian forces said Cameroonian and Nigerian forces have freed several hundred hostages in a border town held by Boko Haram including young girls who were being trained as suicide bombers.
(AP, 2/27/16)
2016 Feb 29, Nigerian officials said Pres. Muhammadu Buhari is launching a probe after week-long clashes between Muslim herdsmen and Christian farmers left "hundreds" dead. Up to 300 people were reported killed.
(AFP, 2/29/16)(Econ, 4/2/16, p.47)
2016 Feb 29, In Nigeria three girls who were abducted by armed men from their school in the eastern suburb of Ikorodu at the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School on the outskirts of Lagos.
(AFP, 3/2/16)
2016 Mar 4, In northeastern Nigeria the Borno state government said it has suspended trading in four cattle markets to prevent the sale of stolen livestock to raise funds for Boko Haram Islamists.
(AFP, 3/5/16)
2016 Mar 7, A Nigerian court charged retired air chief marshal Alex Badeh with a string of corruption charges, in the latest case involving a high-ranking official.
(AFP, 3/7/16)
2016 Mar 8, In Nigeria a five-storey building under construction collapsed in an upmarket area of Lagos. At least 34 people were killed.
(AP, 3/9/16)(AP, 3/10/16)
2016 Mar 10, Nigeria’s governing All Progressives Congress charged that at least 32 of its members have been shot, clubbed and beheaded to death over the last two weeks in Rivers state, a stronghold of the opposition Democrats.
(SFC, 3/10/16, p.A4)
2016 Mar 14, Nigerian drug agents said they arrested four Mexicans last week helping Nigerian criminals build a "super-lab" capable of producing billions of dollars' worth of methamphetamine. Four Nigerians were also arrested.
(AP, 3/14/16)
2016 Mar 16, In northeastern Nigeria an attack by two female suicide bombers killed 25 people and wounded 23 during dawn prayers on a mosque on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
(AP, 3/16/16)(AFP, 3/17/16)
2016 Mar 23, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram gunmen abducted 14 women and two girls in a remote area of Adamawa state.
(AFP, 3/25/16)
2016 Mar 24, Nigeria’s presidency said it has accused 300 firms and individuals, including army officers, of embezzling 48 billion naira ($241.45 million) through overpaid defense contracts or fraud, in a widening a crackdown on graft.
(Reuters, 3/24/16)
2016 Mar 26, Cameroon authorities said a teenager who surrendered before carrying out a suicide bombing attack in the north has said she was one of the 276 girls abducted from a Nigerian boarding school by Islamic extremists nearly two years ago.
(AP, 3/26/16)
2016 Mar 27, In Nigeria 3 people were killed and several wounded when an oil pipeline belonging to Italy's ENI exploded during repair works in the southern Delta region. Workers had been repairing the pipeline when it caught fire.
(Reuters, 3/29/16)
2016 Apr 1, Nigeria's army reportedly arrested Khalid al-Barnawi (aka Usman Umar Abubakar), leader of the Islamist militant group Ansaru, in the city of Lokoja. Ansaru is a splinter faction of Boko Haram that has been accused of kidnapping and killing Westerners.
(Reuters, 4/4/16)(SFC, 4/5/16, p.A2)
2016 Apr 5, In Nigeria angry motorists queued overnight at petrol stations across the country and lines of cars blocked traffic in the commercial capital Lagos as the worst fuel shortages for years hit Africa's top oil producer.
(Reuters, 4/5/16)
2016 Apr 9, Nigerian secret police accused a Biafra separatist group of killing 55 people after discovering their bodies in shallow graves in a thick forest in the country's southeast. The Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria's domestic spy agency, said the graves were found in Umuanyi forest in Abia state, home to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement.
(AFP, 4/10/16)
2016 Apr 11, Nigeria’s Kaduna state government secretary Balarabe Lawal told a commission of inquiry that dozens of soldiers and state officials transported 347 bodies from a mortuary and an army base to a bush site where they were buried after the Dec. 12-14 military raids on Shiite compounds in northern Zaria town. The Shiites say those killed number closer to 1,000.
(AP, 4/13/16)
2016 Apr 20, In northeastern Nigeria two female suicide bombers killed at least 8 people in Banki at a camp for people displaced by the jihadist Boko Haram insurgency. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen on horseback killed at least 11 people overnight in Zango village, Yobo state.
(Reuters, 4/21/16)(AFP, 4/21/16)
2016 Apr 25, In Nigeria 20 young Fulani herdsmen descended from the hills and emerged from the palm tree forest, shooting AK-47 assault rifles in the air and waving machetes in the village of Nimbo. At least 10 people were thought to have been killed and scores injured.
(AFP, 5/17/16)
2016 May 4, In southern Nigeria militants used explosives to blow up the Okan platform, a collection facility for offshore oil and gas that feeds the Escravos terminal. This caused Chevron to lose 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) of net crude oil production.
(AFP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 6, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said it is suspending aid to Nigeria’s AIDS agency over evidence that $3.8 million was stolen by its workers and consultants.
(SFC, 5/7/16, p.A2)
2016 May 9, In Nigeria 3 soldiers guarding an oil installation were shot and killed when they came under fierce attack. The Niger Avengers claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 11, In Nigeria Shell closed the terminal exporting the country’s benchmark Bonny Light crude oil as was evacuating workers as renewed militant attacks cut production.
(SFC, 5/12/16, p.A2)
2016 May 12, In northeastern Nigeria 7 people including 2 police officers were killed when a suicide bomber tried to attack government offices in Maiduguri.
(AP, 5/12/16)
2016 May 14, In Nigeria regional and Western powers gathered for talks on quelling the threat from Boko Haram as the UN warned of the militants' threat to African security and ties to the Islamic State group.
(AFP, 5/13/16)
2016 May 16, The UN said more than nine million people in the Lake Chad region are in desperate need of food aid as the violent insurgency continues being waged there by Boko Haram. Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger have significantly weakened Boko Haram but have been unable to vanquish the Islamists entirely.
(AFP, 5/16/16)
2016 May 17, In Nigeria teenager Amina Ali Darsha, the first of more than 200 schoolgirls missing for over two years after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in Chibok, was found carrying a baby near the Sambisa forest close to the border with Cameroon.
(Reuters, 5/18/16)
2016 May 20, In Nigeria former militants of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) called for a halt to a resurgence of attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria's Niger Delta, saying it is an unnecessary distraction for President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 24, Nigeria’s agriculture commissioner Manzo Daniel said the Tuta absoluta moth, dubbed "tomato Ebola" by local farmers, has destroyed more than 80 percent of tomato farms in the northern state of Kaduna. Tomato prices have been steadily climbing for months, caused by unrest in northern and central states where the crop is grown and this has affected farmers' ability to plant and harvest.
(AFP, 5/25/16)
2016 May 26, In Nigeria a bomb attack forced US-based oil major Chevron to halt onshore activities at its 160,000-barrel a day Escravos export terminal. Participants in a stakeholders' meeting in Warri accused the government of a heavy-handed military response and warned such a campaign will not stop attacks that have cut oil production by more than 40 percent.
(AP, 5/27/16)
2016 May 27, In Nigeria militants attacked the Nembe pipeline in the Delta region, hours after the Niger Delta Avengers militant group claimed a strike on the facility.
(Reuters, 5/28/16)
2016 May 28, In Nigeria militants blew up strategic gas and crude pipelines belonging to Shell and Agip in an increasingly fierce campaign that has chopped Nigeria's oil production in half.
(AP, 5/28/16)
2016 May 29, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to keep and "re-engineer" a controversial amnesty program for Niger delta militants designed to stem attacks that have slashed oil exports but set to be scrapped.
(AFP, 5/29/16)
2016 May 29, In Nigeria at least 10 people were killed during protests by pro-Biafra campaigners. Activists wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast were commemorating the 49th anniversary of the declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra on May 30, 1967.
(AFP, 5/31/16)
2016 May 30, In Nigeria protests by pro-Biafra campaigners, wanting a separate state for the Igbo people in the southeast, commemorated the 49th anniversary of the 1967 declaration of an independent Republic of Biafra. Amnesty International later said at least 17 were killed and nearly 50 injured in Onitsha alone in violence linked to the commemoration.
(AFP, 6/10/16)
2016 May, In Nigeria annual inflation jumped to almost 16%.
(Econ, 6/18/16, p.53)
2016 Jun 2, In Geneva OPEC oil ministers ended a meeting without reaching any kind of consensus on regulating the price and supply of crude, a result that triggered an immediate drop in energy markets. The OPEC oil cartel said that it has appointed Nigeria's Mohammed Barkindo as its new secretary general.
(AP, 6/2/16)(AFP, 6/2/16)
2016 Jun 3, In Niger 28 troops were killed in a clash with Boko Haram jihadists at Bosso on the border with Nigeria. The dead soldiers included 26 from Niger and 2 from Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/4/16)(AFP, 6/7/16)
2016 Jun 4, Nigeria announced that it has seized more than $10.3 billion in looted cash and assets over the past year under Pres. Buhari’s anticorruption campaign.
(SSFC, 6/5/16, p.A4)
2016 Jun 8, In Nigeria the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group rejected a truce offer to end attacks on key oil infrastructure and claimed another strike. The Nigerian Navy said nine suspected militants blamed for previous attacks around the port city of Warri had been arrested.
(AFP, 6/8/16)
2016 Jun 8, Chad reportedly sent some 2,000 troops to neighboring Niger, where Boko Haram insurgents inflicted heavy losses in the town of Bosso last week. On June 18 Chadian troops were reported to be in Nigeria but not in Niger.
(AFP, 6/8/16)(Reuters, 6/18/16)
2016 Jun 10, Nigeria fired dozens of senior officers accused of corruption and the theft of billions of dollars meant to buy arms to fight the Boko Haram Islamic insurgency.
(AP, 6/11/16)
2016 Jun 10, In Nigeria the Niger Delta Avengers militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a trunk line owned by Agip ENI.
(Reuters, 6/10/16)
2016 Jun 16, In northeast Nigeria Boko Haram militants opened fire at a funeral, killing 18 mourners including many women and children in the Madagali area of Adamawa state near the Sambisa forest.
(AP, 6/17/16)
2016 Jun 20, The Nigerian naira depreciated 30% as the government allowed the currency to float, with business welcoming the move as an overdue step towards reviving Africa's biggest economy. The central bank released the naira from its peg of 197-199 to the dollar.
(AFP, 6/20/16)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.62)(Econ, 3/4/17, p.35)
2016 Jun 21, Nigeria said it has agreed a one-month ceasefire with militants behind recent attacks on oil facilities in its southern Niger Delta, as efforts continue to end the unrest that has pushed crude output to 30-year lows.
(Reuters, 6/21/16)
2016 Jun 22, In Nigeria gunmen kidnapped a group of construction workers in an ambush that killed their driver. All seven were on assignment for Australian mining contractor Macmahon Holdings.
(SFC, 6/23/16, p.A2)
2016 Jun 29, In Cameroon a young male suicide bomber belonging to Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram killed at least 11 people when he blew himself up close to a mosque near the Nigerian border.
(Reuters, 6/30/16)
2016 Jun 30, Nigerian officials said authorities in Lagos have shut down dozens of churches, mosques and hotels in a bid cut noise pollution.
(AFP, 7/1/16)
2016 Jun, Interpol and Nigeria's anti-fraud agency arrested a Nigerian, identified as Mike (40), accused of scamming $60 million from companies around the world through fraudulent emails after months of investigation. He was arrested along with a 38-year-old accomplice in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 8/1/16)
2016 Jul 1, In Nigeria kidnappers seized Alfred Nelson-Williams, Sierra Leone's deputy high commissioner, as he was on his way to Kaduna from Abuja. They demanded a $40 million ransom in the first kidnapping of a diplomat from the west African country in more than half a century. The diplomat was freed on July 5 but it was not clear whether or not a ransom was paid.
(AFP, 7/2/16)(SFC, 7/2/16, p.A2)(Reuters, 7/6/16)
2016 Jul 4, Nigeria’s central bank dismissed the management of Skye Bank, the country’s eighth biggest lender by assets, amid concerns that it had failed to keep thick enough buffers of capital to absorb losses on bad debts..
(Econ, 7/23/16, p.57)
2016 Jul 4, In Nigeria suspected militants blew up a pipeline in the southern Batan and Makarava areas of Delta State. Militants from the Niger Delta Avengers said in a short statement on their website that they carried out the attacks.
(AFP, 7/5/16)
2016 Jul 4, Twitter suspended the account of Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group that has carried out a series of attacks on oil facilities in Nigeria in the last few months which pushed the country's crude production to 30-year lows.
(Reuters, 7/4/16)
2016 Jul 7, The Niger Delta Avengers attacked more oil infrastructure in southern Nigeria, ignoring a call for unity from Pres. Muhammadu Buhari.
(AFP, 7/7/16)
2016 Jul 8, In Nigeria a suicide bomber killed at least 9 people and injured around 12 others in an attack on a mosque in Damboa, Borno state, during early morning prayers.
(Reuters, 7/8/16)
2016 Jul 8, Nigerian militants said they have blown up a crude oil pipeline belonging to Italian oil company Agip in Bayelsa state.
(AP, 7/8/16)
2016 Jul 11, Nigeria said gunmen believed to be nomadic Fulani herdsmen have killed scores of villagers in Benue State in a long-running conflict over grazing rights. Nigeria's Channels television put the number of dead at 81 in the past two weeks after attacks on farming villages in the Logo and Ukum areas of the state.
(AFP, 7/11/16)
2016 Jul 19, The IMF slashed its growth forecast for the Nigerian economy this year, saying a combination of plunging oil revenues and weakened investor confidence will push it into recession.
(AFP, 7/19/16)
2016 Jul 28, In Nigeria Boko Haram ambushed a humanitarian convoy in Borno state. Three civilians including a UNICEF employee and contractor for the International Organization for Migration were wounded, along with two of the soldiers escorting the humanitarian workers. The UN in response suspended its missions outside Maiduguri, where it says a half million people are starving. A day later UNICEF said it was returning to full operations in the area.
(AP, 7/29/16)(AFP, 7/30/16)
2016 Jul 29, Nigeria’s army said its troops backed by a regional force have recaptured the northeastern town of Damasak where Boko Haram killed more than 200 and abducted hundreds of children two years ago. The Chad-based MNJTF comprises troops from Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Benin.
(AFP, 7/29/16)
2016 Aug 1, In Nigeria 5 Islamists were killed as troops thwarted a Boko Haram attack near the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the epicenter of the seven-year insurgency.
(AFP, 8/2/16)
2016 Aug 3, Nigeria said it has resumed the payment of allowances to former Niger delta rebels under an amnesty scheme, after low global crude prices plunged the oil-rich country into a financial crisis.
(AFP, 8/3/16)
2016 Aug 3, The Islamic State group's newspaper identified a new leader of the group's West Africa Province, popularly known as Nigeria's Boko Haram extremists, who promises not to attack mosques or markets used by Muslims. The Arabic-language newspaper al-Nabaa identified Abu Musab al-Barnawi as the new "Wali," a title previously used to describe long-time leader Abubakar Shekau.
(AP, 8/3/16)
2016 Aug 6, Nigeria said 11 troops have been killed in clashes with gunrunners and bandits in the violence-wracked north central region. Soldiers and airmen, came under attack from gunmen during operations to confiscate illegal weapons from the villages of Kopa, Dagma and Gagaw in Niger State.
(AFP, 8/6/16)
2016 Aug 10, In Nigeria a previously unknown group called Delta Greenland Justice Mandate said it had attacked a crude pipeline belonging to state oil firm NNPC and local firm Shoreline Natural Resources in Urhobo in Delta state.
(Reuters, 8/11/16)
2016 Aug 11, In Nigeria protesters continued to block the entrance to a Chevron oil depot in the restive southern region for a third day. A youth and protest leader said militants blew up another crude pipeline in the Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 8/11/16)
2016 Aug 12, In Nigeria military helicopters rushed polio vaccines to dangerous parts of the northeast, where Boko Haram operates and two paralyzed toddlers were recently discovered.
(AP, 8/13/16)
2016 Aug 14, Nigerian militant group Boko Haram published a video apparently showing recent footage of dozens of school girls kidnapped two years ago, and saying some of them have been killed in air strikes.
(Reuters, 8/15/16)
2016 Aug 19, Nigeria's air force reportedly killed a number of senior Boko Haram fighters and possibly their overall leader inside the Sambisa forest. Abubakar Shekau was believed to be fatally wounded.
(Reuters, 8/23/16)
2016 Aug 20, Nigeria’s Niger Delta Avengers' (NDA) said on its website late today that it would "observe a cessation of hostilities," although not without conditions.
(AFP, 8/21/16)
2016 Aug 22, In northern Nigeria a Muslim mob killed 8 people after torching the house of a man who tried to save a Christian student accused of blasphemy. A mob of Muslim students in the town of Talata Mafara were enraged over alleged derogatory comments about the Prophet Mohammed by their Christian schoolmate, who they attacked.
(AFP, 8/23/16)
2016 Aug, In northeastern Nigeria an estimated that 240,000 children in Borno state were suffering from severe acute malnutrition according to UN estimates.
(Econ, 9/3/16, p.41)
2016 Oct 7, It was reported that President Barack Obama has issued waivers that continue millions of dollars in US military assistance for troubled South Sudan and six other nations where child soldiers have been used, disappointing advocates who say his administration hasn't made curbing the use of children in combat a higher priority. Waivers also have been granted to Somalia, Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Iraq and Myanmar.
(AP, 10/7/16)
2016 Nov 5, In northern Nigeria one of some 270 schoolgirls abducted by jihadist group Boko Haram from their school in Chibok in 2014 was found by soldiers screening escapees from Boko Haram's base in the Sambisa forest. Maryam Ali A was discovered to be carrying a 10-month-old son, named Ali.
(AP, 11/5/16)
2016 Nov 7, In Nigeria armed bandits killed 36 gold miners at the informal mining site at Gidan Ardo in northwest Zamfara state. 20 miners were reported missing.
(AP, 11/8/16)
2016 Nov 8, In Nigeria a blast rocked a pipeline operated by the state-run oil firm NNPC that feeds the Forcados terminal in the southern Niger Delta energy hub. The explosion occurred while the pipeline was being repaired following an attack last week.
(Reuters, 11/8/16)
2016 Nov 9, Nigerian militants said they have again blown up an oil pipeline carrying crude oil for export from Shell’s Forcados terminal. This was the third attack in eight days on the Trans Forcados pipeline network.
(SFC, 11/10/16, p.A2)
2016 Nov 15, The UN warned that 75,000 Nigerian children risk dying in "a few months" as hunger grips the country's ravaged northeast in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency. Doctors Without Borders said thousands of children have died of starvation in the Boko Haram ravaged northeast.
(AFP, 11/15/16)(SFC, 11/16/16, p.A5)
2016 Nov 18, In Nigeria five suicide bombers targeted a police checkpoint and a bus station near a transit camp in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, killing four of themselves and two civilian self-defense fighters. The fifth bomber was arrested.
(AP, 11/19/16)
2016 Nov 19, Nigerian troops gunned down a suicide bomber at a transit camp for refugees from Boko Haram in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
(AP, 11/19/16)
2016 Nov 21, An attack by Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists against a Lake Chad army base manned by an anti-insurgent regional force left six Cameroonian soldiers dead.
(AFP, 11/22/16)
2016 Nov 22, In northeastern Nigeria local leaders said Boko Haram fighters are overrunning villages near Chibok, forcing hundreds of people to flee as the insurgents loot and burn in the area where nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped in 2014.
(AP, 11/22/16)
2016 Nov 24, Amnesty International accused Nigeria's security forces of killing at least 150 pro-Biafra protesters and injuring hundreds since August 2015.
(AFP, 11/24/16)
2016 Nov 28, In Nigeria a woman suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint. The shot detonated her explosives, killing the woman and the baby.
(AP, 12/11/16)
2016 Dec 2, A Nigerian court ruled that Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), should be released along with his wife after being held without charge for nearly a year by the country's security agency. Founders of the Nigerian sect were inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Shi'ite Iran.
(Reuters, 12/2/16)
2016 Dec 2, In central Nigeria a petrol tanker skidded off the road and exploded, killing at least 14 people in the transit town of Tegina, Niger state.
(AFP, 12/2/16)
2016 Dec 9, In Nigeria two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in the northeastern town of Madagali, killing 57 people and wounding 177.
(Reuters, 12/9/16)(AP, 12/10/16)
2016 Dec 10, In southeastern Nigeria at least 160 people were killed by the collapse of the Reigners Bible church in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom state, while a pastor was being consecrated as bishop in the presence of government officials. The Akwa Ibom state government later said only 23 people died in the tragedy, an apparent attempt to cover up a death toll of more than 150 when metal girders and the corrugated iron roof crashed onto a crowded service.
(Reuters, 12/11/16)(AP, 12/11/16)(AP, 12/13/16)
2016 Dec 11, In Nigeria two girl suicide bombers died when they exploded in a crowded area near a market in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, injuring 17 people.
(AP, 12/11/16)
2016 Dec 17, In Nigeria African leaders at the 50th summit of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) called for a swift resolution of the political impasse in Gambia after disputed elections in which long-term president Yahya Jammeh is refusing to concede defeat.
(AFP, 12/17/16)
2016 Dec 22, In Nigeria a faction of Boko Haram allied to the Islamic State group attacked an army barracks in northeastern Yobe state. President Muhammadu Buhari said troops defeated Boko Haram in its Sambisa Forest stronghold in Borno state.
(AP, 12/24/16)
2016 Dec 23, In Nigeria three convicted criminals on death row for about two decades were secretly executed in the first hangings in the country since 2013. The executions were said to breach a seven-year moratorium on the death penalty.
(AP, 12/29/16)
2016 Dec 24, Nigeria’s Pres. Muhammadu Buhari declared that the Boko Haram extremist group has finally been crushed, driven from its last forest enclave with fighters on the run and no place to hide.
(AP, 12/24/16)
2016 Dec 25, In Nigeria two people were killed when part of a two-storey building in a police training college collapsed in Lagos.
(Reuters, 12/25/16)
2016 Dec 26, Nigerian troops foiled an attempt by two female suicide bombers to attack a cattle market in the restive city of Maiduguri. One of the bombers was killed, while the other was arrested.
(AFP, 12/26/16)
2016 Dec 27, Nigerian minister Mohamed Bazoum said 31 young people from Diffa, who were enrolled a few years ago in Boko Haram, have decided to surrender.
(Reuters, 12/28/16)
2016 Dec 28, Nigerian police said a plot to blow up a major bridge in Lagos has been foiled following the arrest of a 43-year-old man suspected of being part of a gang that planned to carry out the attack.
(Reuters, 12/29/16)
2016 Dec 29, In a video posted on YouTube, Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau announced: "I am here, well and alive" and that "the battle is just beginning." He urged his followers, in graphic terms, to continue the campaign.
(AP, 12/31/16)
2016 Stephen Ellis, a British expert on African affairs, authored “This Present Darkness: A History of Nigerian Organized Crime."
(Econ, 5/14/16, p.76)
2016 Dec 31, In northeastern Nigeria one person was seriously injured when a suicide bomber aged around 10 blew herself up in a New Year's Eve attack in Maiduguri.
(AFP, 1/1/17)
2016 Ngugi wa Thiong’o if Nigeria authored “Birth of a Dream Weaver: A Writer’s Awakening."
(Econ, 10/22/16, p.74)
2016 The Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) split from Nigeria's Boko Haram. In 2018 analysts estimated that ISWA has 3,000-5,000 fighters in the Lake Chad area and that its territory extended more than 100 miles into the northeastern Nigerian states of Borno and Yobe.
(Reuters, 4/29/18)
2017 Jan 3, Nigerian anti-drug officers said they found 9.15 kg (20 pounds) of cocaine worth $4.7 million "factory-packed" inside a new pair of shoes that arrived at Abuja airport on a flight from Brazil.
(Reuters, 1/3/17)
2017 Jan 5, Nigerian soldiers found one of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram nearly three years ago wandering in the bush with her baby near the Islamic extremist group's forest stronghold. More than 200 of the girls remain missing.
(AP, 1/5/17)(SFC, 1/6/17, p.A2)
2017 Jan 5, A Nigerian official said three teenage girls suspected of planning a triple suicide bomb attack in a town frequently targeted by Boko Haram have been shot dead. The girls were intercepted at Bakin Dutse village, some five km from Madagali.
(AFP, 1/5/17)
2017 Jan 5, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said women in the Lake Chad basin, where the borders of Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria meet, have been forced to sell sex to survive due to an insurgency by Boko Haram fighters that has driven millions from their homes and left children to starve.
(Reuters, 1/5/17)
2017 Jan 8, In Nigeria five suicide bombers trying to infiltrate the northeastern city of Maiduguri and died in explosions that killed at least three civilians.
(AP, 1/9/17)
2017 Jan 13, In northeastern Nigeria three female suicide bombers killed at least six people and injured 14 in a crowded market in the town of Madagali. Gunmen kidnapped five students and two staff, including a Turkish national, from an international school in the southern state of Ogun.
(Reuters, 1/13/17)(Reuters, 1/14/17)(SFC, 1/14/17, p.A2)
2017 Jan 16, In Nigeria three suicide bombers, including a child, exploded at dawn at the northeastern University of Maiduguri, killing a university professor and another child. The bombers also died.
(AP, 1/16/17)
2017 Jan 17, A Nigerian Air Force fighter jet on a mission against Boko Haram extremists mistakenly bombed a refugee camp, killing at least 76 refugees and wounding more than 100 in northeast Rann. Estimates later rose to as many as 236 people killed in the botched air strike.
(AP, 1/17/17)(Reuters, 1/18/17)(AFP, 1/21/17)
2017 Jan 26, Britain’s High Court ruled that Royal Dutch Shell cannot be sued in London over oil spills in Nigeria, in a setback to attempts to hold British multinationals liable at home for their subsidiaries' actions abroad. The court also said the claimants should be able to use Nigerian courts.
(Reuters, 1/26/17)
2017 Jan 26, German geologist Kay Holtzmann, contracted by the Dutch-British multinational Royal Dutch Shell's Nigeria subsidiary, wrote a letter to the Bodo Mediation Initiative saying the company "fiercely opposed" environmental testing and is concealing data showing thousands of Nigerians are exposed to health hazards from a stalled cleanup of the worst oil spills in the West African nation's history.
(AP, 3/24/17)
2017 Jan 27, In Nigeria armed jihadists from the Islamic State-supported Al-Barnawi faction of Boko Haram launched a midnight attack on troops in the village of Kamuya. At least three Nigerian soldiers were killed. Boko Haram claimed it killed five soldiers.
(AFP, 1/28/17)
2017 Jan 27, The World Food Program said around 1.8 million people are at risk of starvation in northeast Nigeria, victims of an Islamist insurgency that is undermining efforts by the WFP.
(Reuters, 1/27/17)
2017 Jan 28, In Nigeria gunmen believed to be Boko Haram Islamic extremists attacked a convoy of motorists along a recently secured highway. At least 15 trucks laden with food were seized when the Islamists struck at the Korowaso forest. More than 20 people were feared dead.
(AP, 1/29/17)(AFP, 1/30/17)
2017 Jan, Nigeria seized OPL 245 oil block, labelling it the proceeds of a crime. In 2011 Eni and Shell had paid $1.3 billion for the block. Prosecutors alleged that over $500 million ended up in front companies for former Pres. Goodluck Jonathan.
(Econ, 3/4/17, p.54)
2017 Feb 2, Nigeria’s government said it will soon pay all the overdue cash stipends it owes former militants who signed up for an amnesty in 2009 in the Niger Delta oil hub.
(Reuters, 2/2/17)
2017 Feb 4, James Ibori, who as governor of oil-rich Delta State became one of Nigeria's richest and most powerful men, returned to the country after serving a sentence for corruption in Britain. Ibori served half his 13-year sentence after pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering.
(Reuters, 2/4/17)
2017 Feb 6, Hundreds of Nigerians marched to protest poverty and corruption as President Muhammadu Buhari's prolonged absence abroad for medical tests raised political and economic tensions.
(AP, 2/6/17)
2017 Feb 7, Nigerian troops saved the life of a young woman strapped with explosives and killed another suicide bomber, apparently primed by Boko Haram Islamic extremists to attack the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
(AP, 2/7/17)
2017 Feb 8, The Russian embassy in Nigeria said seven Russian sailors and a Ukrainian have been kidnapped in Nigerian waters from the BBC Caribbean, a cargo vessel flagged in Antigua and Barbuda.
(AP, 2/8/17)
2017 Feb 9, In Nigeria more than 700 people took to the streets in Abuja to protest against the government's economic policy in a sign of mounting public anger in the oil producer grappling with recession.
(Reuters, 2/9/17)
2017 Feb 9, In northern Nigeria Boko Haram killed one person and abducted a seven-year-old boy from the village of Kaumutaiyahi near Chibok.
(AFP, 2/10/17)
2017 Feb 10, In northern Nigeria at least eight soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram ambush in the Mafa area east of Maiduguri.
(AFP, 2/10/17)
2017 Feb 17, Nigerian troops and civilian self-defense fighters repelled multiple suicide bombers in Maiduguri. Nine bombers and two civilians were reported killed.
(SFC, 2/18/17, p.A2)
2017 Feb 21, UNICEF said nearly 1.4 million children are at "imminent risk" of death in famines in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.
(Reuters, 2/21/17)
2017 Feb 22, In northeastern Nigeria at least seven soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram attack on military positions in the town of Gajiram.
(AFP, 2/24/17)
2017 Feb 23, UN aid agencies and donor countries gathered in Oslo for a two-day meeting to raise emergency aid for millions of people threatened by famine in the Lake Chad region, which comprises northeast Nigeria, northern Cameroon, western Chad and southeast Niger.
(AFP, 2/23/17)
2017 Feb 24, In Norway fourteen donor countries, with the US conspicuously absent, pledged $672 million in emergency aid for people threatened by famine after eight years of Boko Haram violence in the Lake Chad region, but the sum is just a fraction of what the UN says is needed.
(AFP, 2/24/17)
2017 Feb 27, South Africa deported 97 Nigerians for various offences following a series of raids, amid heightened bilateral tensions over anti-immigrant violence in South Africa.
(AP, 3/1/17)
2017 Mar 2, Nigeria filed criminal charges of corruption against oil multinationals Royal Dutch Shell and Eni over the $1.1 billion sale of one of Africa's richest oil blocks. Malabu Oil, secretly set up by former Oil Minister Dan Etete, was awarded OPL 245 while he was oil minister. Nigeria's government got only $210 million from the deal.
(AP, 3/4/17)
2017 Mar 6, Nigeria’s former Adamawa state governor James Bala Ngilari was jailed for five years after being found guilty of corruption related to procurement of cars while in office.
(Reuters, 3/6/17)
2017 Mar 8, Nigeria's capital was cut off by air, as Abuja airport closed for at least six weeks for repairs, forcing flights to divert and lengthening travel times for passengers.
(AFP, 3/8/17)
2017 Mar 10, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari returned home after nearly two months' medical leave in Britain but did little to quell fears about the state of his health by saying he would not start work again immediately.
(AFP, 3/10/17)
2017 Mar 10, The UN warned that the world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II, with more than 20 million people facing starvation and famine in four countries (northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen).
(AFP, 3/11/17)
2017 Mar 13, South Africa and Nigeria said they would launch a jointly run "early warning" system to track and deter xenophobic attacks against Nigerian migrants.
(AFP, 3/13/17)
2017 Mar 18, In Nigeria three suicide bombers suspected to be members of Boko Haram detonated explosive devices strapped on their bodies late today, killing at least four people in Maiduguri.
(AP, 3/19/17)
2017 Mar 21, The UN said more than 2,600 Nigerians who fled into northern Cameroon to escape Boko Haram jihadists have been forced to go home since the start of the year.
(AFP, 3/21/17)
2017 Mar 22, In northeastern Nigeria at least four suicide blasts rocked a camp for migrants fleeing Boko Haram insurgents, killing at least three people and wounding 20.
(AFP, 3/22/17)
2017 Mar 22, The International Red Cross appealed for $400 million to help some 20 million people facing famine or the risk of it in four conflict-ridden countries: Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan and Nigeria.
(AP, 3/22/17)(Econ, 4/1/17, p.39)
2017 Mar 27, The foreign minister of Nigeria visited Poland an effort to develop economic, military and security ties with the fast-growing economy in central Europe.
(AP, 3/27/17)
2017 Mar 30, In Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists raided the village of Pulka near border with Cameroon and kidnapped 18 girls. Jihadists outside Dumba killed a herdsman who had tried to escape after refusing to pay protection money. They shot dead 50 of his cattle and took four women from his family along with the rest of his herd.
(AFP, 4/1/17)
2017 Apr 2, In Nigeria three suicide bombers blew themselves up attempting to get into the northeastern city of Maiduguri. A dog grappled with a suicide bomber at a wedding in Belbelo village near Maiduguri until her explosives detonated, killing the animal as well.
(AP, 4/2/17)(SFC, 4/6/17, p.A2)
2017 Apr 9, In Nigeria gunmen shot dead four policemen, an army captain and a civilian in an attack on a community outside Lagos.
(AFP, 4/9/17)
2016 Apr 9, In southeastern Nigeria two Turkish were kidnapped from a hotel room in the town of Eket, Akwa Ibom state.
(Reuters, 4/11/17)
2017 Apr 12, Nigeria's military destroyed 13 illegal refineries in the restive Niger Delta oil hub, in an operation in which two soldiers died in clashes with "sea robbers".
(AP, 4/13/17)
2017 Apr 19, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari ordered an investigation into corruption allegations against a senior civil servant related to the use of funds intended for handling a humanitarian crisis in the northeast of the country. Buhari suspended two key aides over an alleged contract scam and for keeping an unauthorized stash of cash in a private home.
(Reuters, 4/19/17)(AFP, 4/19/17)
2017 Apr 24, In northeast Nigeria four people were killed in two separate suicide attacks blamed on Boko Haram Islamists.
(AFP, 4/24/17)
2017 May 3, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari (74) missed his weekly cabinet meeting for the third straight time as concerns mounted about his health.
(AP, 5/3/17)
2017 May 6, Nigeria secured the release of 82 of some 270 girls, kidnapped in Chibok in 2014, in exchange for five Boko Haram leaders.
(Reuters, 5/7/17)(AP, 5/7/17)
2017 May 11, The US Center for Disease Control said more than 1,000 people have died in an outbreak of meningitis in Nigeria, but added that the spread of the disease is slowing. A new strain of meningitis C was first reported in Zamfara last November.
(AFP, 5/11/17)
2017 May 13, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists killed six farmers who were working on their land near Maiduguri.
(AFP, 5/15/17)
2017 May 15, In northeastern Nigeria three female suicide bombers killed two people and injured six others in an attack late today on a village Borno state.
(Reuters, 5/16/17)
2017 May 20, Nigerian troops fought Boko Haram in the Lake Chad area, killing 13 of the Islamic extremists and arresting 10 others, including 6 women believed to have helped smuggle supplies to the insurgents.
(AP, 5/21/17)
2017 Jun 7, In Nigeria at least 13 people were killed after Boko Haram launched the deadliest attack in months on Maiduguri, the birthplace of the extremist group. The attack came just hours before a visit by Yemi Osinbajo, the country's acting president.
(AP, 6/8/17)
2017 Jun 11, Nigerian soldiers battled Boko Haram extremists in Jarawa village in Borno state. A large number of rebels were reported killed, including Abu Nazir, who was on the military's wanted list. The soldiers also rescued nine abducted children.
(AP, 6/12/17)
2017 Jun 14, The leader of Nigeria's Senate, Bukola Saraki (54), was cleared of corruption charges, ending of one of the most high-profile trials in President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-graft campaign.
(AP, 6/14/17)
2017 Jun 15, The EU announced a support package of nearly $160 million for recovery and reconstruction in Nigeria's Borno state, which has been devastated by attacks from homegrown Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
(AP, 6/15/17)
2017 Jun 19, In northeastern Nigeria 12 people were killed after suicide bombing attacks by five female bombers in Kofa, not far from Maiduguri.
(AP, 6/19/17)
2017 Jun 25, In Nigeria seven suicide bombers, six of whom were women, targeted the campus of Maiduguri University and residential buildings in a district just northeast of the city. Nine people along with the seven suicide bombers were left dead.
(AFP, 6/26/17)
2017 Jul 8, US President Donald Trump promised $639 million in funding for humanitarian programs, including $331 million to help feed starving people in four famine-hit countries - Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen. Trump's pledge came during a working session of the G20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg.
(AP, 7/8/17)
2017 Jul 11, In Nigeria a graphic video seen by AFP showed Boko Haram publicly executing eight villagers in the northeast Nigeria who opposed the enforcement of its hardline form of Islam.
(AFP, 7/11/17)
2017 Jul 11, In northeastern Nigeria four Boko Haram suicide bombers killed 19 people late today and injured 23 in Maiduguri.
(AP, 7/12/17)
2017 Jul 16, In Nigeria violence erupted between herders and farmers in Kajuru village, 50 km (30 miles) outside the city of Kaduna. Two days of violence left at least 33 people dead.
(AFP, 7/20/17)
2017 Jul 17, In northeastern Nigeria eight people were killed when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a mosque in Maiduguri. Two others were killed shortly before midnight while the third was intercepted shortly after.
(AFP, 7/17/17)
2017 Jul 23, In northeastern Nigeria female suicide bombers attacked two camps for those displaced by the Boko Haram conflict outside Maiduguri. At least 8 people were killed and another 15 wounded.
(AP, 7/24/17)
2017 Jul 25, In Nigeria eight people were killed when a four-storey building collapsed after heavy rains in Lagos.
(AFP, 7/26/17)
2017 Jul 25, In northeastern Nigeria at least 69 people died in a Boko Haram ambush of an oil exploration team in the Magumeri area of Borno state.
(AFP, 7/29/17)
2017 Jul 27, In northeastern Nigeria three young female suicide bombers were killed when their explosives detonated prematurely in Bama.
(AFP, 7/29/17)
2017 Jul 28, In northeastern Nigeria two suicide bombers struck a camp for displaced people in Dikwa, 90 km (56 miles) east of Maiduguri, killing five people.
(AFP, 7/29/17)
2017 Aug 3, Nigeria’s state-run oil firm said it has signed financing deals with oil majors Shell and Chevron to develop projects that would boost reserves and revenue.
(AFP, 8/3/17)
2017 Aug 6, In southeastern Nigeria gunmen killed 11 people and wounded 18 others in St. Philip Catholic Church in an attack arising from a feud between members of the local community in in Ozubulu, Anambra state.
(AP, 8/6/17)(Reuters, 8/7/17)
2017 Aug 7, Nigerian protesters demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari, receiving treatment in London for an undisclosed ailment for more than three months, either return or resign.
(AFP, 8/7/17)
2017 Aug 11, In Nigeria hundreds of protesters stormed a crude oil flow station owned by Shell in the restive Niger Delta demanding jobs and infrastructure development.
(Reuters, 8/11/17)
2017 Aug 15, In northeastern Nigeria suicide bombers attacked a camp for internally displaced people and a market killing at least 20 people.
(SFC, 8/1617, p.A2)
2017 Aug 18, Nigeria’s government said more than 100 girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram militants in the town of Chibok in 2014 are ready to return to normal life after being released and receiving psychological and medical treatment.
(Reuters, 8/18/17)
2017 Aug 23, In Nigeria Boko Haram fighters entered villages in the Nganzai area, slitting throats and using guns to kill at least 15 people while injuring two others. Suspected Boko Haram fighters also attacked in the Guzamala local council area, killing 12 people and injuring at least four.
(AP, 8/26/17)
2017 Aug 28, A Nigerian court seized $21 million from bank accounts linked to Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former oil minister accused of corruption, as investigators continued to claw back her fortune.
(AFP, 8/28/17)
2017 Sep 1, Nigeria's president said more than 100,000 people have been displaced by flooding in the central part of the country. It was not immediately known whether anyone has died in the flooding in Benue state.
(AP, 9/1/17)
2017 Sep 8, In northeastern Nigeria four farmers were shot dead by Boko Haram fighters. Eight more farmers were killed in a series of raids over the next two days.
(AFP, 9/9/17)
2017 Sep 8, In northeastern Nigeria at least seven people were killed when Boko Haram jihadists attacked a camp in Ngala for people displaced by conflict. The attack came as two people were killed along with two suicide bombers in an explosion outside the Muna Garage camp in Maiduguri.
(AFP, 9/9/17)
2017 Sep 8, In central Nigeria Fulani herdsmen attacked Ancha village, in the Bassa local government area of Plateau state, early today killing 19 people in Plateau state. The attack was thought to be a reprisal attack after a boy from the community was killed.
(AP, 9/9/17)
2017 Sep 14, In Nigeria Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the secessionist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), went missing following an alleged military raid that left his house in the city of Umuahia riddled with bullet holes, its windows smashed and doors hanging off hinges. Around 20 IPOB members were reportedly shot dead but most of the bodies were taken by soldiers. The army later denied the raid.
(Reuters, 10/3/17)
2017 Sep 18, In northeastern Nigeria suspected suicide bombers killed at least 12 people and injured 26 others in Borno state, epicenter of the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency.
(Reuters, 9/18/17)
2017 Sep 19, Nigeria intercepted 470 rifles from Turkey, which had been falsely declared as elbow joints for plumbing. That shipment was uncovered barely a week after a 20-foot container-load of 1,100 pump-action rifles was impounded at the same port. According to Nigeria Customs Service a total of 2,671 action pump rifles allegedly imported from Turkey have been seized in Lagos since January.
(AFP, 9/22/17)
2017 Sep 29, The UN Children's Fund said Boko Haram's ongoing insurgency in northern Nigeria has forced the closure of more than 57 percent of schools in Borno state, leaving about 3 million children without an education as the school year begins.
(AP, 9/29/17)
2017 Oct 1, President Muhammadu Buhari railed against separatists seeking Nigeria's "dismemberment" as it marked its 1960 independence from Britain and said corruption remained the African oil giant's "number one enemy".
(AP, 10/1/17)
2017 Oct 4, Nigeria's financial crimes agency brushed off allegations by the wife of the country's former president that it had conducted a "witch-hunt" against her. Last year, the EFCC froze four US dollar bank accounts that the ex-president's wife said she owned. Her spokesman said in September 2016 that the accounts in total contained around $10 million - a third of the sum reported in the Nigerian press.
(Reuters, 10/4/17)
2017 Oct 12, In southern Nigeria Italian priest Maurizio Pallu (63) was snatched in broad daylight by armed men just outside of Benin City. He was travelling with a group of four other people when they were attacked and robbed by armed men who took Pallu but let the others go.
(AFP, 10/14/17)
2017 Oct 13, In Nigeria four British missionaries giving free medical services were kidnapped in southern Delta state. After three weeks Ian Squire was reported killed and the other three released.
(Reuters, 10/18/17)(Reuters, 11/6/17)
2017 Oct 17, In Nigeria Rev. Maurizio Pallu was released late today, five days after being kidnapped in Benin City.
(AP, 10/18/17)
2017 Oct 19, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and visiting Nigerian Pres. Muhammadu Buhari vowed to ramp up security and economic cooperation between Ankara and Africa's most populous nation.
(AP, 10/19/17)
2017 Oct 21, Pirates In Nigerian waters attacked the Liberia-flagged container ship MV Demeter. Six crew members were kidnapped. Those kidnapped comprise four Filipinos, one Ukrainian and one Hungarian. On Nov. 12 a German shipping company said pirates have released the six crewmembers who were taken hostage from the vessel.
(Reuters, 10/24/17)(AP, 11/12/17)
2017 Oct 22, In Nigeria three bombers, all of them women, detonated their explosives near the sprawling Muna Garage camp on the outskirts of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri. At least 14 people were killed.
(AFP, 10/23/17)
2017 Oct 30, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the country's most senior civil servant. Babachir Lawal, secretary to the government of the federation, was sacked after a report into corruption allegations recommended his dismissal.
(Reuters, 10/30/17)
2017 Oct 30, Court papers said Nigeria has agreed to pay compensation to victims of the country's civil war, 47 years after it ended, and clear former conflict zones of abandoned bombs and landmines.
(AP, 10/31/17)
2017 Nov 6, In northeastern Nigeria at least two civilians were killed when dozens of Boko Haram fighters tried to storm Gulak town, Adamawa state, but were repelled by troops.
(AP, 11/7/17)
2017 Nov 15, In Nigeria four suicide bombers killed 14 people and wounded 29 in Maiduguri, home of the Boko Haram insurgency.
(SFC, 11/16/17, p.A2)
2017 Nov 16, In Nigeria police broke up a sit-in protest in Lagos, dispersing hundreds of former slum-dwellers demanding compensation after being evicted from their waterfront homes. Earlier this week, Amnesty International published a report calling the evictions "unlawful" and demanded an investigation into the violence.
(AFP, 11/16/17)
2017 Nov 21, In northeastern Nigeria a teenage suicide bomber attacked a mosque and killed at least 50 people in Mubi, Adamawa state.
(AP, 11/21/17)(Reuters, 11/21/17)
2017 Nov 25, Nigeria's military repelled an attempt by suspected Boko Haram militants to seize the northeastern town of Magumeri. At least three soldiers were killed and six others wounded in the fighting.
(Reuters, 11/26/17)
2017 Dec 2, In northeastern Nigeria a female suicide bomber pretending to wait in line for food handouts detonated her explosives, killing at least 13 people at a crowded market in the town of Biu, Borno state.
(AP, 12/2/17)
2017 Dec 3, It was reported that Nigeria's government plans to house displaced people in the northwest in fortified garrison towns, ringed by farms, with the rest of the countryside effectively left to fend for itself.
(Reuters, 12/3/17)
2017 Dec 10, In Nigeria two soldiers were killed after their vehicle hit a homemade explosive planted by Boko Haram insurgents along the Maiduguri-Damboa highway.
(SFC, 12/13/17, p.A2)
2017 Dec 12, Nigeria's court of appeal dismissed 15 charges against Senate president Bukola Saraki related to alleged false declarations of assets, but it upheld three other charges against him.
(Reuters, 12/13/17)
2017 Dec 12, A Nigerian official said two teenage girl suicide bombers attacked the town of Gwoza, Borno state. One girl was shot dead and the other detonated herself killing four others.
(SFC, 12/13/17, p.A2)
2017 Dec 14, Nigerian state governors approved the release of $1 billion from the country's excess oil account to the government to help fight the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency.
(Reuters, 12/14/17)
2017 Dec 15, In Nigeria four Chinese expatriates were kidnapped while travelling from Lagos to Ondo state in the south. The military received a distress call, freed the victims and captured one of the kidnappers.
(AP, 12/16/17)
2017 Dec 16, Nigerian authorities said soldiers in a two week operation have arrested 167 Boko Haram fighters as well as 67 women and 173 children associated with the extremist group hiding on the islands of Lake Chad.
(AP, 12/16/17)
2017 Dec 18, A major Nigerian oil union said it would suspend a nationwide strike after securing worker demands through dispute resolution with the government and an oil firm.
(Reuters, 12/18/17)
2017 Dec 25, In northeastern Nigeria four civilians were killed in an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
(Reuters, 12/26/17)
2017 Dec 31, In Nigeria a new report said at least 5,247 Muslims have been killed in Adamawa state over the past four years because of Boko Haram.
(SFC, 1/1/18, p.A2)
2017 Nigerian writer Chibundo Onuzo (25) authored her 2nd novel: “Welcome to Lagos".
(https://hkrbooks.com/2017/01/25/welcome-to-lagos/)(Econ, 1/7/17, p.65)
2017 Ziki Nelson and Tolu Foyeh of Nigeria co-founded Kugali, an animation enterprise, along with Hamid Ibrahim of Uganda. In 2020 the company announced a deal with Disney to make "Iwaju" a sci-fi series imbued with Yoruba culture.
(Econ., 1/16/21, p.37)
2018 Jan 2, Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau released a video message claiming a series of attacks in the northeast during the festive season.
(AFP, 1/2/18)
2018 Jan 2, Nigeria's electricity grid was shut down late today by a fire on a gas pipeline, the Escravos Lagos Pipeline System near Okada in the southern state of Edo.
(Reuters, 1/3/18)
2018 Jan 3, In northern Nigeria a suicide bomber entered a mosque in and detonated his explosives, killing 14 people during early morning prayers in Gamboru Ngala town, Borno state.
(AP, 1/3/18)
2018 Jan 4, The Nigerian military said it had rescued Salomi Pogu, one of more than 270 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in 2014.
(Reuters, 1/4/18)
2018 Jan 5, In Nigeria Julius Ayuk Tabe, the Nigeria-based chairman of the Governing Council of Ambazonia, a Cameroon separatist movement, was taken into custody in Abuja along with six aides.
(Reuters, 1/6/18)
2018 Jan 8, Nigerian government and police officials said at least 83 people have been killed in communal violence since Dec. 31, much of it involving clashes between Muslim cattle herders and Christian farmers. Terve Akase, chief press secretary to the governor of Benue, attributed 71 of the deaths from Dec. 31 to Jan. 6 in the state to killings by the Fulani. In neighboring Taraba state at least 12 people were killed in similar, ethnically-charged attacks in the Lau region on Jan. 5 and Jan. 7.
(Reuters, 1/8/18)
2018 Jan 9, Nigeria’s military said troops from Nigeria and neighboring countries have launched major offensives against the two Boko Haram factions and their leaders. Soldiers from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria were targeting Abubakar Shekau in the Sambisa Forest, and Mamman Nur, on and around Lake Chad, both in Borno state.
(AFP, 1/9/18)
2018 Jan 11, The United Nations refugee agency and Nigerian government officials said more than 15,000 Cameroonian refugees have fled to Nigeria amid a crackdown on Anglophone separatists.
(Reuters, 1/11/18)
2018 Jan 12, Nigeria’s army said that militant leader Peregbakumo Oyawerikumo was killed in a gun battle after his gang members ambushed a military unit that was transporting him following his arrest a day earlier in Delta state.
(SFC, 1/13/18, p.A2)
2018 Jan 15, In Nigeria a video released by Boko Haram Islamic extremists purportedly showed some of the young women kidnapped from a school nearly four years ago who vow never to return home.
(AP, 1/15/18)
2018 Jan 15, Nigeria's army released 244 Boko Haram suspects who have denounced their membership in the deadly extremist group. The public release at the Maiduguri military barracks was done to mark Nigeria's Armed Forces Remembrance Day.
(AP, 1/16/18)
2018 Jan 16, In Nigeria kidnappers abducted one American and one Canadian in the northern state of Kaduna, killing two police officers.
(Reuters, 1/17/18)
2018 Jan 17, In northern Nigeria a double suicide bombing at a market in Maiduguri killed at least 12 people and wounded 45 others.
(SFC, 1/18/18, p.A2)
2018 Jan 17, In Nigeria two Americans and two Canadians were ambushed by unknown gunmen while traveling from the town of Kafanchan in Kaduna state to the capital, Abuja. The four were freed on January 19.
(Reuters, 1/20/18)
2018 Jan 18, In Nigeria five oil workers from local firm Sahara Energy were kidnapped in the southern Niger Delta region.
(Reuters, 1/20/18)
2018 Jan 25, Nigeria said it will protest to the United States over conditions imposed on its planned $494 million purchase of 12 A-29 Super Tucano fighter planes. The sale of the aircraft, with weapons and service, includes thousands of bombs and rockets.
(Reuters, 1/25/18)
2018 Jan 25, Local aid officials said more than 43,000 Cameroonians have fled as refugees to Nigeria to escape a crackdown by the government on Anglophone separatists.
(Reuters, 1/25/18)
2018 Jan 30, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists killed at least five loggers, in the latest attacks against civilians in the violence-hit region.
(AFP, 2/1/18)
2018 Jan 30, Amnesty Int’l. said Nigeria’s military has killed at least 35 people in air raids during attempts to combat growing violence between farmers and herdsmen over land in five states.
(SFC, 1/31/18, p.A2)
2018 Jan 30, Cameroonian troops crossed into neighboring Nigeria in pursuit of separatist rebels. More than 43,000 Cameroonians have fled as refugees to Nigeria to escape the government crackdown on the separatists.
(Reuters, 1/31/18)
2018 Jan 31, The UN refugee agency appealed for $157 million (126 million euros) to help over a quarter of a million people affected by the insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. Since 2013, the Boko Haram conflict has internally displaced another 2.4 million people in northeast Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
(AFP, 1/31/18)
2018 Feb 3, Nigerian court papers showed that Danladi Umar, a top judge handling corruption cases against public officials, has himself been charged with bribery.
(AFP, 2/3/18)
2018 Feb 4, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram fighters stormed a village and murdered two civilians, while six people were killed in an attack in northern Cameroon.
(AFP, 2/5/18)
2018 Feb 6, It was reported that India is seeking the help of the navies of Benin and Nigeria to find the Marine Express oil tanker that has gone missing in the Gulf of Guinea with 22 Indian crew members.
(SFC, 2/6/18, p.A2)
2018 Feb 14, The Court of Appeal in London ruled that two Nigerian communities cannot pursue Royal Dutch Shell in English courts over oil spills in Nigeria's Delta region.
(Reuters, 2/14/18)
2018 Feb 16, In northern Nigeria a trio of suicide bombers detonated at a crowded fish market late today in Konduga, Borno state, killing at least 20 people.
(AP, 2/17/18)
2018 Feb 16, Nigeria’s justice ministry ordered 475 Boko Haram suspects to be freed following a series of mass trials in which most cases were dropped for lack of evidence. The court imposed a second 15-year sentence on Haruna Yahaya (35), who was involved in the 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok.
(AFP, 2/18/18)
2018 Feb 19, A Vatican statement said the pope had accepted the resignation of Peter Ebere Okpaleke as bishop of Nigeria’s diocese of Ahiara. It said the position had been declared vacant and that a papal administrator would run it for the time being. Rebel priests and faithful had rejected him as an ethnic outsider.
(Reuters, 2/19/18)
2018 Feb 20, In northeastern Nigeria more than 90 schoolgirls went missing after Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram attacked Dapchi village in Yobe state.
(Reuters, 2/21/18)
2018 Feb 27, In northeastern Nigeria soldiers killed at least 10 people after attackers struck a village in the Gwamba region of Adamawa state. The region been a flashpoint for communal clashes between farmers and herders.
(Reuters, 2/28/18)
2018 Feb 28, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari's office said security forces have been ordered to defend all schools in "liberated areas" of the country's northeast to avoid further mass abductions from schools by Boko Haram extremists.
(AP, 2/28/18)
2018 Mar 1, In northeastern Nigeria three workers for UN agencies were among 11 people killed in an attack by armed Boko Haram militants on a military base near the border with Cameroon. Aid agencies soon pulled out of Rann, leaving tens of thousands uprooted by the fighting living again in parlous conditions with little or no international humanitarian support.
(AP, 3/2/18)(Reuters, 3/22/18)
2018 Mar 2, The UN suspended aid work helping tens of thousands of people in northeastern Nigeria after an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants a day earlier in the town of Rann, Borno state. The suspected militants killed at least 11 people, including the three aid workers. Three other aid workers were missing.
(Reuters, 3/3/18)
2018 Mar 5, Nigerian police said least 10 people were killed in several days of violence between herdsmen and farmers in a number of remote herding villages in the Mambilla district of Taraba state. Cattle drivers said 19 people have been killed and 23 injured.
(AFP, 3/5/18)
2018 Mar 7, It was reported that between 10,000 and 30,000 Nigerian prostitutes are estimated to be walking Italian streets, often to pay off the debts they incurred to get there.
(AP, 3/7/18)
2018 Mar 7, In eastern Nigeria rural communities in Taraba state were put on indefinite lockdown as the authorities tried to contain mounting violence between cattle herders and farmers.
(AFP, 3/9/18)
2018 Mar 9, In central Nigeria gunmen suspected to be herdsmen killed at least five people in Plateau state. The attack happened just as President Muhammadu Buhari was rounding up a tour of Plateau and four other flashpoint states.
(AFP, 3/10/18)
2018 Mar 16, Nigerian Senator Shehu Sani's revelation that lawmakers in the upper house of parliament receive about $37,500 each month for personal expenses prompted anger in the country, where most people live on less than $2 a day.
(Reuters, 3/16/18)
2018 Mar 21, Nigeria's government said 101 of the 110 schoolgirls abducted a month ago by Boko Haram are confirmed freed, and it indicates that the release is not over.
(AP, 3/21/18)
2018 Mar 22, Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, said police have smashed a Nigerian organized crime ring in one of the largest European operations against human trafficking. It says 89 people have been arrested in Britain and Spain and 39 victims rescued. The gang had trafficked victims to Europe through Libya and Italy, forcing women into prostitution to pay for their journey.
(AP, 3/22/18)
2018 Mar 30, In northeastern Nigeria four teenage girl suicide bombers killed two people in multiple attacks in Maiduguri.
(AFP, 3/31/18)
2018 Apr 1, In Nigeria Boko Haram tried to enter Maiduguri but were repelled by army soldiers. Six insurgents and seven suicide bombers were killed.
(SFC, 4/3/18, p.A2)
2018 Apr 2, In Nigeria Boko Haram extremists attacked two villages on the outskirts of Maiduguri, killing at least 15 people and wounded 83, in the biggest strike since the government said it was in talks with the Islamist militant group.
(Reuters, 4/2/18)(SFC, 4/3/18, p.A2)
2018 Apr 5, The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) said Lassa fever has killed 142 people in Nigeria since the start of the year, reporting a rise of 32 fatalities in a month.
(AFP, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 9, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari departed for Britain for talks with PM Theresa May after announcing that he would seek re-election in 2019.
(Reuters, 4/9/18)
2018 Apr 12, In northern Nigeria gunmen killed 26 people in Zamfara state, in the latest in a series of attacks blamed on cattle thieves. The victims were miners from Kuru-Kuru that were attacked and residents of Jarkuka village who had come to help their neighbors.
(AP, 4/13/18)
2018 Apr 17, Nigeria's upper chamber of parliament said it would invite the central bank governor and the ministers of finance and defence to explain the release of $462 million to buy helicopters.
(Reuters, 4/17/18)
2018 Apr 17, Nigerian police fired teargas for a second day at protesters in Abuja demanding the release of Shiite leader Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been in jail without charge since December 2015.
(AFP, 4/17/18)
2018 Apr 18, In Nigeria three men burst into the Senate and snatched the legislature's ceremonial mace. The body's spokesman blamed lawmaker Ovie Omo-Agege, who had been suspended.
(Reuters, 4/18/18)
2018 Apr 26, In Nigeria at least four people were killed when Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked Maiduguri. Five suicide bombers also died trying to detonate their explosives while trying to reach the city's Giwa Barracks, where suspected militants are held. At least one member of the security forces was killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a military vehicle. Air strikes killed an unspecified number of jihadists as they fled. It was also announced that 22 soldiers from a regional force have been killed in fighting this month.
(AFP, 4/27/18)
2018 Apr 30, President Donald Trump met with Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari, president of Africa's most populous and wealthiest country. Buhari sought support in his battle against Boko Haram, as well as investment in Nigeria's rickety infrastructure.
(AFP, 4/30/18)
2018 Apr, In central Nigeria 33 people, including a number of policemen, were killed during a brutal bank robbery in Offa, Kwara state.
(AFP, 8/10/18)
2018 May 1, In northeastern Nigeria explosions in and around a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa state, killed at least 20 people.
(AP, 5/1/18)
2018 May 2, In northern Nigeria 13 people were killed over the last two days in prolonged clashes between cattle thieves and local civilian militia in Zamfara state.
(AP, 5/3/18)
2018 May 5, In northwestern Nigeria as many as 40 people were killed by armed bandits in Gwaska, Kaduna state.
(SFC, 5/7/18, p.A2)
2018 May 8, Lawyers said Nigerian migrants, who survived a deadly sea crossing last year, filed a lawsuit last week against Italy for violating their rights by supporting Libya's efforts to return them to North Africa.
(Reuters, 5/8/18)
2018 May 18, In Nigeria anti-corruption representatives from around Africa vowed to "strengthen cooperation and partnership in the tracing, recovery and return of (stolen) assets".
(AFP, 5/20/18)
2018 May 31, Nigerian soldiers on patrol in the southwest intercepted three trucks carrying boxes of ammunition from Benin. The UN Regional Center for Peace and Disarmament (UNREC) has said more than 350 million small arms and light weapons are circulating in Nigeria -- nearly two for every member of its population.
(AFP, 6/8/18)
2018 Jun 6, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari faced a threat of impeachment after lawmakers issued a raft of demands over security and corruption in a deepening rift with the executive.
(AFP, 6/6/18)
2018 Jun 16, In northeastern Nigeria six suicide bombers killed at least 20 people in Borno state, in the Shuwari and Abachari districts of the local government area. Residents said at least 31 people were killed.
(AP, 6/17/18)(Reuters, 6/17/18)
2018 Jun 20, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (75) signed the 2018 budget into law, more than six months after the 9.1-trillion-naira ($25 billion, 22-billion-euro) spending plan was first presented to parliament.
(AFP, 6/20/18)
2018 Jun 21, In northeastern Nigeria at least five people were killed late today and six others injured in a night-time Boko Haram raid and suicide attack on Tungushe village, Borno state.
(AFP, 6/23/18)
2018 Jun 23, In central Nigeria scores were dead after vicious clashes between mostly Muslim herders and Christian farmers. One report citing police saying 86 people were killed in Plateau State. Multiple local sources said that more than 100 people died in the violence, an apparent reprisal after ethnic Berom farmers allegedly killed five Fulani herders on June 21.
(AP, 6/25/18) (AFP, 6/27/18)
2018 Jun 28, Nigeria's army said they have arrested 17 people in connection with the killing of more than 200 people in the central state of Plateau.
(AFP, 6/28/18)
2018 Jul 1, Nigerian police found the bodies of 41 men with their throats cut in Zamfara state, a northern area that is notorious as a hideout for criminal gangs. Police soon arrested four suspects after searching the bush area and also found machetes and guns.
(AFP, 7/4/18)
2018 Jul 4, In Nigeria French President Emmanuel Macron called for Africa and Europe to reach a "win-win" solution to migration during an address to 300 young entrepreneurs on the second day of his visit to Lagos.
(AP, 7/4/18)
2018 Jul 6, Nigeria's Supreme Court dismissed all outstanding charges against Senate president Bukola Saraki related to alleged false declarations of assets.
(Reuters, 7/6/18)
2018 Jul 11, In northern Nigeria 26 people were killed over the last two days in violence blamed on cattle thieves.
(AFP, 7/11/18)
2018 Jul 14, Nigeria's ruling party won a governorship election in southwestern Ekiti state, unseating the opposition and giving President Muhammadu Buhari a boost ahead of national polls next year.
(Reuters, 7/15/18)
2018 Jul 18, The Nigeria Police Force said eight suspected members of Islamist militant group Boko Haram have confessed to involvement in the 2014 abduction of some 270 girls from the town of Chibok.
(Reuters, 7/18/18)
2018 Jul 21, In northeastern Nigeria military troops killed "scores" of Boko Haram fighters in Yobe state. Jihadists had been intending to attack and loot the market in the town of Babangida when they ambushed troops.
(AFP, 7/22/18)
2018 Jul 23, In northern Nigeria seven people were killed in a suicide attack on a mosque in Konduga town.
(AP, 7/23/18)
2018 Jul 24, Fifteen Nigerian senators quit the ruling All Progressives Congress party, making it a minority in parliament's upper house and indicating worsening rifts in President Muhammadu Buhari's political camp months ahead of an election.
(Reuters, 7/24/18)
2018 Aug 1, In northern Nigeria Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal dumped President Muhammadu Buhari's All Progressives Congress for the opposition, in the latest defection to hit the ruling party.
(AFP, 8/1/18)
2018 Aug 9, In southern Nigeria armed robbers killed at least 10 people, including a policeman, when they raided a police station and two banks in Igarra, Edo state.
(AP, 8/10/18)
2018 Aug 9, In Nigeria 13 people burnt to death when a bus burst into flames after a head-on collision with a digger near the oil hub of Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 8/10/18)
2018 Aug 12, In Nigeria hundreds of soldiers protested in the airport of Maiduguri, the capital of restive northeast Borno state, for several hours, shooting into the air and disrupting flights. They were furious about a planned redeployment to a battlefront in the remote Lake Chad region after fighting Boko Haram jihadists for years without relief.
(AFP, 8/15/18)
2018 Aug 14, Nigerian reporter Samuel Ogundipe was arrested for refusing to reveal the source of a letter, which identified who was blamed for a blockade on parliament last week by members of the Department of State Security. His article cited a confidential letter from the chief of police. On August 17 he was released on bail.
(Reuters, 8/17/18)
2018 Aug 28, In Nigeria eight people were killed in the Barakin Ladi district of Plateau state in a long-running resource conflict between farmers and herders.
(AFP, 9/4/18)
2018 Aug 29, Nigeria's central bank ordered South African telecoms giant MTN to refund $8.13 billion (6.96 billion euros) that it allegedly illegally repatriated and fined four banks involved in the transfer.
(AFP, 8/30/18)
2018 Aug 29, Britain's Theresa May landed in Nigeria's capital on the second leg of her maiden Africa tour aimed at drumming up post-Brexit trade deals outside the EU. Britain said it would open new embassies in Chad and Niger to boost its diplomatic presence in Africa's troubled Sahel region.
(AFP, 8/29/18)
2018 Aug 30, In Nigeria an attack by suspected members of Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA), on a base in Zari village in the north of Borno State, killed up to 30 soldiers. The known death toll of Nigerian troops soon rose to 48, but state media quoted an official army spokesman as saying such reports were wrong.
(AFP, 9/1/18)(Reuters, 9/3/18)
2018 Aug 31, In Nigeria German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari wrapping up a three-day Africa visit with a meeting that focused on migration.
(AP, 8/31/18)
2018 Sep 2, In central Nigeria gunmen shot dead 11 people in an attack suspected to be part of ongoing communal violence in Lopandet Dwei Du village, Plateau state.
(AP, 9/3/18)
2018 Sep 3, In Nigeria eleven people were shot dead in the Lopandet Dwei Du area of Plateau state in a long-running resource conflict between farmers and herders.
(AFP, 9/4/18)
2018 Sep 5, It was reported that Nigeria's two main political parties have asked election hopefuls to pay huge fees for the chance to stand at next year's general election, in a move criticized as favoring the rich and well-connected. According to newspaper adverts the All Progressives Congress (APC) wants 45 million naira ($125,500, 108,000 euros) per presidential primary candidate.
(AFP, 9/5/18)
2018 Sep 7, In northern Nigeria Boko Haram extremists overran Gudumbali, a key crossroads and military outpost. In June the government encouraged displaced people to return to the town in Borno state.
(AP, 9/8/18)(Reuters, 9/8/18)
2018 Sep 10, In Nigeria at least 18 people were killed and more than 40 others were burned in a gas explosion at a gas station in Lafia.
(SFC, 9/11/18, p.A2)
2018 Sep 14, Nigerian finance minister Kemi Adeosun (51), accused of forging a document to avoid compulsory national service, said she was quitting to protect government integrity.
(AFP, 9/15/18)
2018 Sep 17, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced that one of its employees, midwife Saifura Khorsa, had been killed in Nigeria after more than six months in captivity by Boko Haram.
(AFP, 9/18/18)
2018 Sep 19, The UN said more than 500 people have died from cholera in the Lake Chad region since the start of the year, representing the worst outbreak to hit the area in four years. The Lake Chad region straddles parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are also grappling with a jihadist insurgency.
(AFP, 9/19/18)
2018 Sep 22, In southwestern Nigeria voters in the state of Osun went to the polls to elect a new governor amid growing concerns about free and fair voting, six months ahead of a presidential election.
(AFP, 9/22/18)
2018 Sep 22, The United Nations said a cholera outbreak in north-eastern Nigeria has claimed nearly 100 lives over the past two weeks.
(AFP, 9/22/18)
2018 Sep 22, Pirates off Nigeria's coast attacked the MV Glarus early today as it sailed from Lagos to Port Harcourt with a load of wheat. The next day Geneva-based Massoel Shipping said 12 of the ships 19 crew members had been kidnapped.
(AP, 9/23/18)
2018 Sep 23, In Nigeria the governorship election in southwest Osun state ended in a stalemate when the nation's electoral body failed to declare a clear winner. A run off between Gboyega Oyetola from President Muhammadu Buhari's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ademola Adeleke of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is expected to be held on October 27.
(AFP, 9/23/18)
2018 Sep 27, Nigerian authorities said the death toll from large-scale flooding in recent weeks has jumped to nearly 200 people.
(SFC, 9/28/18, p.A2)
2018 Sep 29, Nigeria's women's affairs minister submitted her resignation in a letter to the president, becoming the second cabinet member to step down this month and adding that she would leave the ruling party. The minister said she was resigning and leaving the leader's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party because she had been barred from running for governor of eastern Taraba state.
(Reuters, 9/29/18)
2018 Oct 4, Vietnam seized eight tons of pangolin scales and elephant ivory shipped from Nigeria, the second such haul in a week.
(AFP, 10/5/18)
2018 Oct 7, In Nigeria Atiku Abubakar (71) won almost half the votes cast in a primary race to become the main opposition challenger to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in next year's elections.
(AP, 10/7/18)
2018 Oct 12, Nigerian troops foiled an attempt by Boko Haram fighters to overrun a military base in the restive northeast leaving six soldiers wounded.
(AP, 10/13/18)
2018 Oct 12, In southeastern Nigeria at least 19 people were killed when a leaking oil pipeline exploded in Abia state. Oil thieves were suspected of hacking into the pipe
(SSFC, 10/14/18, p.A4)
2018 Oct 12, The UN children's agency UNICEF said a militia fighting against the Islamist militant group Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria has released 833 children from its own ranks, some as young as 11.
(AP, 10/12/18)
2018 Oct 15, The Nigerian government said a medical aid worker held hostage by Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) militants was killed after a deadline they set expired. The next day the Red Cross named the health worker as Hauwa Mohammed Liman, a 24-year-old midwife. She and two other Nigerian aid workers, Alice Loksha and Saifura Hussaini Ahmed Khorsa, were working in the northeastern town of Rann when they were kidnapped by ISWA in March. Khorsa, also a midwife, was killed in September.
(Reuters, 10/16/18)
2018 Oct 21, Nigerian police said communal violence in the northern state of Kaduna over the last few days has killed 55 people.
(Reuters, 10/21/18)
2018 Oct 23, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari flew in by helicopter to cut the ribbon at the new Seme-Krake Joint Border Post with his Beninese counterpart Patrice Talon.
(AFP, 10/28/18)
2018 Oct 27, In Nigeria three members of the IMN (IMN) were killed during protests in Abuja. The IMN has staged a series of demonstrations demanding the release of leader Zakzaky, who has been detained since bloody clashes broke out in the northern city of Zaria in 2015.
(AFP, 10/30/18)
2018 Oct 27, Pirates off the coast of Nigeria struck the MV Pomerania Sky, a container ship bound for the Nigerian port of Onne and abducted 11 of the crew, including 8 from Poland.
(Reuters, 10/29/18)
2018 Oct 29, In Nigeria three more IMN supporters were killed during a protest on the outskirts of Abuja.
(AFP, 10/30/18)
2018 Oct 30, Nigerian police fired shots and tear gas at thousands of supporters of an imprisoned Shiite cleric in Abuja.
(AFP, 10/30/18)
2018 Oct 31, In northeast Nigeria suspected members of the Islamist Boko Haram insurgency killed at least 15 people late today in an attack on a group of villages.
(Reuters, 11/1/18)
2018 Nov 3, Nigeria's main Shiite Muslim movement said the army killed at least 50 of its members who were protesting this week. Nigeria's military said it killed six people and claims the protesters had fired first.
(AP, 11/3/18)
2018 Nov 18, In Nigeria 44 soldiers were killed in an attack in Metele in the northeastern state of Borno. Nigerian troops later released a video claiming dozens had died in the attack and deploring the poor state of their equipment.
(Reuters, 11/22/18)(AP, 11/24/18)
2018 Nov 22, Nigerian security sources said attacks blamed on Islamic State West Africa have killed around 100 soldiers in northeast Nigeria since Nov. 18.
(Reuters, 11/22/18)
2018 Nov 28, Nigeria's military revealed a death toll of 39 from five attacks by extremists on soldiers between Nov. 2 and Nov. 18.
(SFC, 11/29/18, p.A2)
2018 Nov 28, At least 15 Nigerian news organizations joined forces on the CrossCheck Nigeria project to fight misinformation ahead of February's elections in a collaborative first as the country's main political parties trade accusations of fabrication and exaggeration.
(AFP, 11/28/18)
2018 Nov 29, Nigeria's Pres. Buhari said Islamic extremists in Nigeria have begun using drones.
(SFC, 11/30/18, p.A2)
2018 Nov 29, Top leaders from Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon held talks in N'Djamena (Chad) to discuss the recent escalation of attacks by Boko Haram jihadists in the Lake Chad area.
(AFP, 11/29/18)
2018 Dec 12, Nigerian opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar signed an election peace accord, a day after his absence from the official signing ceremony raised concerns about the conduct of the February 2019 vote.
(Reuters, 12/12/18)
2018 Dec 14, The Nigerian military accused United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) staff of spying for Islamist militants in northeast Nigeria, and suspended the agency's activities there. A new military statement hours later lifted a suspension of UNICEF's work in the extremist-threatened northeast. The reversal came after an emergency meeting with UNICEF representatives.
(Reuters, 12/14/18)(AP, 12/14/18)
2018 Dec 15, In Nigeria leaders of countries in the Lake Chad region met to give fresh impetus to their fight against Boko Haram. Benin, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria will hold a follow-up to a November gathering in Chad to tackle a surge in Boko Haram attacks in the restive region.
(AFP, 12/15/18)
2018 Dec 24, Nigeria said it has resolved a dispute with Africa's largest mobile operator over $8.13 billion (6.96 billion euros) which it accused MTN of illegally repatriating to South Africa.
(AFP, 12/24/18)
2018 Dec 24, In Nigeria 14 military and police personnel were killed in an ambush by Boko Haram exstremists outside Damaturu town in Yobe state.
(SFC, 12/26/18, p.A2)
2018 Dec 26, In Nigeria militants attacked a military base late today in Baga, in eastern Borno state. 10 people were killed and clashes were continued as the militants tried to capture the town. The attacks in the Baga-Kawa area caused more than 6,357 people to flee east into Chad and some 20,000 others to flee to safety within Nigeria.
(Reuters, 12/28/18)(Reuters, 1/18/19)
2018 Dec 28, Shehu Shagari (93), Nigeria's second president (1978-1983), died. His civilian tenure was sandwiched between two military rulers in an era rocked by coups.
(AP, 12/29/18)
2018 Dec 30, Five Nigerien and five Nigerian" troops and 11 enemy fighters were killed over the last 24 hours in an operation launched against gangs in the Maradi region.
(AFP, 12/31/18)
2018 Dec, Nigeria's Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) began collaborating with French data firm Kpler to help it ferret out the smugglers from the thousands of ships plying Nigerian waters.
(Reuters, 4/30/19)
2019 Jan 2, A Nigerian Air Force helicopter crashed in combat at Damasak in northern Borno state, killing five crew members.
(AP, 1/3/19)
2019 Jan 3, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari appointed his niece, Amina Zakari, to the election commission ahead of presidential elections in February, when he will seek a second term. The opposition quickly objected to the appointment.
(AFP, 1/5/19)
2019 Jan 4, In Nigeria the Koluama Seven Brothers militant group carried out an unconfirmed warning strike on an oil facility owned by local energy firm Conoil in the southern state of Bayelsa. The group soon threatened a production shut-down and demanded action from Conoil and a traditional ruler called King Solomon Eddy on issues such as job creation.
(Reuters, 1/6/19)
2019 Jan 6, In Nigeria two journalists of the Daily Trust were arrested in Maiduguri. They had written a critical report of the army's performance fighting against Boko Haram extremists.
(SFC, 1/8/19, p.A2)
2019 Jan 11, In Nigeria an overturned oil tanker exploded while dozens of people were scooping up the leaking fuel and many were killed. About 60 people were inside a pit scooping fuel when the explosion occurred.
(AP, 1/12/19)
2019 Jan 14, In northeastern Nigeria 7 people were killed when Boko Haram fighters attacked a military base in Rann, setting fire to shelters for those displaced by the conflict.
(AFP, 1/15/19)
2019 Jan 18, The United Nations said it was "extremely alarmed" by the forced return by Cameroon of thousands of refugees to northeast Nigeria, where Boko Haram Islamists pose a continuing threat to civilians. The UN refugee agency said Cameroon forced "several thousand" refugees back to Nigeria this week. According to the UNHCR Cameroon is currently hosting 370,000 refugees, 100,000 of whom are Nigerians.
(AFP, 1/18/19)
2019 Jan 24, A Nigerian appeals court issued an interim order stopping a tribunal from charging Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen with breaching asset-declaration rules, a month before a presidential election.
(Reuters, 1/24/19)
2019 Jan 25, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari set off an uproar by announcing the suspension of the chief justice, citing corruption allegations.
(AP, 1/26/19)
2019 Jan 28, In Nigeria the militant group Boko Haram killed at least 60 people when it renewed its attack on the northeastern town of Rann.
(AP, 2/1/19)
2019 Jan 29, The United Nations refugee agency says more than 30,000 Nigerians fled the border town of Rann over the weekend to seek safety in Cameroon as attacks by Boko Haram extremists continue. Spokesman Babar Baloch said thousands more have fled to neighboring Chad because of the violence in northeastern Nigeria.
(AP, 1/29/19)
2019 Feb 9, Nigeria's main political opposition said it had been forced to cancel a key presidential campaign rally in the capital Abuja, and blamed President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling party.
(AFP, 2/9/19)
2019 Feb 12, In southern Nigeria fifteen people were killed in a stampede at an election campaign rally by President Muhammadu Buhari.
(AFP, 2/13/19)
2019 Feb 12, In Nigeria three people were reported killed when insurgents attacked a motorcade on route to an election rally in Borno state. Survivors of the assault later put the toll much higher. One survivor said he saw about 40 bodies; another estimated that as many as 100 died. The militants also took between 100 and 200 people captive.
(Reuters, 2/22/19)
2019 Feb 13, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar joined other candidates to sign a "peace accord", in front of foreign observers.
(AFP, 2/13/19)
2019 Feb 15, In Nigeria Boko Haram insurgents killed eight people during an attack late today on the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
(AFP, 2/16/19)
2019 Feb 15, In Nigeria authorities in Kaduna state reported at least 66 deaths in fighting said to be between Christian farmers and Fulani Muslim herdsmen. The death toll from the attack soon doubled to more than 130 people.
(SFC, 2/15/19, p.A2)(Reuters, 2/19/19)
2019 Feb 16, Nigeria's president and the leading opposition candidate urged people to remain calm after a national election scheduled for today was postponed by a week just five hours before polls were due to open.
(Reuters, 2/16/19)
2019 Feb 21, In northwestern Nigeria two people were killed in clashes between rival party supporters in the village of Kofa, 2-days ahead of rescheduled general elections.
(AP, 2/22/19)
2019 Feb 23, Nigeria held presidential elections. In the northeast one soldier was killed and 20 others were injured in a Boko Haram rocket attack in Maiduguri, just hours before elections began.
(AP, 2/23/19)(AFP, 2/23/19)
2019 Feb 24, In Nigeria some polling stations remained open in several states while votes were counted in the previous day's presidential election, widely seen as a tight race between the president and a former vice president. The death toll in election-related violence continued to climbed to 39 after one election worker was hit by a bullet after completing work in Rivers state.
(AP, 2/24/19)
2019 Feb 26, Nigeria's incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari extended his early election lead based on official results from a third of the country's districts as the death toll from sporadic poll-related violence rose to 47.
(Reuters, 2/26/19)
2019 Feb 26, In Nigeria gunmen suspected to be Fulani herders stormed into villages of ethnic Adara farmers, killing 29 people and burning some 40 homes. The bloodshed was believed to be in retaliation for gunmen attacking eight Fulani settlements in Kaduna state on February 11, which state governor Nasir El-Rufai said killed more than 130 people.
(AFP, 2/28/19)
2019 Feb 27, Nigerian election authorities said President Muhammadu Buhari (76) has comfortably won a second term at the helm of Africa's largest economy, but his main rival planned a fraud challenge after a vote marred by delays and violence. Some 327 people died in election-related violence since the campaign began in October, 67 of them during or after the Feb. 23 vote.
(Reuters, 2/27/19)
2019 Feb 27, Aid agency Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Cameroonian and Nigerian authorities have ordered 40,000 refugees in Cameroon to return to northeast Nigeria.
(Reuters, 2/27/19)
2019 Mar 1, In southern Nigeria more than 50 people were left missing after a leaking oil pipeline exploded and caused a stampede in Bayelsa state. The Nembe Creek Trunk pipeline exploded, but no fatalities were reported. It runs from an oil terminal in Bonny to the state of Bayelsa with capacity of 150,000 barrels per day.
(AP, 3/2/19)(AFP, 3/3/19)
2019 Mar 3, It was reported that a Nigerian court last week condemned as "illegal and unconstitutional" the arrest and deportation of Cameroonian separatists who had applied for asylum in Nigeria.
(AFP, 3/3/19)
2019 Mar 8, In northeastern Nigeria at least five farmers were killed and dozens wounded after their vehicle struck a land mine buried by Boko Haram extremists. Three people were reportedly killed in Rivers state, following clashes between APC and PDP supporters, one day ahead of regional elections.
(SFC, 3/9/19, p.A2)(AFP, 3/10/19)
2019 Mar 9, Nigerians voted for a second time in a fortnight in governorship and state assembly elections.
(AP, 3/9/19)
2019 Mar 10, In Nigeria dozens of soldiers in armored vehicles encircled a vote counting center in the opposition-held oil-rich southern city of Port Harcourt, in the latest flashpoint as violence overshadowed the previous day's closely-watched regional elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission halted the vote count in Rivers state, citing violence at polling stations, kidnapping of staff, confiscation and destruction of results.
(AFP, 3/10/19)(AP, 3/11/19)
2019 Mar 12, In Nigeria gunmen abducted a Lebanese construction worker and killed another man in the northern city of Kano.
(Reuters, 3/12/19)
2019 Mar 13, In Nigeria a three-story building that housed a school collapsed in Lagos. 20 people were soon confirmed dead in the school building, and most of them are children. The school had been operating illegally on the top two floors.
(Reuters, 3/13/19)(AP, 3/14/19)(AP, 3/15/19)
2019 Mar 16, In northeastern Nigeria a fire killed at least eight people and left 15,000 others without shelter after raging through a camp for people displaced by a war against Islamist insurgents in the town of Gajiram, Borno state.
(Reuters, 3/16/19)
2019 Mar 23, Nigerians returned to vote in governorship and state elections after polling a fortnight ago was declared invalid in some areas because of violence.
(AFP, 3/23/19)
2019 Apr 1, In Nigeria an Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) video, dated April 1 and said to have been filmed in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, was published online by the IS propaganda arm Amaq. It claimed to have executed five Nigerian soldiers but security sources the next day said three of those killed were civilian militia members.
(AFP, 4/2/19)
2019 Apr 7, A presidential aide and the police chief said Nigeria has suspended mining in the restive northwestern state of Zamfara, amid concerns that illegal miners were connected to a surge in banditry.
(Reuters, 4/7/19)
2019 Apr 7, In northern Nigeria 14 people were killed in Katsina state in clashes between cattle thieves and a civilian militia armed by the government to support the security forces.
(AFP, 4/9/19)
2019 Apr 8, In Nigeria eight people were killed early today in the southeastern state of Rivers when armed men attacked the village of Emohua in the Ogoni region.
(AFP, 4/9/19)
2019 Apr 9, Nigerian media reported that 20 people had been massacred in the region of Kajuru, in Kaduna state, in fighting between crop farmers and nomadic herders.
(AFP, 4/9/19)
2019 Apr 13, In Nigeria twelve people were killed and 16 others badly injured when a fuel tanker exploded in the northern city of Gombe.
(AFP, 4/14/19)
2019 Apr 25, In Nigeria two Royal Dutch Shell oil workers were kidnapped, and their police escorts killed, in the restive Delta region.
(Reuters, 4/26/19)
2019 Apr 29, In Nigeria jihadists, packed into four trucks and flanked by gunmen on motorbikes, swept into Kuda in Adamawa state late today, shooting down villagers as they ran away killing at least 21 people. Nine more bodies were soon found, taking the total massacred to 30.
(AFP, 5/1/19)
2019 May 10, In Nigeria hundreds of protesters marched through Abuja demanding an end to police impunity, after police officers were accused of carrying out a string of sexual assaults.
(AFP, 5/10/19)
2019 May 10, In Nigeria a regional militia allied with government forces freed almost 900 children it had used in the war against Islamist Boko Haram insurgents.
(Reuters, 5/10/19)
2019 May 10, In Nigeria the Islamic State (IS) killed 11 government soldiers in an attack on the northeastern town of Gajiganna.
(Reuters, 5/11/19)
2019 May 13, The Nigerian army said it rescued 54 women and children over the weekend held captive in Borno State by the extremist group Boko Haram.
(AP, 5/13/19)
2019 May 18, It was reported that Nigeria has experienced 685 kidnappings countrywide in the first quarter of the year -- an average of seven per day. Half of the kidnappings took place in the northwestern state of Zamfara.
(AFP, 5/18/19)
2019 May 28, The United Nations refugee agency said violence in northwest Nigeria has forced around 20,000 refugees to flee to neighboring Niger since April.
(Reuters, 5/28/19)
2019 May 29, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (76) was sworn in for a second term in office, vowing once more to tackle crippling security threats and root out corruption in Africa's key economy.
(AFP, 5/29/19)
2019 Jun 7, In Nigeria's Federal High Court in Abuja said African Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM radio should be allowed to operate until a ruling on their legal challenge to the ban. Broadcasting resumed the next day.
(AFP, 6/8/19)
2019 Jun 7, In Nigeria gunmen in oil-rich Rivers state kidnapped two Lebanese workers helping to build a road.
(AP, 6/9/19)
2019 Jun 12, In Nigeria there was an attack on an army base in northeastern Borno state in the town of Kareto. The Islamic State later said its fighters had killed 20 soldiers.
(Reuters, 6/14/19)
2019 Jun 13, In northeastern Nigeria Boko Haram jihadists launched a pre-dawn attack a military base near in Kareto village, killing several troops and stealing weapons.
(AFP, 6/14/19)
2019 Jun 14, In northwest Nigeria an armed gang killed at least 34 people in attacks on villages late today in Zamfara state.
(Reuters, 6/16/19)
2019 Jun 16, In northeastern Nigeria 30 people were killed late today in a triple suicide bombing outside a hall in Konduga in an attack bearing the hallmarks of the Boko Haram jihadist group.
(AFP, 6/17/19)
2019 Jun 17, In Nigeria assailants late today arrived on nine armored trucks and stormed into the military base outside the town of Gajiram, 80 km (50 miles), north of Maiduguri, Borno state.
(AFP, 6/18/19)
2019 Jun 21, The Islamic State fighters reportedly killed 15 Nigerian soldiers in fighting at Garno, a town in northeastern Borno state near Lake Chad. West African (MNJTF) troops reportedly killed 42 suspected Islamic State fighters in the battle, the heaviest death toll suffered by the insurgents in the last six months.
(Reuters, 6/23/19)
2019 Jun 24, In Nigeria Islamist insurgents struck the village of Ngamngam in Borno state late today. By the next morning at least 20 civilians were killed.
(Reuters, 6/26/19)
2019 Jul 1, In central Nigeria at least 45 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a petrol tanker crashed off the road and exploded as people gathered fuel in Benue state.
(AFP, 7/2/19)
2019 Jul 11, Two members of Nigeria's pro-Iran Shia Muslim sect, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, were killed and several injured in the northern city of Kaduna when police fired on an anti-government demonstration. The killings happened at a protest against the detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky.
(AP, 7/12/19)
2019 Jul 13, Ten Turkish sailors were taken hostage by armed pirates who attacked the Paksoy-1, a Turkish-flagged cargo ship, off the coast of Nigeria. Another eight sailors were left safely aboard.
(Reuters, 7/16/19)
2019 Jul 18, In northeastern Nigeria one Action Against Hunger staff member, two drivers and three other health workers went missing after an attack on a convoy in which one driver was killed.
(Reuters, 7/19/19)
2019 Jul 20, In western Nigeria four Turkish nationals were kidnapped late today in Gbale village, Kwara state. Police soon began conducting a rescue operation.
(Reuters, 7/21/19)
2019 Jul 22, Nigerian police and a group of Shi'ite Muslim protesters clashed in the capital Abuja, with at least one marcher appearing to be dead.
(Reuters, 7/22/19)
2019 Jul 23, Nigerian troops and police clashed with Shi'ite Muslim marchers in the capital Abuja and gunfire could be heard.
(Reuters, 7/23/19)
2019 Jul 27, In northeastern Nigeria suspected Boko Haram extremists killed more than 60 people during an attack on villagers leaving a funeral in the Nganzai local government area.
(SFC, 7/29/19, p.A2)
2019 Aug 13, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the central bank to stop dollar supply for food imports, saying food security has been achieved and agricultural production has increased.
(Bloomberg, 8/30/19)
2019 Aug 27, Nigeria said it will not relinquish assets to a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands following a court ruling related to a $9 billion gas project dispute. Earlier this month a judge in London granted Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID) the right to attempt to seize some $9 billion in assets from the Nigerian government over an aborted gas project.
(Reuters, 8/27/19)
2019 Aug 29, Nigeria's biggest telecoms firm MTN said it launched a mobile money transfer service, targeting those without bank accounts, and that it plans to become a payment services bank once it obtains approval from the central bank.
(Reuters, 8/29/19)
2019 Sep 3, Nigerian youths took to the streets this evening in some Nigerian cities to attack South African owned businesses, amid a growing outcry about the attacks on many Nigerians living in South Africa.
(AP, 9/4/19)
2019 Sep 10, A Nigerian Shi'ite group, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), banned by the government said police killed 12 of its members and injured more on during marches in the north of country to mark the Ashura Muslim holiday.
(Reuters, 9/10/19)
2019 Sep 12, OPEC agreed to trim oil output by asking over-producing members Iraq and Nigeria to bring production in line with their targets as the group strives to prevent a glut amid soaring US production and a slowing global economy. Oil prices have dropped below $60 per barrel in recent weeks from their 2019 peaks of $75.
(Reuters, 9/12/19)
2019 Sep 20, In Nigeria residents of Africa's most populous city, Lagos, joined a global day of demonstrations over climate change. The low-lying city of more than 20 million people is among the many African coastal cities at risk from flooding due to global warming.
(AP, 9/20/19)
2019 Sep 22, Nigeria's army said it will require anyone moving through three northeastern states to carry identification cards in an effort to root out members of Boko Haram and Islamic State.
(Reuters, 9/22/19)
2019 Sep 24, A court in Nigeria's capital Abuja ordered the State Security Service to release activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore while charges of treason against him are pending.
(Reuters, 9/24/19)
2019 Sep 26, Nigerian police rescued hundreds of boys and men from a building in Kaduna state where they had been beaten, starved, sexually assaulted and chained.
(AP, 9/27/19)
2019 Sep 27, The UN said worsening violence has doubled the number of people displaced from northwest Nigeria to some 40,000 over the past four months.
(Reuters, 9/27/19)
2019 Sep 29, In northeastern Nigeria militants killed at least nine people in an attack. The Islamic State soon claimed responsibility.
(Reuters, 9/30/19)
2019 Oct 3, In northern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped six schoolgirls and two staff members from a boarding school near the village of Kakau Daji in Kaduna state.
(Reuters, 10/3/19)
2019 Oct 8, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari presented a record 10.33 trillion-naira ($33.8 billion) budget for 2020 to lawmakers as he aims to spur growth in Africa's largest economy at the start of his second term in office.
(Reuters, 10/8/19)
2019 Oct 9, A new study by the World Health Organization said more than one-third of women in Ghana, Guinea, Myanmar and Nigeria had been abused during child birth in health centers.
(SFC, 10/10/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 11, In Nigeria global ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc launched a pilot test of a boat service in Lagos to attract commuters seeking to avoid the megacity's notoriously congested roads.
(Reuters, 10/11/19)
2019 Oct 12, It was reported that thousands of Nigerian hunters on the northest are preparing an offensive against Boko Haram extremists. They were backed by Borno state Gov. BabaganaZulum and were armed with charmed amulets and knowledge of the harsh terrain.
(SFC, 10/12/19, p.A4)
2019 Oct 16, Nigerian police freed about 500 men and boys from a northern Islamic school in Katsina where some had been chained to walls, molested and beaten.
(Reuters, 10/16/19)
2019 Oct 30, The UN humanitarian office said that humanitarian groups are "relieved" that Nigeria's has suspended the ban on Mercy Corps and Action Against Hunger.
(AP, 10/31/19)
2019 Nov 5, Nigerian police said they have freed 259 people from an Islamic rehabilitation center in the southwestern city of Ibadan, taking the number rescued from abusive institutions since September to nearly 1,500.
(Reuters, 11/5/19)
2019 Nov 11, Human Rights Watch published a report saying thousands of people with mental health conditions are held in chains in institutions across Nigeria and urged the government to ban the practice.
(Reuters, 11/11/19)
2019 Dec 3, Pirates kidnapped 19 crew members from a crude oil tanker off Nigeria in an area where acts of piracy are on the rise. The Nave Constellation was attacked 77 nautical miles off Bonny Island and 18 Indians and one Turk from the crew were seized.
(Reuters, 12/5/19)
2019 Dec 6, Lawyers for the Nigerian government filed "new and substantive" allegations of fraud with a British court in an ongoing fight against an arbitration award now worth some $10 billion. The government has been fighting efforts by British Virgin Islands-based Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) to enforce the award for a failed gas project and is also seeking to overturn the underlying award.
(Reuters, 12/6/19)
2019 Dec 23, Armed groups in northern Nigeria reportedly executed many civilians and abducted many others in Borno state where Boko Haram is active.
(AP, 12/25/19)
2019 Dec 27, Nigeria's government condemned extremists linked to the Islamic State group after a video circulated of 11 hostages, most of them Christians, being executed. They were thought to be killed on Christmas Day.
(AP, 12/27/19)
2020 Jan 18, In northeast Nigeria heavily armed jihadists have carried out an "extremely violent" attack on a vital aid facility housing UN workers. One soldier and four assailants died in the ensuing gunfight.
(AFP, 1/20/20)
2020 Jan 20, In Nigeria Islamic militants killed a Christian pastor who had appealed for help life in a video just days earlier. Rev. Lawan Andimi was abducted earlier this month when Boko Haram militants attacked the Michika local government area, where he was the chairman of a local chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
(AP, 2/22/20)
2020 Jan 31, In Nigeria More than 1,000 motorcycle taxi drivers marched to the gates of the Lagos state legislature to protest against a measure that will bar them from much of the traffic-choked commercial capital.
(Reuters, 1/31/20)
2020 Jan 31, The Trump administration announced that it was restricting immigrants from six additional countries that officials said failed to meet minimum security standards, as part of an election-year push to further clamp down immigration. Immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania will face new restrictions in obtaining certain visas to come to the United States.
(AP, 1/3120)
2020 Feb 1, Nigeria's government said it has created a committee to address the issues that led to a suspension of US immigrant visas to its citizens.
(Reuters, 2/1/20)
2020 Feb 1, Nigerian authorities bannd two-and three-wheeled motor bike taxis. Drivers asked "How do we feed our families?"
(Econ, 3/14/20, p.36)
2020 Feb 4, Nigeria said it has eased its visa rules in an effort to boost trade and tourism as an African trade agreement promoting freer movement of goods and services comes into effect.
(Reuters, 2/4/20)
2020 Feb 4, The United States and the British dependency of Jersey said they have agreed with Nigeria to repatriate more than $300 million in funds stolen by former military ruler General Sani Abacha. Corruption watchdog Transparency International estimates he stole as much as $5 billion of public money from 1993-1998.
(AP, 2/4/20)
2020 Feb 28, The list of countries hit by the COVID-19 illness edged toward 60 as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Nigeria reported their first cases.
(AP, 2/28/20)
2020 Mar 2, Nigerian stocks fell as authorities contacted around 100 people who may have been exposed to an Italian man who is the country's first coronavirus patient.
(Reuters, 3/2/20)
2020 Mar 9, In Nigeria the emir of Kano, a former central bank governor and critic of Pres. Buhari's economic policies, was ousted for showing "insubordination" to local authorities.
(Econ, 3/14/20, p.36)
2020 Mar 15, In Nigeria a pipeline explosion killed at least 15 people and destroyed about 50 buildings after a fire broke out in a suburb of Lagos.
(Reuters, 3/15/20)
2020 Mar 21, Nigeria announced it is closing airports as of March 23 to all incoming international flights for one month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
(AP, 3/21/20)
2020 Mar 21, In Nigeria Boko Haram extremists killed at least 50 government soldiers in an ambush hear Goneri village, Yobe state.
(SFC, 3/25/20, p.A2)
2020 Mar 23, In northeastern Nigeria around government 70 soldiers were killed in an Islamist militant ambush in the village of Gorgi, Borno state. 47 soldiers were killed in a Boko Haram ambush on a convoy that had left the north-eastern city of Maiduguri carrying ammunition.
(Reuters, 3/24/20)(BBC, 3/25/20)
2020 Mar 29, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the cessation of movement in Lagos and the capital Abuja for 14 days in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Nigeria had 97 confirmed cases. The country has shut international airports, closed all land borders and imposed curbs on cargo vessels allowed to dock at its ports in an effort to contain the outbreak. Nigeria's petroleum regulator ordered oil and gas companies to reduce their offshore workforce and move to 28-day staff rotations as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
(Reuters, 3/29/20)
2020 Mar 31, Africa's confirmed cases of coronavirus climbed to at least 5,300, with more than 170 recorded deaths. The Nigerian cities of Lagos and Abuja entered a two-week lockdown to stop the spread of the virus.
(Reuters, 3/31/20)
2020 Apr 13, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari announced a two-week extension of a lockdown in three states, including the capital Abuja, to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
(BBC, 4/15/20)
2020 Apr 15, Nigerian doctor Emeka Chugbo (60) died following exposure to a coronavirus patient at his private clinic.
(BBC, 4/16/20)
2020 Apr 16, Nigeria's the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said the country's security forces have killed 18 people in two weeks while enforcing lockdowns imposed to halt the spread of the new coronavirus.
(Reuters, 4/16/20)
2020 Apr 17, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, died after contracting the coronavirus in Germany.
(Bloomberg, 4/18/20)
2020 Apr 21, Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper reported the recent deaths of around 150 people in the northern commercial city of Kano, prompting investigations to determine if they were related to the coronavirus pandemic. The state government acknowledged the deaths but said they were caused by complications from hypertension, diabetes, meningitis and acute malaria and not the COVID-19 pandemic. Nigeria has 1,182 coronavirus cases and a national death toll of 35.
(Reuters, 4/26/20)
2020 Apr 23, It was reported that the governors of Nigeria's 36 states have agreed to ban interstate movement for two weeks.
(Reuters, 4/23/20)
2020 Apr 27, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said the coronavirus lockdowns, which had been due to end today, needed to continue until 4 May. He also ordered new nationwide measures against Covid-19, including a night-time curfew and mandatory face masks. Nigeria has reported 1,273 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 40 deaths. Buhari said a lockdown would be imposed in Kano for an additional two weeks, and that he was sending a government team to investigate a high number of unexplained deaths.
(BBC, 4/28/20)
2020 Apr, In Nigeria residents of Lagos and neighboring Ogun state resorted to forming vigilante groups as reports spread that hundreds of gangsters belonging to One Million Boys and Awawa Boys were attacking some neighborhoods.
(BBC, 6/2/20)
2020 May 4, In Nigeria businesses reopened on the first working day after the easing of a lockdown imposed on key urban areas in a bid to restart Africa's largest economy. The government said this is the first phase of easing the lockdown and that the situation will be assessed in the next two weeks. Nigeria has recorded 2,558 cases of coronavirus and 87 deaths.
(AP, 5/4/20)
2020 May 6, Nigeria said it will extend a ban on all flights by four weeks as part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
(Reuters, 5/6/20)
2020 May 7, Nigeria has recorded 3,145 cases of coronavirus and 103 deaths.
(Econ., 5/9/20, p.34)
2020 May 10, Authorities in Nigeria's oil-rich southern Rivers state demolished two hotels over an alleged breach of lockdown rules intended to contain the spread of coronavirus. The state currently has 15 active cases of the virus and has recorded two deaths. One owner said authorities were asking for a bribe and denied that the hotel was operating.
(BBC, 5/11/20)
2020 May 12, The United Nations refugee agency said violence in northwest Nigeria has forced about 23,000 refugees to flee to Niger since April and raised concerns about the deteriorating security situation.
(Reuters, 5/12/20)
2020 May 15, It was reported that in northern Nigeria tens of thousands of Koranic school children were recently crammed into open vans and sent back home from cities and towns across 19 states in a controversial move by state governments to prevent the spread of coronavirus within their territories. Hundreds of the children already had coronavirus, so officials inadvertently contributed to spreading the virus rather than containing it.
(BBC, 5/15/20)
2020 May 18, Nigeria said it would impose precisely targeted lockdown measures in areas that report rapid increases in coronavirus cases, while the phased reopening of the economy as a whole would go ahead more slowly than planned.
(Reuters, 5/19/20)
2020 May 25, Fifty trafficked Nigerian women, rescued from Lebanon, returned home. A further 19 Nigerians, stranded in Lebanon because of Covid-19 lockdowns, were also repatriated.
(BBC, 5/26/20)
2020 May 29, In Nigeria nearly 9,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed as worries grew about undetected spread in the north.
(AP, 5/29/20)
2020 Jun 2, The board of governors of the 55-year-old US and the African Development Bank met to discuss whether to bring in an outside investigator into the allegations concerning the conduct of Akinwumi Adesina, the head of the Nigerian branch of the AfDB, just days after the US rejected an initial inquiry that cleared him. Besides the core 54 African countries, the US is one of the 27 non-regional members of the AfDB and its second largest shareholder.
(BBC, 6/2/20)
2020 Jun 9, Nigerian police arrested a man after 40 people were raped in one town over the period of a year. A mother in the northern town Dangora caught the man in her children's bedroom. The man ran away but neighbors gave chase and caught him.
(BBC, 6/10/20)
2020 Jun 9, In north-eastern Nigeria at least 69 people were killed in a suspected jihadist attack on a remote village in the Gubio district of Borno state. It was unclear who carried out the attack.
(AP, 6/10/20)
2020 Jun 10, It was reported that an outbreak of African swine fever in Nigeria's largest pig farm co-operative in the south-west of the country has been confirmed and that some 300,000 pigs have been killed.
(BBC, 6/10/20)
2020 Jun 11, The Nigerian Minister of Women Affairs called on law enforcement to speed up prosecution of rape cases which had reached an "alarming rate" three times the typical level as women and children are locked down with their abusers.
(Reuters, 6/11/20)
2020 Jun 13, In Nigeria three attacks by Islamic extremists, including an assault on Monguno, a military garrison town, have killed more than 40 people in northeastern Borno state. At least 20 soldiers and more than 40 civilians are said to have been killed in the attacks.
(AP, 6/14/20)(BBC, 6/15/20)
2020 Jun 19, In Ghana a building inside the Nigerian High Commission compound in Accra was demolished. Armed men reportedly stormed the compound and destroyed buildings under construction. Days later Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo apologized to Nigeria.
(BBC, 6/24/20)
2020 Jun 24, It was reported that police in Nigeria have rescued more than 100 people they say were locked in a rice-processing factory and forced to work throughout a coronavirus lockdown. Five managers at the Indian-owned mill have been arrested.
(BBC, 6/24/20)
2020 Jun, Nigeria's government announced that it would phase out petrol subsidies. When ten days of protests followed along with 12 deaths, the government backed down and reduced subsidies instead of eliminating them.
(Econ., 10/10/20, p.42)
2020 Jul 3, US prosecutors said Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a Nigerian man charged with conspiring to launder a fortune from email scams, has arrived in Chicago to face charges. UAE authorities arrested Abbas last month. Abbas, aka Hushpuppi, had showed off his wealth to 2.4 million Instagram followers. Hushpuppi, and another cyber-heist suspect Olalekan Jacob Ponle (aka Mr Woodberry) appeared in a Chicago court. They had been arrested in Dubai, where they lived, in June. Dubai police said they had been extradited to the US.
(NBC News, 7/4/20)(BBC, 7/10/20)
2020 Jul 4, It was reported that motorcycle-riding armed bandits operating out of abandoned forest reserves in Katsina state are ransacking communities in Nigeria's north-west. The recent attacks in the president's home state killed more than 100 people between April and June.
(BBC, 7/4/20)
2020 Jul 14, In New York City the body of Fahim Saleh (33), a technology entrepreneur who founded Nigeria's Gokada ride-hailing app, was found decapitated and dismembered in a luxury apartment with a power saw plugged in nearby. Nigerian state officials in February banned all motorcycle taxis, known locally as 'okada'.
(Reuters, 7/15/20)
2020 Jul 23, It was reported that five aid workers abducted last month in north-east Nigeria's Borno State have been killed. Pres. Muhammadu Buhari blamed Boko Haram and vowed to bring the killers to justice.
(BBC, 7/23/20)
2020 Aug 1, According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the Nigerian city of Onitsha is the most polluted in the world.
(Econ., 8/1/20, p.38)
2020 Aug 10, In Nigeria musician Sharif-Aminu (22) was sentenced in northern state of Kano to death by hanging for blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad. Critics said the song was blasphemous as it praised an imam from the Tijaniya Muslim brotherhood to the extent it elevated him above the Prophet Muhammad. An appeal was allowed.
(AP, 8/10/20)
2020 Aug 12, It was reported that a court in Nigeria has fined three men $52,000 (£40,000) each for hijacking a ship in March and securing a ransom of $200,000 for the release of its crew.
(BBC, 8/12/20)
2020 Aug, In Nigeria a boy (13) in northern Kano state was handed a decade-long jail sentence for blasphemy. In 2021 a secular appeals court overturned the sentencing, saying the child was a minor.
(BBC, 1/21/21)
2020 Sep 4, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that there is a risk of famine and widespread food insecurity in four countries affected by conflict — Congo, Yemen, northeast Nigeria and South Sudan — and that the lives of millions of people are in danger.
(AP, 9/4/20)
2020 Sep 7, It was reported that two Nigerian men have been arrested for allegedly scamming a German state that tried to buy 2.3m euros (£2m) of personal protective equipment (PPE).
(BBC, 9/7/20)
2020 Sep 11, It was reported that lawmakers in Nigeria's Kaduna State have approved surgical castration as punishment for those convicted of raping children under the age of 14. State governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai needs to sign the bill for it to become law in the state.
(BBC, 9/11/20)
2020 Sep 14, Nigerian health workers demanding the payment of a hazard allowance for treating coronavirus patients went on strike only a week after doctors in Africa's most populous country staged a walk out.
(Reuters, 9/15/20)
2020 Sep 16, The UN children's agency UNICEF has called on the Nigerian authorities to urgently review an Islamic court's decision to sentence a 13-year-old boy to 10 years in prison for blasphemy. The boy was convicted in August of making uncomplimentary remarks about God during an argument with a friend in northern Kano state.
(BBC, 9/16/20)
2020 Sep 19, In Nigeria Gracious David-West (40), a member of the Greenlanders - also known as Dey Gbam, a mafia-styled street gang that sprung out of the armed militant groups, was arrested. In October he sentenced to death in Port Harcourt for killing nine women. Authorities said he had sex with his victims before binding their arms and feet with strips of white sheets and then strangling them.
(BBC, 10/9/20)
2020 Sep 21, Nigerian health workers who went on strike in mid-September for a hazard allowance for treating coronavirus patients returned to work, without their demands being met.
(Reuters, 9/21/20)
2020 Sep 23, In central Nigeria at least 25 people have been killed after a fuel tanker exploded following a collision with other vehicles on a major highway in Lokoja.
(AP, 9/23/20)
2020 Sep 25, In northeastern Nigeria 18 people were left dead after an ambush on a government convoy in Borno state. The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attack, claiming 30 people had been killed.
(BBC, 9/27/20)
2020 Sep 27, In Nigeria militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) used a donkey strapped with explosives to ambush the convoy of the governor of north-eastern Borno state. A number of insurgents were killed in the ensuing shoot-out.
(BBC, 9/28/20)
2020 Oct 4, Nigeria's inspector general of police banned a notorious unit from carrying out stop and search duties and setting up roadblocks amid growing anger at routine harassment and atrocities allegedly committed by its officers. The ban was triggered by the alleged killing of a young man by officers from the unit in the city of Lagos a day earlier.
(BBC, 10/4/20)
2020 Oct 9, In Nigeria police fired tear gas at a protest against police brutality in Abuja. This followed the alleged killing of a young man by officers from the Sars unit on Oct. 9.
(BBC, 10/9/20)
2020 Oct 11, It was reported that Nigeria has dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), the police force at the center of protests against police brutality. The officers from the controversial unit will be redeployed. It was unclear where to.
(BBC, 10/11/20)
2020 Oct 12, In Nigeria two people were killed in Lagos as protests continued against police brutality for a sixth day.
(BBC, 10/12/20)
2020 Oct 13, Nigeria's police chief ordered the unconditional release of all demonstrators arrested during protests against police brutality.
(BBC, 10/13/20)
2020 Oct 14, Nigeria announced that the new Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) team will fill the gaps left from the dissolution of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (Sars).
(BBC, 10/14/20)
2020 Oct 15, Nigeria's government announced a ban on all protest in Abuja, saying the demonstrators were violating public safety measures introduced to tackle Covid-19. The military has issued a warning to "subversive elements and trouble makers" to desist after a week of protests about police brutality. Amnesty International said at least 10 people have been killed and hundreds injured.
(BBC, 10/15/20)(AP, 10/15/20)
2020 Oct 16, Nigerian protests against police brutality continued for the ninth day, with demonstrators fending off attacks from gangs suspected to be backed by the police, warnings from the Nigerian military, and a government order to stop because of COVID-19.
(AP, 10/16/20)
2020 Oct 20, Nigeria's police chief ordered the nationwide deployment of anti-riot officers to quell violence following protests against police brutality. The announcement came as an indefinite 24-hour curfew was imposed in the commercial hub of Lagos. Some 1,000 protesters gathered at the Lekki toll gate to prevent cars using a major motorway. Soldiers were reportedly seen barricading the protest site moments before shooting started. Amnesty International later said 12 people were killed. The Nigerian army rejected the claim. In 2021 a panel identified 48 "casualties", including 11 killed, four missing and presumed dead and multiple who suffered gunshot wounds.
(NY Times, 10/21/20)(BBC, 10/22/20)(BBC, 11/15/20)(Reuters, 11/16/21)
2020 Oct 21, In Nigeria unrest saw buildings torched and looted, and police shooting into the air to enforce a curfew in Lagos.
(BBC, 10/22/20)
2020 Oct 22, In Nigeria plumes of smoke rose from a prison in Lagos and gunfire could be heard as people ran through streets in the area, signs of continued unrest in the West African nation that has been gripped by protests against police brutality.
(AP, 10/22/20)
2020 Oct 23, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said 69 people have been killed in protests against police brutality that have rocked the country. A group that has been key in organizing the demonstrations has now urged people to stay at home.
(BBC, 10/23/20)
2020 Oct 24, Nigeria's chief of police ordered the immediate mobilization of all police resources to put an end to days of street violence and looting.
(BBC, 10/25/20)
2020 Oct 25, In Nigeria there were reports of government warehouses being ransacked in the central city of Jos, as well as in Adamawa and Taraba states, with people taking away food and agricultural supplies.
(BBC, 10/25/20)
2020 Oct, In Nigeria 26 girls were kidnapped in Katsina state. They were freed following a ransom payment.
(Econ., 12/19/20, p.80)
2020 Nov 3, In Nigeria Ipob activists were accused of burning down three police stations in southern Rivers state. and killing three policemen, after one of them was killed during a protest at a police station in Oyigbo.
(BBC, 11/3/20)
2020 Nov 18, The United Nations humanitarian office said it is releasing $100 million in emergency funding to seven countries at risk of famine in Africa and the Middle East amid conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic. A statement overnight said $80 million of the money will go to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. Another $20 million has been set aside for "anticipatory action to fight hunger in Ethiopia.
(AP, 11/18/20)
2020 Nov 28, In Nigeria attackers tied up agricultural laborers working in rice fields and slit their throats near Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. More than 43 people were killed. About 15 women were kidnapped. The death toll was later raised to 78 and Boko Haram claimed credit.
(AP, 11/29/20)(Econ., 12/5/20, p.50)
2020 Dec 8, Amnesty International charged that at least 10,000 civilians have died in Nigerian military custody since 2011 after being detained in connection with the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria.
(AP, 12/8/20)
2020 Dec 11, In north-western Nigeria hundreds of students were feared missing after gunmen raided a secondary school in Katsina state. On Dec. 15 the Islamist militant group Boko Haram said it was behind the kidnapping.
(BBC, 12/12/20)(AP, 12/15/20)
2020 Dec 17, In Nigeria the governor of Katsina state announced that all of the boys, abducted on Dec. 11, had been released, and would be reunited with their parents the next day. The governor of Katsina has insisted bandits were responsible for the recent attack.
(NY Times, 12/17/20)(BBC, 12/18/20)
2020 Dec 19, In Nigeria 84 schoolchildren were seized by gunmen late today as they returned home to Mahuta village after taking part in a religious ceremony. The children were soon released following a gun battle between the abductors, security forces and local vigilantes.
(AP, 12/20/20)
2020 Dec 24, The head of Africa's disease control body said that another new variant of the novel coronavirus seems to have emerged in Nigeria. In the past week, Nigeria reported a 52% increase in cases.
(AP, 12/24/20)
2021 Jan 23, In Nigeria seven children and a man were abducted by a large group of armed men who broke into Rachel's Orphanage Home in Abuja.
(AP, 1/25/21)
2021 Jan 23, Pirates off Nigeria's coast kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship in the Gulf of Guinea in a brazen and violent attack. One sailor was killed. the 15 sailors arrived back in Turkey on Feb. 14. Pirates in the Gulf, which borders more than a dozen countries, kidnapped 130 sailors in 22 incidents last year, accounting for all but five of those seized worldwide.
(Reuters, 1/23/21)(Reuters, 2/14/21)
2021 Jan 26, It was reported that Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has fired the heads of the country's armed forces whom he appointed when he first took office in 2015.
(BBC, 1/26/21)
2021 Jan 29, A Dutch appeals court ruled that the Nigerian branch of oil giant Shell is responsible for damage caused by leaks in the Niger Delta.
(AP, 1/29/21)
2021 Feb 2, Facebook removed the page of Nigerian separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu for violating its rules on harm and hate speech. Kanu had posted a video of a militia group attacking and killing cattle in a herders' settlement. He also used the live broadcast to accuse herders of destroying farmlands in eastern Nigeria. The Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) said it will appeal the ban.
(BBC, 2/4/21)
2021 Feb 5, Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was poised to become the first African and first woman to lead the embattled World Trade Organization, after a South Korean rival withdrew and the United States reversed its previous opposition.
(AP, 2/5/21)
2021 Feb 7, Ten hostages were kidnapped off the Atlantic coast of the West African country, Gabon. They included six Chinese nationals, three Indonesians and a Gabonese, all thought to be fishermen. On March 6 the victims were released unharmed by Nigeria’s security forces in Rivers state, after Nigerian mediators paid a $300,000 ransom for their freedom.
(AP, 3/7/21)
2021 Feb 12, Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that a group of Nigerian farmers and fishermen can sue Royal Dutch Shell PLC in English courts over pollution in a region where the Anglo-Dutch energy giant has a subsidiary.
(AP, 2/12/21)
2021 Feb 15, Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (66) was appointed to head the World Trade Organization, becoming the first woman and first African to take on the role amid disagreement over how the body decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs.
(AP, 2/15/21)
2021 Feb 15, In north-central Nigeria about 20 people who were returning from a wedding ceremony were abducted after an attack on their bus in Niger state. Their fate is unclear.
(BBC, 2/17/21)
2021 Feb 16, Nigerian businessman Obinwanne Okeke, who once appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine, was jailed for 10 years in the US over a cyber fraud scam that led to the theft of about $11m (£8m). Okeke, also known as Invictus Obi, used Nigerian-based companies to defraud people in the US.
(AP, 2/17/21)
2021 Feb 17, In north-central Nigeria gunmen killed a school pupil overnight and abducted 27 other children in a night-time raid on their boarding school in Niger state. On Feb 27 a total of 42 people including 27 students, kidnapped from the boarding school in Kagara were freed.
(BBC, 2/17/21)(BBC, 2/27/21)
2021 Feb 21, In Nigeria 7 people died after a Nigerian Air Force plane crashed short of a runway in Abuja this morning.
(BBC, 2/21/21)
2021 Feb 23, In Nigeria at least 10 people were killed and about 60 others injured in an attack by suspected jihadist rebels on the northern city of Maiduguri.
(AP, 2/24/21)
2021 Feb 23, A Covid-19 antibodies survey in Nigeria suggested that four million people in Lagos state alone have had the virus, more than has been officially recorded for the whole of Africa. The official figure for Nigeria is 153,000 cases with 1,862 deaths.
(BBC, 2/23/21)
2021 Feb 26, In northern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped 317 schoolgirls early today in Jangebe town, Zamfara state. This was the second abduction in a little more than a week.
(AP, 2/26/21)
2021 Feb, Nigeria barred its banks and financial institutions from dealing in or facilitating transactions in cryptocurrencies after exponential growth in monthly cryptocurrency transfers to and from Africa.
(Reuters, 6/18/21)
2021 Mar 2, It was reported that kidnappers in Nigeria released 279 of girls they abducted last week from Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara state. The total number of girls kidnapped was corrected down from 317.
(NY Times, 3/2/21)
2021 Mar 2, Nearly 4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the third and largest delivery so far to an African country by the global COVAX initiative.
(AP, 3/2/21)
2021 Mar 5, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda started inoculating frontline healthcare workers and vulnerable citizens against COVID-19 as Africa, the world's poorest continent and home to 1.3 billion people, stepped up its vaccination campaigns.
(Reuters, 3/5/21)
2021 Mar 6, President Muhammadu Buhari had his first COVID-19 vaccine shot, part of a bid to boost public confidence as Nigeria attempts to inoculate 80 million people this year.
(Reuters, 3/6/21)
2021 Mar 9, The UK promised to return to Nigeria £4.2m ($5.8m) which was stolen by a former governor. Former Delta State Governor James Ibori was convicted of money laundering in the UK in 2012. He is thought to have stolen around £50m from the oil-rich state.
(BBC, 3/9/21)
2021 Mar 12, In Nigeria gunmen overnight abducted dozens of students from a college in the northern state of Kaduna. State authorities said that 180 students and staff were rescued by the Nigerian army early today, but 39 students remained missing.
(BBC, 3/12/21)(Reuters, 3/13/21)
2021 Mar 15, In Nigeria gunmen on motorcycles stormed the primary school in Rama village in Birnin Gwari local government area as children were arriving for classes. Three teachers were abducted.
(BBC, 3/15/21)
2021 Mar 17, In Italy Eni SpA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and several of their current and former executives were acquitted of corruption charges related to a Nigerian oil deal by a court in Milan. Sentences in Italy aren’t definitive until appeals are exhausted. It could take years before a final decision.
(Bloomberg, 3/17/21)
2021 Apr 5, In Nigeria 1,844 inmates escaped from a prison after it was attacked by gunmen in the south-eastern town of Owerri, Imo state.
(BBC, 4/5/21)
2021 Apr 16, UN agencies said that tens of thousands of Nigerians are fleeing deadly attacks by armed groups and the continuing clashes between the rebels and national forces in the country's troubled northeastern Borno state. Up to 65,000 people were on the move.
(AP, 4/16/21)
2021 Apr 20, Nigerian influencer Ramon Abbas (37), also known as Hushpuppi, pleaded guilty to money laundering in a US court. The court records were only unsealed in late July.
(BBC, 7/29/21)
2021 Apr 30, In Nigeria Auwalu Daudawa, a notorious gang leader behind the abduction of more than 300 students in December, was killed by a rival gang in a forest near the border with Katsina.
(BBC, 5/1/21)
2021 Apr 30, It was reported that Germany has agreed to return to Nigeria priceless artefacts that were stolen during the colonization of Africa.
(BBC, 4/30/21)
2021 May 7, In Nigeria a night of violence left at least seven police officers dead in oil-rich Rivers State. A day earlier gunmen killed two police officers during an attack on another police station in nearby Anambra state.
(BBC, 5/8/21)
2021 May 14, Abedemi Rufai, a Nigerian state government official, was arrested at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport as he prepared to fly first class back to Nigeria. An FBI hunt through his Google accounts revealed stolen bank, credit card and tax information on Americans as well as money transfers and emails showing dozens of false unemployment claims in seven states that paid out $350,000.
(https://tinyurl.com/29wsvpes)(NBC News, 8/15/21)
2021 May 18, Nigerian authorities said some $5.8m (£4.2m) recovered by UK agencies that was stolen by a Nigerian former governor and laundered in Britain have now been returned to Nigeria. Former Delta state Governor James Ibori was convicted of money laundering in the UK in 2012.
(BBC, 5/18/21)
2021 May 19, In Nigeria reports began to emerge that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had detonated a suicide vest while besieged by rival ISWAP fighters in his forest stronghold.
(SFC, 5/22/21, p.A2)
2021 May 21, Nigeria's army chief, Lt-Gen Ibrahim Attahiru, was killed in a plane crash in the north-western state of Kaduna. Ten other officers, including the plane's crew also died.
(BBC, 5/22/21)
2021 May 26, In Nigeria scores of people were missing feared dead after a boat carrying about 180 broke in two and sank in the Niger River. Most passengers were women and children traveling from Niger state to neighboring Kebbi state. Authorities later confirmed that at least 60 people died in the boat accident. 83 missing passengers were also feared dead.
(BBC, 5/27/21)(AP, 5/28/21)
2021 May 29, In Nigeria kidnappers released the remaining 14 students who had been held captive after being abducted last month from a northern university.
(Reuters, 5/29/21)
2021 May 30, In Nigeria gunmen seized an unknown number of students from the school in the town of Tegina. A teacher told the BBC that 150 students were missing, while other reports put the figure at about 200.
(BBC, 5/31/21)
2021 Jun 1, Nigeria's Pres. Buhari referred on Twitter to the 1967-70 Nigerian Civil War and to treating "those misbehaving today" in "the language they will understand." Twitter soon removed the statement for breaching the site's rules.
(BBC, 6/5/21)
2021 Jun 4, Nigeria's government said it was suspending Twitter operations in the country "indefinitely." The move by the government came just days after a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari was removed for breaching the site's rules, though no mention of this was made in its statement.
(BBC, 6/5/21)
2021 Jun 5, In Nigeria Temitope Balogun Joshua (57), one of Africa’s most popular televangelists, died. The pastor, known as T.B. Joshua, was founder of the mega church Synagogue Church Of All Nations, or SCOAN, which also runs the Emmanuel Television Station in Lagos.
(AP, 6/6/21)
2021 Jun 8, Former US president Donald Trump has praised Nigeria's government for banning Twitter after it deleted President Muhammadu Buhari's post for breaching its rules.
(BBC, 6/9/21)
2021 Jun 12, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari admitted that he has failed to end insecurity in the country, a promise he made when he was elected in 2015.
(AP, 6/12/21)
2021 Jun 14, Nigerian jihadists of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) freed 10 hostages including seven local aid workers, two of them employed by the United Nations, after weeks of mediation.
(AFP, 6/16/21)
2021 Jun 17, In northwestern Nigeria gunmen abducted about 70 children from a school in Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State.
(SSFC, 6/20/21, p.A6)
2021 Jun 18, It was reported that Nigeria's Central Bank is preparing a digital currency pilot that could launch as early as the end of this year.
(AP, 6/18/21)
2021 Jun 27, In Nigeria Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of a separatist group that wants a breakaway state in eastern Nigeria, was arrested. His movement, the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), has been labelled as a terrorist organization by the Nigerian authorities.
(BBC, 6/29/21)
2021 Jul 1, Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS), a security agency, raided the residence of Sunday Igboho (aka Sunday Adeyemo) in the southwestern city of Ibadan and reportedly found a stockpile of weapons there. Igboho has risen to prominence in recent months with calls for herdsmen from the Fulani ethnic group to be driven out of Yoruba lands in the southwest of the country.
(Reuters, 7/20/21)
2021 Jul 4, In Nigeria gunmen kidnapped at least 140 schoolchildren in the north-west of the country. At least eight people were also abducted from the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Center in Zaria.
(BBC, 7/5/21)
2021 Jul 18, Bandits in Nigeria shot down an air force plane in a rare case of a military jet being brought down by a criminal gang in the country. Flight Lt Abayomi Dairo ejected and used "survival instincts" to avoid capture and find shelter, before rejoining his comrades.
(BBC, 7/19/21)
2021 Jul 20, Sunday Adeyemo, more commonly known in Nigeria by his nickname of Sunday Igboho, was arrested at Benin's Cotonou airport while on his way to Germany. The Nigerian activist has been accused by the authorities of plotting a violent insurrection.
(Reuters, 7/20/21)
2021 Jul 21, The authorities in north-west Nigeria said they have freed 100 women and children - mainly mothers nursing infants - who were seized on June 8 by bandits in Zamfara state.
(BBC, 7/21/21)
2021 Jul 24, In Nigeria 28 of the 121 children taken from the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna state earlier this month were freed late today. Kidnappers in Nigeria seized a man who was sent to deliver a ransom payment to secure the release of dozens of the abducted school children. 136 students were taken from an Islamic school in Tegina, Niger state, in late May.
(BBC, 7/25/21)
2021 Jul, The US government transferred six A-29 Super Tucano fighter planes to Nigeria to assist in its war against Islamist militants.
(Reuters, 9/28/21)
2021 Aug 1, It was reported that Nigeria has suspended Deputy commissioner Abba Kyar, one of its most highly respected police officers, after he was indicted in the US on money laundering charges. He was accused of taking bribes from Nigerian Instagram celebrity Ray Hushpuppi.
(BBC, 8/1/21)
2021 Aug 2, It was reported that Nigeria has been hit by a surge in cholera cases in recent weeks, focused on the country's north and adding to a public health crisis accompanied by a rise in COVID-19 cases.
(Reuters, 8/2/21)
2021 Aug 7, In southwestern Nigeria a Swiss national was kidnapped along with a Nigerian citizen. Two of the gunmen were shot dead by police while the others escaped with the hostages in Ogun state.
(AP, 8/9/21)
2021 Aug 8, It was reported that one of the Nigerian schoolgirls seized by Islamist militants Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in 2014 has been freed and reunited with her family. Ruth Ngladar Pogu and a man she is said to have married in captivity recently surrendered to the Nigerian military. Pogu and her 2 children were received by the Borno state governor.
(BBC, 8/8/21)
2021 Aug 9, Niger's health minister said a cholera outbreak in the south has killed 12 people and infected 201 others across three regions, with heavy rains helping to further spread the disease. Nigeria was also dealing with a cholera outbreak, which has killed at least 653 people since March across 22 of its 36 states. The outbreaks were believed to be connected.
(Reuters, 8/9/21)
2021 Aug 10, Nigeria said it will restart COVID-19 inoculations on Aug. 16 after taking delivery of 4 million doses of Moderna vaccine, with shipments of Johnson & Johnson shots also due imminently. The rollout of vaccines was halted on July 9 because supplies had run out.
(Reuters, 8/10/21)
2021 Aug 10, In Nigeria some 19,000 other doctors across the country were on strike for the fourth time since the pandemic began, leaving government-run hospitals and COVID-19 treatment centers short-staffed.
(AP, 8/10/21)
2021 Aug 12, It was reported that oil giant Shell will pay a Nigerian community $111m (£80m) to the Ejama-Ebubu community over a spill during the 1967-70 Biafran War.
(BBC, 8/12/21)
2021 Aug 14, In Nigeria Borno state's governor said a second young woman abducted seven years ago from the town of Chibok by Boko Haram militants was freed this week. The army handed over Hassana Adamu, along with her two children, to Governor Babagana Zulum. just over 110 of some 270 remained missing.
(Reuters, 8/14/21)
2021 Aug 15, In Nigeria 19 persons including 15 students were abducted from a school in Zamfara State.
(AP, 8/19/21)
2021 Aug 16, It was reported that the Islamic police force in Kano, a Muslim-majority state in Nigeria, has ordered shops to only use headless mannequins to advertise clothing. Sharia police commander Ibn-Sina also wants the headless mannequins covered at all times because to show "the shape of the breast, the shape of the bottom, is contrary to the teachings of Sharia [Islamic law]".
(BBC, 8/16/21)
2021 Aug 17, In Nigeria gunmen abducted nine students in Katsina state.
(AP, 8/19/21)
2021 Aug 20, In northwest Nigeria armed gunmen kidnapped at least 75 people from the Rini village, Zamfara state.
(Reuters, 8/21/21)
2021 Aug 22, Nigerian officials said bandits have released 15 more students kidnapped last month from a Baptist school in the northwest. They were among more than 100 taken on July 5 from the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna state.
(Reuters, 8/22/21)
2021 Aug 23, School principal Abubakar Garba Alhasan said six of the 136 students kidnapped from an Islamic school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger have died of illness.
(Reuters, 8/23/21)
2021 Aug 24, In Nigeria gunmen killed two military personnel and abducted another in an attack on an army training college in the northern state of Kaduna. Attackers shot dead at least 36 people and destroyed buildings in a late night raid on a village near the central city of Jos.
(Reuters, 8/24/21)(Reuters, 8/25/21)
2021 Aug 24, Nigeria said it has recently approved China's Sinopharm (1099.HK) vaccine against COVID-19. Daily new infections were increasing 10 fold from levels seen in July.
(Reuters, 8/24/21)
2021 Aug 25, Nigeria and Russia signed a military cooperation deal providing a legal framework for the supply of equipment and the training of troops.
(Reuters, 8/25/21)
2021 Aug 26, It was reported that gunmen have released students abducted three months ago from an Islamic school in north-central Nigerian state of Niger. It was not confirmed how many students were released. Authorities initially said that 136 students had been taken but revised that figure to 91.
(Reuters, 8/27/21)(AP, 8/27/21)
2021 Aug 27, In Nigeria 15 students were handed over to officials, 11 days after they were abducted from the College of Agriculture and Animal Science in Nigeria's troubled northwest.
(AP, 8/27/21)
2021 Sep 1, In Nigeria 73 children were reported kidnapped from a school in the northwestern state of Zamfara. UNICEF said in a statement that 100 students aged between 14 and 19 and a teacher had been abducted, of whom 23 had managed to escape and had returned home. Police the next day said five girls were rescued.
(Reuters, 9/1/21)(Reuters, 9/2/21)
2021 Sep 3, The Nigerian army said nearly 6,000 Islamic extremists have surrendered in the northeast in recent weeks. Several weeks earlier the army said 335 militants had laid down their arms. Nigeria shut down mobile telephone networks in Zamfara state. Authorities reportedly ordered a blackout while they tackled armed gangs of kidnappers terrorizing the area.
(SFC, 9/4/21, p.A3)(Reuters, 9/6/21)
2021 Sep 6, In Nigeria gunmen invaded a village late today in the northern state of Kaduna and kidnapped 18 residents including seven children.
(Reuters, 9/7/21)
2021 Sep 8, Nigerian police said gunmen have kidnapped 20 people in remote Sokoto State.
(Reuters, 9/8/21)
2021 Sep 10, Nigerian officials cut communication lines in multiple parts of Katsina state as a crackdown on banditry in the northwest of the country spreads. The government directed a communications blackout in 13 local government areas to hinder criminality in the region.
(Reuters, 9/10/21)
2021 Sep 12, In south-central Nigeria heavily armed gunmen raided a jail in Kabba late today, blowing up the perimeter fence and freeing 266 inmates. Many of the inmates in Kabba were suspected Boko Haram fighters.
(Reuters, 9/13/21)(BBC, 9/13/21)
2021 Sep 13, Nigeria said 75 children who were kidnapped on Sept. 1 from their school in northwestern Zamfara State have been released after their abductors came under pressure from a military crackdown. Media outlets over the last 24 hours have reported that bandits in Zamfara had attacked a military base and killed 12 soldiers.
(Reuters, 9/13/21)
2021 Sep 14, Nigeria's prison service said a total of 114 of the 266 inmates who escaped from a prison on Sept. 12 have been recaptured.
(Reuters, 9/14/21)
2021 Sep 15, The Nigerian air force killed and injured civilians while pursuing suspected Islamist insurgents in the northeast state of Yobe, in an incident that residents said left at least six people dead.
(Reuters, 9/16/21)
2021 Sep 15, It was reported that Nigeria is seeing one of its worst cholera outbreaks in years. At least 69,925 suspected cases were recorded as of Sept. 5 in 25 of the country's 36 states as well as 2,323 deaths.
(SFC, 9/15/21, p.A2)
2021 Sep 20, Nigerian authorities imposed a communications blackout in several parts of Sokoto state as a crackdown against armed kidnappers in the country's northwest region spreads.
(Reuters, 9/20/21)
2021 Sep 23, A Nigerian court ordered the immediate release of a woman held in detention since February accused of being a member of the banned separatist Indigenous People of Biafra. The court in Abuja ruled that the police had illegally detained Ngozi Umeadi and ordered it to pay her damages of 50 million naira ($121,500).
(Reuters, 9/23/21)
2021 Sep 26, Nigerian troops killed scores of Islamist insurgents and suffered casualties among their own ranks during heavy fighting around a remote army base on the border with Niger. Gunmen killed at least 22 security personnel at the base in Sokoto state.
(Reuters, 9/27/21)
2021 Sep 26, The Nigerian Air Force fired upon and killed dozens of civilians in the village of Daban Masara in the northeast. Resident said they saw the corpses of at least 60 people after the air force's strike on a fish market.
(Reuters, 9/28/21)
2021 Sep 28, In Nigeria members of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) said that security forces had shot dead eight Shi'ites who were taking part in a procession in Abuja to mark the religious ritual of Arbaeen. Police denied killing members of the banned Shi'ite group, saying they had arrested 57 of them and recovered petrol bombs and bags of stones.
(Reuters, 9/28/21)
2021 Oct 1, Nigeria got approval for $400 million in World Bank financing to procure and deploy COVID-19 vaccinations.
(Reuters, 10/1/21)
2021 Oct 2, In northwestern Nigeria nurse Mohammad Hassan (37), employed by Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), was killed when armed men opened fire on the public transport vehicle in which he was travelling in Zamfara state.
(Reuters, 10/5/21)
2021 Oct 4, Resident doctors in Nigerian public hospitals called off a nine-week strike, saying some of their grievances had been addressed but others including salary arrears remained outstanding.
(Reuters, 10/4/21)
2021 Oct 7, Nigerian security agents rescued 187 people who had been abducted by armed gangs in the northwestern state of Zamfara.
(Reuters, 10/7/21)
2021 Oct 8, In Nigeria five more students who were kidnapped by gunmen from a school in Kaduna three months ago have been released after ransoms were paid.
(Reuters, 10/9/21)
2021 Oct 11, In Nigeria Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State met with six women and their nine children after they were held by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group in a forest in Buni Yadi, an area of Yobe State. They had escaped and walked for six days to the town of Damboa in neighboring Borno.
(Reuters, 10/12/21)
2021 Oct 11, In northwestern Nigeria gunmen seized three student priests from a Catholic seminary in Kaduna state. Six seminarians were injured in the attack.
(AP, 10/12/21)
2021 Oct 14, Nigeria's top general said that Abu Musab al-Barnawi, leader of the insurgent group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), was dead. ISWAP, an offshoot of the Boko Haram, has been fighting against the Nigerian armed forces for 12 years.
(Reuters, 10/14/21)
2021 Oct 15, Cambridge University's Jesus College said that it would return a looted bronze cockerel to Nigeria later this month, making it the first UK institution to hand back one of the artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes.
(AP, 10/15/21)
2021 Oct 17, In northern Nigeria gunmen killed at least 30 people in an attack on a market in Goronyo, Sokoto state.
(Reuters, 10/18/21)
2021 Oct 25, In northern Nigeria armed men on motorbikes killed at least 18 people at a mosque in Niger state.
(Reuters, 10/25/21)
2021 Oct 28, Scotland’s University of Aberdeen handed over to a Nigerian delegation a Benin Bronze that was among thousands looted by British troops in 1897, the third European institution in two days to return cultural artefacts to their African homelands. Aberdeen had acquired the bronze head at an auction in 1957.
(Reuters, 10/28/21)
2021 Nov 1, In Nigeria rescuers searched for survivors in the wreckage of a 21-storey apartment building that collapsed under construction in Lagos. The death toll soon rose to 43 with dozens still missing.
(Reuters, 11/3/21)(SFC, 11/2/21, p.A4)(AP, 11/5/21)
2021 Nov 2, In Nigeria gunmen abducted six people, four staff members and two children, overnight from the staff quarters of the Univ. of Abuja.
(AP, 11/2/21)
2021 Nov 5, In Nigeria an oil spill was discovered in the Niger Delta. Aiteo Eastern E&P later reported an "extremely high order" oil spill from the jointly owned well and has had to abort immediate efforts to control the leak due to the pressure emanating from the well head.
(Reuters, 11/10/21)
2021 Nov 13, A Nigerian army general and three soldiers were killed during an attack by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) militants in the northeast of the country.
(Reuters, 11/13/21)
2021 Nov 14, In northwest Nigeria armed men killed at least 15 people in raids in Sokoto state. The death toll was soon raised to at least 43.
(Reuters, 11/16/21)(Reuters, 11/17/21)
2021 Nov 22, Italian customs police dismantled a Nigerian organized crime syndicate that forced dozens of young women into prostitution and begging on the streets of Italy and then smuggled out millions of euros in ill-gained revenues to Nigeria, with cash hidden in suitcase handles or pasta packages.
(AP, 11/22/21)
2021 Nov 24, A Danish frigate killed four pirates in waters south of Nigeria in an operation to protect shipping in the Gulf of Guinea. Four pirates remaining were taken on board the frigate, and no Danish personnel were hurt in the incident.
(Reuters, 11/25/21)
2021 Nov 28, In Nigeria gunmen freed more than 260 inmates late today during an attack on a prison in the central city of Jos, in the country's fourth such raid this year. A gunbattle left one guard and nine prisoners dead.
(Reuters, 11/29/21)
2021 Nov 30, In northern Nigeria a boat carrying students capsized on the Watari dam in Kano state, killing at least 29.
(Reuters, 12/1/21)
2021 Dec 1, Nigeria confirmed its first cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in air passenger arrivals, but amended an earlier statement to say the travelers had arrived in Nigeria only over the past week.
(Reuters, 12/1/21)
2021 Dec 7, In Nigeria at least 30 passengers on a bus in Sokoto state were burnt to death when gunmen torched it.
(Reuters, 12/7/21)
2021 Dec 7, It was reported that up to one million COVID-19 vaccines are estimated to have expired in Nigeria last month without being used, one of the biggest single losses of doses that shows the difficulty African nations have getting shots in arms.
(Reuters, 12/7/21)
2021 Dec 8, In Nigeria a state minister said a wellhead that has been spilling oil and gas in Bayelsa state has been successfully shut, more than a month after it started polluting the Delta creeks.
(Reuters, 12/8/21)
2021 Dec 10, The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority announced that it was restricting Emirates to just one weekly flight from 21 that had been initially approved. The Emirates airline in response said it will suspend all flights to Nigeria from next week.
(Reuters, 12/10/21)
2021 Dec 12, Nigeria said it plans to ban flights from Argentina, Britain, Canada and Saudi Arabia from this week in retaliation for being added to those countries' red lists over the detection of the Omicron coronavirus variant last month.
(Reuters, 12/12/21)
2021 Dec 13, Nigeria said it will destroy around one million expired COVID-19 vaccines. Some COVID-19 doses donated by rich Western countries had a remaining shelf life of only weeks.
(Reuters, 12/13/21)
2021 Dec 13, It was reported that a violent mafia-style gang in Nigeria linked to murder and fraud has infiltrated the country's political system and launched a global scamming operation well beyond Nigeria's borders. The "Black Axe" gang has been operating for decades in Nigeria and is among the country's most-feared organized crime syndicates.
(BBC, 12/13/21)
2021 Dec 14, The African Development Bank (AfDB) said it will lend Nigeria $210 million to support smallholder farmers producing strategic crops and livestock.
(Reuters, 12/14/21)
2021 Dec 15, Nigeria's upper chamber of parliament approved President Muhammadu Buhari's request for $5.8 billion in borrowing from international lenders.
(Reuters, 12/15/21)
2021 Dec 15, Nigerian senators rejected, for the third time in five years, a bill that seeks to promote gender equality, citing “socio-cultural and Islamic concerns".
(AP, 12/16/21)
2021 Dec 20, It was reported that a female soldier has been arrested in Nigeria for accepting a marriage proposal while on duty.
(BBC, 12/20/21)
2021 Dec 22, Nigeria destroyed more than a million doses of expired AstraZeneca vaccines in a bid to assure a wary public that they have been taken out of circulation.
(Reuters, 12/22/21)
2021 Dec 23, In Nigeria at least five people were killed and more than a dozen injured after several explosions near an air force base in Maiduguri town, ahead of a visit by President Muhammadu Buhari.
(Reuters, 12/23/21)
2021 Dec 30, A joint military force said six troops from Nigeria and Niger were killed by Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) militants during an operation this month.
(Reuters, 12/30/21)
2022 Dec 31, In northwestern Nigeria at least 21 schoolchildren were rescued hours after they were abducted by armed groups. The next day the Nigeria Air Force launched “successful" airstrikes targeting the camps of the gunmen in Zamfara state.
(AP, 1/3/22)
2021 Dec, In Nigeria Abdulmalik Mohammed Tanko (34), the owner of her school, allegedly kidnapped Hanifa Abubakar in the northern Kano state to demand a ransom of $14,600 (£10,800). Police later said he killed Hanifa after realizing she had recognized him. Tanko was later arrested and his establishment closed.
(BBC, 1/21/22)
2022 Jan 2, In Nigeria group of bandits killed six rural residents in several attacks in Kaduna state.
(AP, 1/3/22)
2022 Jan 4, In Nigeria armed men kidnapped three Chinese nationals and killed two local staff working on a power project in the central state of Niger. Bandits arrived in large numbers in the Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas of Zamfara state this evening, shooting and burning down houses until Jan. 6. Estimates of those killed soon rose to over 200.
(Reuters, 1/6/22)(AP, 1/7/22)(Reuters, 1/8/22)
2022 Jan 7, In Denmark a suspected Nigerian pirate captured by the Danish navy in the Gulf of Guinea in November and brought to Denmark for prosecution appeared in court in Copenhagen charged with the attempted manslaughter of Danish soldiers. Three other suspected Nigerian pirates picked up by a Danish frigate at the same time and who faced the same charges were freed a day earlier after Denmark failed to find a country in the region to take them.
(Reuters, 1/7/22)
2022 Jan 8, In Nigeria gunmen released 30 students who spent nearly seven months in captivity, the latest batch in the release of Kebbi state students abducted last June 17.
(AP, 1/9/22)
2022 Jan 13, Nigeria's government said Twitter had agreed to establish a local office among other conditions set by the west African nation. Nigerians reacted with mingled relief and indifference to the government's decision to lift a ban on Twitter, saying many in Africa's biggest economy had stayed connected via virtual private networks (VPN).
(Reuters, 1/13/22)
2022 Jan 14, In northwest Nigeria dozens of gunmen on motorbikes ransacked a village late today and killed more than 50 people in Dankade village, Kebbi state.
(Reuters, 1/16/22)
2022 Jan 17, Nigeria's interior minister ordered prison guards to "shoot to kill" those involved in jailbreaks.
(BBC, 1/18/22)
2022 Jan 21, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the Islamic extremist insurgency in northeast Nigeria is a “very, very dangerous (and) very threatening" crisis that needs more than $1 billion in aid in 2022 to assist those hit by the decade-long conflict.
(AP, 1/21/22)
2022 Feb 1, Nigeria launched a 62 billion naira ($149 million) fund to help fight HIV/AIDS, especially targeting the prevention of mother-to-child transmissions as foreign funding for such programs was under strain due to focus on COVID-19.
(Reuters, 2/1/22)
2022 Feb 2, An oil production and storage vessel exploded off the coast of Nigeria early today It was not yet clear if there were any casualties or how much crude might have spilled into the sea. The vessel was holding around 50,000 to 60,000 barrels of crude oil. 10 crew members remained unaccounted for. two bodies were later seen lying dead in front of the vessel, while three crew members jumped into the sea with life jackets and were taken to a hospital.
(Reuters, 2/3/22)(Reuters, 2/5/22)
2022 Feb 3, Nigeria's financial crimes agency said it has recovered at least $750 million in local and foreign currency linked to corruption and fraud last year.
(Reuters, 2/3/22)
2022 Feb 7, Government officials said Nigeria has received 2 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine from Finland, Greece and Slovenia, with more EU donations set to arrive in the coming weeks.
(Reuters, 2/7/22)
2022 Feb 8, It was reported that local authorities in Nigeria have started a crackdown to try put a stop to illegal refining of stolen crude, a process known locally as "Kpo Fire", which officials say is worsening air pollution in the Delta and causing respiratory problems for some residents. 128 of 142 illegal refining sites identified by authorities in the area have been destroyed since the crackdown started in January.
(Reuters, 2/8/22)
2022 Feb 10, It was reported that religious police in Nigeria have destroyed nearly four million bottles of beer in a crackdown on alcohol in the northern city of Kano.
(BBC, 2/10/22)
2022 Feb 13, In Nigeria the Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) said it had filed a lawsuit to compel President Buhari and his information minister Lai Mohammed to publish a copy of the January Twitter agreement to ensure it did not include agreements that could jeopardize freedom of expression.
(Reuters, 2/13/22)
2022 Feb 14, In Nigeria highly a decorated police officer was arrested following accusations he belongs to an international drugs cartel. Abba Kyari, already suspended for allegedly helping self-avowed fraudster Hushpuppi to launder his money in the US, was now accused in a cocaine plot. Four other officers were also arrested and one remained at large.
(BBC, 2/14/22)
2022 Feb 14, EU Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said the EU plans to invest 820 million euros to support Nigeria's digital economy over the next three years.
(Reuters, 2/15/22)
2022 Feb 19, Two Benin bronzes were returned to a traditional palace in Nigeria, more than a century after they were pillaged by British troops, raising hopes that thousands more artefacts could finally be returned to their ancestral home.
(Reuters, 2/20/22)
2022 Feb 21, The governor of Niger's Maradi region said seven children have been killed in an air strike by the Nigerian army targeting "bandits" in Nachade village.
(AP, 2/21/22)
2022 Feb 21, In Nigeria at least four security personnel were killed when their patrol vehicle detonated a landmine in the western-central state of Niger.
(Reuters, 2/22/22)
2022 Feb 28, Nigeria's government condemned reports that its citizens, and those of other African countries, have been stopped from leaving war-torn Ukraine.
(BBC, 2/28/22)
2022 Mar 1, Nigeria's Senate voted to reject changes to the constitution to allow citizens living abroad to vote in national elections, while a provision to allocate special seats for women to increase their political representation failed to pass.
(Reuters, 3/1/22)
2022 Mar 3, Nigeria said at least 200 gunmen were killed in the past three days in the central-northern state of Niger during a security operation to clear armed gangs from the area.
(Reuters, 3/3/22)
2022 Mar 6, In Nigeria gunmen began attacks on members of a volunteer vigilante group in northwestern Kebbi state. At least 67 people were later confirmed dead from the attacks.
(AP, 3/8/22)
2022 Mar 7, In Benin Nigerian activist Sunday Adeyemo, imprisoned in Benin since last year for allegedly plotting an insurrection in Nigeria, was released under judicial supervision with the condition that he cannot leave Benin.
(Reuters, 3/8/22)
2022 Mar 8, The Smithsonian Institution, one of the world’s largest cultural organizations, said that it planned to return most of its collection of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.
(NY Times, 3/8/22)
2022 Mar 11, A Nigerian court stopped Shell Plc from selling any assets in Nigeria until a decision is reached on the company's appeal of a nearly $2 billion penalty for an alleged oil spill. The ruling also ordered Shell to deposit the money in an account controlled by the court within two working days. Shell's appeal hearing was set to begin on May 5.
(Reuters, 3/14/22)
2022 Mar 22, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote opened a 3-million-ton fertilizer plant at a cost of $2.5 billion to target African and foreign markets even as the war in Ukraine has driven up prices for natural gas, a key ingredient for making urea.
(Reuters, 3/22/22)
2022 Mar 23, A Dutch court rejected a suit against Shell brought by four widows of activists who were executed by the Nigerian government in 1995 after they protested against the oil's company's exploitation of the Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 3/23/22)
2022 Mar 26, In northern Nigeria gunmen killed one person during an airport attack in the state of Kaduna, the latest in a series of attacks by gunmen in the north of the country.
(Reuters, 3/27/22)
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