NewsReports

Dozens of women and girls from two villages in Nigeria’s north-eastern Adamawa state have been abducted by suspected militants, residents say. The abductions have not been confirmed by the authorities, but residents say they took place a day after the military announced it had agreed a ceasefire with the Boko Haram group. The government hopes the Islamist group will free …

Stephen Harper described the attacker as a terrorist and promised to “redouble” anti-terror efforts. The gunman, reportedly a Muslim convert named Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, shot and killed a soldier at an Ottawa war memorial before entering parliament. It came a day after a Muslim convert killed a soldier in Quebec. Mr Harper described that earlier attack as a plot inspired by …

A snowplough driver at a Moscow airport has said he lost his bearings before a collision with a private plane in which Total boss Christophe de Margerie died. Vladimir Martynenkov told Russian TV he was unaware he had entered the runway. Mr Margerie, 63, chief executive of the French oil firm, was killed in the crash along with three crew …

Abuja—The United Nations Children’s Education Fund has said that about 150,000 children die annually in Nigeria as a result of poor sanitation and the intake of unsafe water, which results in diarrhea. UNICEF Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Chief in Nigeria, Mr. Kanaan Nadar, disclosed this on the occasion of the 2014 global hand washing day celebration in Abuja. Nadar called …

Abuja – The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo–Iweala, has assured Nigerians that the economy is growing positively in spite of the reduction of oil price in the international market. Okonjo-Iweala, who stated this on Tuesday at the 2014 Ministerial Platform in Abuja, said the nation was not broke as being speculated in the media. She said “if you look back two …

ABUJA – Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, granted a request by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to challenge the legality of a move by the House of Representatives to hold a public hearing over allegation that N10 billion was spent on chartered jet …

NIGERIANS and their democracy are unique. If elsewhere people delight in the capacities of their government to deepen their liberties, broaden opportunities, our democracy is delivered as structures, visible and tangible. We call them dividends of democracy. The lure of dividends, a throw back to the days the economy supported companies making returns to shareholders, has created an array of …

Nigeria has been declared officially free of Ebola after six weeks with no new cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. Africa’s most populous country won praise for its swift response after an infected Liberian diplomat brought the disease there in July. The WHO officially declared Senegal Ebola-free on Friday. The outbreak has killed more than 4,500 people in West …

US military aircraft have dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State (IS) militants in the key Syrian town of Kobane. US Central Command said C-130 transport aircraft had made “multiple” drops of supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq. US air strikes have helped push back IS in the town near the Turkish border. Correspondents …

Governor Adams Eric Oshiomhole of Edo State has laid to rest insinuations on his purported bid for the presidential ticket of his party, the All progressives Congress (APC), saying while he remains committed to the Nigerian project, his focus now is on accelerating the pace of development in Edo State. In a statement personally signed by him, Governor Oshiomhole said, …