Family Gold Mining Poisons Children in Nigeria. Large numbers of infants and toddlers have died from lead poisoning in Nigerian villages where their parents process gold ore inside their family compounds, according to a report published Tuesday by an international team of researchers.
In two Nigerian communities, 118 children under the age of 5 died in a single year – 25 percent of the children in that age group. For the first time, the researchers uncovered strong evidence that points to lead as the likely cause for nearly all of those deaths. The Nigerian Crucible - Ike Okonta. Exit from comment view mode.
Click to hide this space LAGOS – Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, who was elected only eight months ago, is already swimming in a sea of troubles. On January 1, New Year celebrations were abruptly cut short when Nigerians woke up to learn that the government gasoline subsidy had been withdrawn. The country’s poor immediately hit the streets, already angry because their corrupt and incompetent government has been unable to repair state-owned refineries, thereby forcing Africa’s largest oil producer to import petroleum products. The End of Nigeria's Strike May Not Calm Oil Markets. On New Year's Day, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ended the country's decades-old federal petroleum subsidy, which had kept gasoline and other petroleum products available to Nigerians at substantially below market price.
In days, a liter of gas more than doubled to 93 cents. Despite the country's abundance of crude oil (it extracts more than 2 million barrels a day), Nigeria lacks refining capacity and has to spend billions (in the first quarter of last year, $1.34 billion, to be exact) importing fuel not only for transportation, but also to power the diesel generators that provide much of the country's electricity. To Battle Nigeria's Boko Haram, Put Down Your Guns. On August 26, a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden Honda into the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, killing 23 people and injuring 81 more. Boko Haram, a shadowy radical Islamic movement that has been waging daily attacks in the north of the country, claimed responsibility. Some have argued that the sophisticated tactics are evidence of Boko Haram establishing links with international terrorist networks, most likely al Qaeda in the Maghreb or al Shabab in Somalia.
Even before this attack, the United States, Britain, and Israel had publicly supported providing counterterrorism assistance to the Nigerian government. Now, momentum for such a solution is growing. But such an approach could do more harm than good -- for Nigeria but also for Washington, which cannot afford to alienate Africa's largest Muslim population. What Boko Haram Wants. I recently learned that a friend of mine from northern Nigeria had gone into hiding late last year.
An activist, he was targeted by the Islamist group Boko Haram for trying to broker peace talks. The militants were apparently not ready to do much talking. The story crystallizes the reason that Boko Haram really, viscerally terrifies me: neither I nor anyone as far as I have been able to discover can put a finger on anything concrete that they actually want. CNN has begun describing Boko Haram as “fighting to install Sharia law in Northern Nigeria.” Boko Haram – more complicated than you think – By Richard Dowden. Mobilisation of the Nigerian army against Boko Haram provides both a challenge and an opportunity...
Nothing in Nigeria is what it seems. Is it Sectarian Strife in Nigeria? When I lived in Nigeria just a few short years ago, the term "sectarian violence" was not really something that came up.
Inter-religious conflicts had plagued the country's middle belt on and off for the better part of a decade. But these were less religious conflicts than they were communities butting heads over scarce land, insecure resources, and really poor opportunities for justice when wrong was done. I never felt animosity between religions, even when I spoke with some of the less-savory members of a given side. Is Nigeria the Next Front in the War on Terror? - By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. Violence between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria is drawing the country ever closer to a religious war.
The instigator of this conflict is Boko Haram, an Islamist movement whose very name means "Western education is forbidden. " If the Nigerian government can't stop this conflict from spiraling out of control, expect the United States to step in -- albeit with a relatively light hand -- to tip the scales against Boko Haram. The World Factbook. ShowIntroduction :: NIGERIA Panel - Collapsed British influence and control over what would become Nigeria and Africa's most populous country grew through the 19th century.
A series of constitutions after World War II granted Nigeria greater autonomy. After independence in 1960, politics were marked by coups and mostly military rule, until the death of a military head of state in 1998 allowed for a political transition. In 1999, a new constitution was adopted and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. The government continues to face the daunting task of institutionalizing democracy and reforming a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement. Nigeria. Skip to main content World Malaria 2014 Access Search Advanced search Navigation Language عربي 中文 English Français Русский Español WHO African Region: Nigeria Menu Countries Nigeria Map This map is an approximation of actual country borders.
Statistics Contact information The WHO Representative Vaz, Dr Rui.