Latest Nigeria government News

Nurse Arzu Yildirim poses for the photographer as she holds a CoronaVac vaccine, made by Sinovac, currently on phase III clinical trials at Acibadem Hospital in Istanbul, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. Turkey has ordered 50 million doses of the vaccine and Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said last week that the first batch was expected to arrive within days and vaccination could start at the end of December or early January.Some 12,500 volunteers are taking part in Phase 3 trials of the vaccine across Turkey but the full vaccination programme is expected to start before the trial is completed. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

The Latest: China tests millions in port over virus cluster

Dec. 24, 2020 11:56 PM EST

BEIJING — Authorities in China’s northeastern port city of Dalian are testing millions of residents after seven new coronavirus cases were reported there in the last 24 hours. The cluster that has emerged in recent days has grown to 12 cases. In five neighborhood divisions, authorities have shut...

A woman wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus, walks past people selling food at a market in Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday Dec. 24, 2020. Africa’s top public health official says another new variant of the coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, but further investigation is needed. The discovery could add to new alarm in the pandemic after similar variants were announced in recent days in Britain and South Africa and sparked the swift return of travel restrictions. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Africa CDC: New virus variant appears to emerge in Nigeria

Dec. 24, 2020 10:31 AM EST

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Another new variant of the coronavirus appears to have emerged in Nigeria, Africa’s top public health official said Thursday, but he added that further investigation was needed. The discovery could add to new alarm in the pandemic after similar variants were announced in...

Habubakar Liti, left, Bello Ibrahim, centre, and Isah Nasir, recently released students, arrive back home carrying boxes containing their school belongings in Ketare, Nigeria, Saturday Dec. 19, 2020. Nigeria's freed schoolboys have reunited with their joyful parents after being held captive for nearly a week by gunmen allied with jihadist rebels in the country's northwest. Relieved parents hugged their sons tightly on Saturday in Kankara, where more than 340 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary school on the night of Dec. 11. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Kidnappings in north Nigeria highlight deepening insecurity

Dec. 21, 2020 4:53 AM EST

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Joyous, tearful Nigerian parents tightly hugged their sons, upon being reunited with them following their week-long abduction in the country's northwestern area. The boys, however, appeared traumatized and exhausted. After their days of captivity, including forced marches and hiding...

A family member of a freed schoolboy cries as she waits for a reunion with her son in Katsina Nigeria Friday Dec. 18, 2020. More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped last week in an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria have arrived in the capital of Katsina state to celebrate their release. The boys were abducted one week ago from the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara in Katsina state village. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Freed Nigerian schoolboys welcomed; calls for more security

Dec. 18, 2020 8:28 PM EST

KATSINA, Nigeria (AP) — Bleary, barefoot, apparently numbed by a week of captivity, more than 300 Nigerian schoolboys, freed after being kidnapped in an attack on their school, were welcomed by the governor of Katsina state and Nigeria’s president on Friday. Reunions with their parents began late in...

Shoes of the kidnapped students from Government Science Secondary School are seen inside their class room Kankara, Nigeria, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria's northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the region. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigerian official: More than 300 abducted schoolboys freed

Dec. 17, 2020 9:53 PM EST

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — More than 300 schoolboys abducted last week by armed men in northwest Nigeria have been released, a government official said Thursday. In an announcement on Nigerian state TV, NTA, Katsina State Gov. Aminu Bello Masari said the 344 boarding school students were turned over to...

People travel past Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Nigeria, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from the school in Nigeria's northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the region. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigerians anxious after 330 boys kidnapped by extremists

Dec. 16, 2020 1:23 PM EST

KANKARA, Nigeria (AP) — Anger, fear and exhaustion. Anxiety has overwhelmed many parents in Nigeria’s northern Kankara village who await word on their sons who are among the more than 330 kidnapped by extremists from a government boys’ school last week. They held onto hope as the Katsina...

Parents of the missing Government Science secondary school students wait for news on their children in Kankara , Nigeria, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria's northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the region. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Boko Haram claims abduction of students in northern Nigeria

Dec. 15, 2020 8:12 PM EST

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria's northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the region. More than 330...

ICC prosecutor: Criteria met to open Nigeria investigation

Dec. 11, 2020 12:12 PM EST

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor says a decade-long probe has found enough evidence to merit opening a full-scale investigation into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by Boko Haram extremists — as well as by Nigerian government...

People attend a funeral for those killed by suspected Boko Haram militants in Zaabarmar, Nigeria, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. Nigerian officials say suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram have killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen while they were harvesting crops in northern Borno State. The attack was staged Saturday in a rice field in Garin Kwashebe, a Borno community known for rice farming. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

Suspected extremists kill at least 40 farmers in Nigeria

Nov. 29, 2020 1:21 PM EST

MAIDGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen in Nigeria as they were harvesting crops in the country's northern state of Borno, officials said. One said the death toll could rise to about 60 people. The attack Saturday in...

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