Latest Nigeria News

Nigeria's major cities suffer blackouts as the power grid collapses yet again

Nov. 07, 2024 12:41 PM EST

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's major cities including Abuja, Lagos and Kano suffered blackouts Thursday as the country's electricity grid collapsed in the tenth such outage to hit the power system this year. A “partial disturbance of the system” caused the latest round of...

Nigeria’s army chief, who led the country through one of Africa's longest conflicts, dies at 56

Nov. 06, 2024 07:59 AM EST

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s army chief who led soldiers through a critical period in the fight against Islamic extremists in the West African nation's hard-hit northeast has died, President Bola Tinubu said Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, who served as army...

Nigeria’s president orders the release of 29 children facing death penalty over protests

Nov. 04, 2024 15:59 PM EST

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu on Monday ordered the immediate release of 29 children facing the death penalty after being arraigned for allegedly participating in protests against the country’s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Under growing...

29 Nigerian children may be sentenced to death for protesting against cost-of-living crisis

Nov. 01, 2024 16:48 PM EDT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Twenty-nine children could be facing the death penalty in Nigeria after they were arraigned Friday for participating in a protest against the country’s record cost-of-living crisis. Four of them collapsed in court due to exhaustion before they could enter a plea. ...

Attack on a Chad military base kills 40 soldiers, presidency says

Oct. 28, 2024 20:40 PM EDT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Unidentified assailants killed at least 40 soldiers during an overnight attack on a military base in the country’s west, Chad’s presidency said Monday. President Mahamat Deby Itno visited the base in Barkaram, an island in Chad's Lake region, early morning...

Building collapse in Nigeria's capital leaves at least 7 dead

Oct. 28, 2024 11:34 AM EDT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A building collapsed in a suburban area of Nigeria’s capital over the weekend, killing at least seven people, police said Monday. The building, located in the Sabon-Lugbe area of Abuja, had already been partly demolished and its structure was further...

Nigeria releases American crypto executive after dropping money laundering case

Oct. 24, 2024 15:04 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American cryptocurrency executive held in Nigeria for the past eight months has been released after authorities there announced they were ending his money laundering trial on health and diplomatic grounds. Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s head of financial crime...

Nigeria's president reshuffles his cabinet during the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation

Oct. 23, 2024 14:51 PM EDT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has fired five ministers and appointed seven new ones in a major cabinet reshuffle aimed at making his administration more efficient, his office said Wednesday. The shake-up comes during worsening economic hardship and...

AP Week in Pictures: Global

Oct. 18, 2024 01:19 AM EDT

Oct. 11-17, 2024 Effigies of the mythical demon king Ravana went up in flames to mark the end of Dussehra festivities in India, SpaceX’s mega rocket booster returned to the launch pad where it was captured during a test flight in Texas and victims of a tanker explosion received...

How did as many as 140 people die in one of Nigeria's deadliest tanker explosions?

Oct. 17, 2024 08:58 AM EDT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian authorities have announced measures to correct lapses that resulted in the deaths of more than 140 people in an explosion on Wednesday as they were trying to scoop up fuel from an overturned fuel tanker in one of the deadliest road accidents ever in the West African...