Nigeria

ABUJA, Feb 22 (NNN-XINHUA) — Nigeria’s state railway company announced the suspension of rail services across the country from Saturday to Monday to enable Nigerians to vote during the coming general elections.

Spokesman for the Nigerian Railway Corporation Mahmood Yakubu said in a statement that the suspension was to enable Nigerians to exercise their democratic right in the presidential and National Assembly elections and that the train services would resume from Tuesday.

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The leading contenders in Nigeria’s presidential election have made their last push for support, a week before the West African nation’s key election.

As the campaign period neared its end, both the ruling party’s Bola Tinubu and the main opposition’s Atiku Abubakar on Saturday held rallies in the northeast, where extremists have waged a decade-long insurgency against Nigeria. They both promised to improve the lives of residents in the region.

15 Feb 2023; MEMO: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the UAE to lift the blanket visa ban it imposed on his country's passport holders in October 2022.

LAGOS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The first phase of a China-built electric-powered light rail project in Nigeria's southwestern state of Lagos was officially open for service on Tuesday.

Undertaken by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) since 2010, the completed tracks of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) Blue Line project span 13 km in the first phase and cover five stations.

LAGOS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday inaugurated the iconic Lekki deep seaport in the southwestern state of Lagos for operation, noting that the new maritime facility opens a new vista of economic development for the African country.

Constructed by the China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd., the Lekki Deep Sea Port is the first deep seaport in Nigeria, and one of the biggest in West Africa.

LAGOS, Jan 21 (NNN-NAN) – Nigerian police confirmed yesterday that, six pupils were abducted on their way to school, in the country’s central state of Nasarawa.

Ramhan Nansel, spokesman for the police in Nasarawa, told reporters in Lafia, the state capital, that, the pupils of a public primary school, aged between seven and eight years, were taken away by unidentified gunmen on motorbikes, from a road in Alwaza town of the state, yesterday morning.

ABUJA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed after a truck conveying over 70 people overturned in the country's central Plateau State, Nigeria's traffic police confirmed on Sunday.

Peter Longsan, a spokesman for the Federal Road Safety Corps in Plateau, told reporters in the state capital of Jos, that scores of people were also injured as the truck overturned due to loss of control on a road near the Jwak village located in the Mangu local government area late Saturday.

LAGOS, Jan 9 (NNN-NAN) – Thirty-one passengers were taken hostage, after gunmen attacked a train station in south Nigeria’s Edo state, a spokesperson for the government said, yesterday.

A group of gunmen broke into the Igueben train station on Saturday evening, firing shots sporadically in the air and kidnapping passengers, who were heading for Warri, a city in the neighbouring Delta state.

Initially 32 people were taken hostage and one managed to escape, Chris Nehikhare, the spokesperson, told reporters in the state capital, Benin City.

ABUJA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 12 people were killed in a road accident involving a van in Nigeria's northwestern state of Sokoto, the local traffic police said Monday.

Kabiru Yusuf-Nadabo, a sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Sokoto, told reporters that five people were also seriously injured in the incident late Sunday at Madake village in the Shagari local government area of the state.

LAGOS, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian police said on Monday that they have killed a shooter after repelling an armed attack at a police checkpoint in the northern state of Katsina.

Gambo Isah, spokesman of Katsina State police, said police operatives engaged a group of shooters in a fierce gun battle, successfully repelling the attack at the checkpoint on the Magamar-Jibia road in the Jibia local government area of the state on Monday.