Nigeria

ABUJA, Aug 31 (NNN-NAN) – At least 35 people died, so far, by an outbreak of diarrhea, in a border town in north-east Nigeria’s Borno state, an official said yesterday.

The outbreak started at the weekend in Gwoza town, Borno State, and killed at least 35 people, with 150 others hospitalised, after showing symptoms of diarrhea, said Ibrahim Bukar, chairman of the Gwoza local government area.

Most sources of water supply in the border communities have been polluted by corpses, chemicals, and wastes, hence they are not good for human consumption, Bukar said.

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Authorities in northern Nigeria announced three separate groups of kidnapped students were freed within a 24-hour period, prompting speculation late Friday that large ransoms had been paid to the gunmen blamed for a spate of recent abductions.

Among those now free are some of the youngest children ever taken hostage in Nigeria, a group of 90 pupils who had spent three months in captivity. Hours after those youngsters were brought to the Niger state capital, police in Zamfara state said that 15 older students also had been freed there.

ABUJA, Aug 17 (NNN-Xinhua) — The cholera epidemic has killed 1,178 people in 23 states and Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, since it broke out in January, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control(NCDC) said Tuesday.

In an update of the cholera outbreak in Nigeria, the health agency said 37,819 suspected cases of cholera were reported from 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as of Saturday.

“Out of the reported cases, 26 percent were aged 5-14 years, 51 percent were males and 49 percent were females,” the NCDC said.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria Aug 15 (Reuters) - The killing of 23 people returning from a Muslim festival in Nigeria was a premeditated ambush for which suspects have already been arrested, authorities said on Sunday.

Deadly violence is common around Africa's most populous nation, with roads becoming particularly dangerous as armed attackers and kidnappers target travellers. 

In a statement, President Muhammadu Buhari condemned Saturday's ambush in central Plateau state of buses returning from a religious festival in nearby Bauchi state.

LAGOS, Aug 3 (NNN-NAN) – Three people were killed in a road accident in Nigeria’s southwestern State of Ogun, yesterday.

Opeoluwa Adekoya, Ijebu Ode divisional commander of Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, told reporters at the scene that, a truck loaded with granite lost control, due to over-speeding in the town of Ijebu Ode, hitting a motorcycle and crashing into a residential building.

Three dead bodies were retrieved and have been deposited at a hospital, said Adekoya, without giving further details, but warning of reckless driving and speeding.

ABUJA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least seven people were killed and several others wounded following weekend attacks across six communities in Nigeria's north-central state of Plateau, local authorities said on Monday.

Up to 250 houses were also razed in the attack in the communities situated in the Miango chiefdom of Bassa local government area of Plateau on Saturday night, the police said.

"We are in search of the fleeing gunmen. I assure you that the police are on top of the situation," Ubah Ogaba, a police spokesman in Plateau, told Xinhua by telephone.

KADUNA, Nigeria, July 25 (Reuters) - Kidnappers who raided a boarding school in northern Nigeria earlier this month released 28 children on Sunday but another 81 remain in captivity, according to a pastor involved in the negotiations for their release.

The attack on the Bethel Baptist High School in the state of Kaduna was the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria carried out by Islamist militants and more recently, criminal gangs.

LAGOS, July 21 (Reuters) - Police and government authorities have secured the release of 100 people, including women, children and nursing mothers, who were kidnapped from their village in northwestern Nigeria over a month ago, a local police spokesperson said.

Nigeria is battling an increase in armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom, mainly in northwestern states, where thinly deployed security forces have struggled to contain the rise of armed gangs, commonly referred to as bandits.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria July 17 (Reuters) - Gunmen abducted at least 60 people and killed one person in northwestern Nigeria after riding motorbikes into five villages and firing sporadically into the air, a police official and several residents said on Saturday.

Nigeria is battling an increase in armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom, mainly in northwestern areas, where thinly stretched security forces often fail to stop the abductions.

LAGOS, Jul 12 (NNN-NAN) – Authorities in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, raised alarm over a possible third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, following a recent increase in cases.

Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, announced yesterday, restrictions and sanctions, after disclosing that the state’s daily confirmed cases had shot up recently.

Figures from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control show the country has seen increase in COVID-19 cases for two weeks, ending on Jul 4.