The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has listed its efforts to reach women in poor, hard-to-reach communities with vaccine against maternal and neo-natal tetanus, saying such steps would save the lives of thousands of women and their new-born babies.

Further protests by Niger-Delta women against continued oil exploitation and criminal neglect of the area by the Federal Government and the oil companies may soon follow, although a final date has not yet been set.

Not less than 284,000 child labourers work in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in West Africa, findings released by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Department of Labour (DOL) have shown.

Local elections scheduled for 10 August in Nigeria have been postponed indefinitely to allow for further preparations, President Olusegun Obasanjo said last Saturday during a radio phone-in programme.

Nigeria has introduced new environmental guidelines aimed at curbing degradation and pollution in the country's oil region and bringing operations up to international standards, Rilwanu Lukman, presidential adviser on petroleum, has said.

Happenings in the present and recent past in Enugu State Of Nigeria have shown the hostility of the incumbent governor, Chimaroke Nnamani, towards fair and objective news reporting by journalists posted to his state. His reactions have been characterised by assault and deportation of journalists from his state.

The anti-corruption war may have been extended to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the commission probes one of its commissioner over an alleged 395m nairas (3.1m dollars) contract scam.

Communities play a vital role in Nigeria's primary schools, helping to build, maintain and run them. But is the 'social capital' of community participation in education being eroded? How far can parents and communities fill the gap when government provision of services is lacking?

Soldiers escorting President Olusegun Obasanjo fired into a crowd of protesters Monday in the northern city of Kano. A number of people were wounded and some were feared killed, witnesses said.

At least 15 people died when an armed group launched an attack on policemen deployed to trouble spots in Nigeria's central Plateau State, police sources said last Saturday.

Nigeria's court of appeal last Friday invalidated the grounds on which the country's electoral body denied applications by 27 groups for registration as political parties, IRIN news reports.

The House of Representatives has written to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to furnish it with names of commercial banks in the country involved in financial crimes.

International campaigners have joined the government in asking why Nigeria is ineligible for debt reduction under the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) programme set up in 1996 by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and extended three years later. Nigeria is excluded even though its per capita income levels and ratio of debt to gross national product are comparable with those of the 42 countries included in the HIPC initiative, which covers every other state in mainland west Africa south of the Sahara.

The last of a series of sieges by women protesters on facilities of ChevronTexaco in southeastern Nigeria's Niger Delta has ended following an agreement between representatives of the protesters and the US transnational, company officials said last Friday.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has asked his justice minister for an explanation after legal proceedings against a top official accused of corruption were dropped.

As Walter Kansteiner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, traveled to Angola and Nigeria this week, Human Rights Watch urged him not to overlook serious human rights concerns in both countries. Human Rights Watch said that this Africa visit was an opportunity for the Bush administration to integrate human rights into its meetings.

With general elections due in the first quarter of next year, ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) factions are locked in power struggles ahead of the polls, and the political stability of Nigeria could be jeopardised if the party fails to hold the country together ahead of and during the crucial polls.

Govenor Ahmed Makarfi of Kaduna State has called for a complete redefinition and overview of the word "corruption" before the fight against it truly begins. Speaking on Monday at the formal launch of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Campaign at Livestock House, Kaduna, Markafi stated that this has become necessary because of the confusion that exists between patronage and corruption.

The Nigerian parliament, the National Assembly, has been called upon to promote transparency and accountability in the country by urgently passing the Freedom of Information Bill currently before it. The call formed part of the resolutions of a recent workshop on 'Contentious Issues in the Review of the 1999 Constitution' organised in Abuja by the Citizens' Forum for Constitutional Reform (CFCR), a network of civil society organisations.

The NGO Environmental Rights Action (ERA) has called on the Federal Government to withdraw soldiers deployed to guard oil flow stations in the Niger Delta and seek dialogue with aggrieved communities. ERA, in a statement by its programme director, Mr. Godwin Ojo said oil companies should halt their reckless environmental practices, which were at the root of the problems facing the environment and people of the Niger Delta.