Timeline Nigeria
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Nigeria is home to some 250 ethnic groups. The Yoruba,
Hausa, Fulani
and Ibo are the main ethnic groups. The capital is Abuja. Daily crude
oil production was 2.2 million barrels per day in 4/03. The total
reserve base was about 21 bil barrels. That’s about 30 years worth. In
2001 Nigeria was the world’s 12th largest oil producer.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A11)(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A10)(SSFC,
6/3/01, p.A14)
Nigeria is 369,507 square miles, twice the size of California, and is
bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. As of
2000 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states practiced Sharia law.
(AP, 4/19/03)(Econ, 2/14/04, p.44)
The core of the Sokoto Caliphate lies within the boundaries of present
day Nigeria. It once covered an area of 250,000 square miles (650,000
square kilometers) and stretched as far as Nikki in Benin, Ngaundere
and Tibati in Cameroon and much of the southern part of the Niger
Republic.
(AP, 6/18/04)
Yoruba masters created decorative
masks, headdresses, figures and other objects of art from this area and
Benin.
(WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A16)
The Wodaabe nomads, numbering about 40-50,000, moved constantly across
the Sahel between Niger, Mali and Northern Nigeria. They are of Fulani
origin, a race scattered all over West Africa.
(SFEM, 10/11/98, p.40)
2000BC The Ikom
monoliths in Nigeria, phallic-shaped pieces of volcanic rock largely
ignored for centuries, were said to date back to about this time. In
2007 they were added to the World Monuments Fund's (WMF) list of sites
in danger and are on the "tentative" list for possible inclusion in
UNESCO's World Heritage Site list.
(AFP, 12/26/07)
1767 English slave traders
captured 2 native nobles, Little Ephraim Robin John and Ancona Robin
Robin John on the west coast of Africa and took them in chains to
Dominica. They soon escaped but were resold into slavery in Virginia.
Some 4 years later they were taken to England and again resold and
returned to Virginia. They later made it back to their home on the
Calabar River (SE Nigeria) and became slave merchants themselves. In
2004 Randy J. Sparks authored “The Princes of Calabar.”
(WSJ, 5/21/04, p.W4)
1771 Sep 10, The Scottish explorer
Mungo Park (d.1806) was born. He settled the question as to the
direction of flow of the Niger River as he traced the northern reaches
of the African river in the 1790s. Park was one of the first explorers
sponsored by England's African Association. He died in 1806 on another
expedition to determine if the Niger linked with the Congo River. He
reportedly drowned while fleeing attackers near Bussa, which is in
present-day Nigeria.
(HNQ, 6/6/98)
1823 British Major Dixon Denham
and Captain Hugh Clapperton (1788-1827) entered Northern Nigeria from
the north, crossing the desert from Tripoli.
(Econ, 1/7/06, p.74)(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Clapperton)
1827 Apr 13, Hugh Clapperton,
Scottish traveler and explorer of West and Central Africa, died in
Sokoto, Nigeria, of dysentery.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Clapperton)
1885 Feb 26, The Congress of
Berlin gave Congo to Belgium and Nigeria to England.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1895 A massacre occurred in Nembe
over palm oil.
(SFC, 9/30/98, p.A10)
1897 Benin City, capital of Edo
state, was burned and ransacked by the British after the Bini killed a
British diplomatic mission. 16th century brass plaques were looted from
the royal palace and sold to the British Museum.
(SFC, 3/29/02, p.D8)
1903 Mar 15, The British conquest
of Nigeria was completed, 500,000 square miles were now controlled by
the U.K.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1914 Nigeria was cobbled together
by British colonialists. Over 200 ethnic groups were brought together
into one country.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A20)
1923 The Baptist Boys High School
at Abeokuta was founded by American missionaries.
(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A20)
1930 Nov 16, Chinua Achebe,
Nigerian novelist and poet, was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe)
1934 Jul 13, Wole Soyinka, Nobel
Prize-winning Nigerian playwright, was born.
(HN, 7/13/01)
1937 Mar 5, Olusegun Obasanjo was
born in Abeokuta.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A10)
1937 The Royal Dutch Shell Group
began working in the Nigerian oil fields.
(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-11)
1943 Sep 20, Sani Abacha was born
in the northern state of Kano.
(WSJ, 6/9/98, p.A15)
1945 There was a general strike in
Nigeria.
(WSJ, 6/4/99, p.W15)
1950s Nigeria passed legislation
that became known as the “Four Obnoxious Bills.” The laws ensured that
revenues from natural resources were collected at the center and doled
out to the rest of the 36 states without proportion to their role in
generating the wealth.
(WSJ, 4/15/03, p.A14)
1951 The MacPherson Constitution
centralized power in Nigeria. That power has been monopolized by the
northern Hausa-Fulani, a predominantly Muslim group that also dominates
military leadership.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1952 The evangelical Redeemed
Christian Church of God was founded in Lagos, Nigeria. In 2005 the
organization began building its North American headquarters near
Greenville, Texas. The church’s goal was to establish parishes within
five minute’s driving distance of every family in every city and town
in the US.
(SSFC, 8/21/05, p.A17)
1952 Wole Soyinka (b.1934), later
Nobel Prize winner, helped found the Pyrates Confraternity at Nigeria’s
elite University of Ibadan. Splinter groups soon emerged in a variety
of cults and were later used by military leaders to confront
pro-democracy movement. In 2004 Rivers State outlawed cultism, but with
little effect.
(Econ, 8/2/08, p.50)
1954 Areogun (b.1880), Yoruba
sculptor, died. He was a native of the Ekiti region of Nigeria.
(www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/11/sfg/ht11sfg.htm)
1956 In Nigeria Shell became the
first company to strike oil at Oloibiri (later Bayelsa state).
(AP, 6/1/06)
1958 Chinua Achebe of Nigeria
authored the novel "Things Fall Apart." It was about the Igbo tribe's
efforts to guard its way of life against English colonialism and was
made into a theater production in 1997. It sold millions of copies
worldwide and was voted Africa's best book of the century. In 2004
Achebe rejected a Nigerian national honors award, protesting conditions
in the West African nation and saying renegades were trying to turn his
home state into "a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom."
(WSJ, 2/09/99, p.A20)(SFEC, 8/6/00, BR p.4)(P,
10/18/04)
1960 Oct 1, Nigeria gained
independence from Britain (National Day).
(WSJ, 11/13/95, p.A-10)(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-1)(EWH,
1st ed., p.1172)
1960 Nov 16, Nnamdi Azikiwe became
the 1st governor-general of Nigeria. He was a member of the southern
Ibo people.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)(EWH, 1st ed., p.1172)
1962 Feb, An organization of
African states was established by leaders of 20 nations meeting in
Lagos, Nigeria.
(PCh, 1992, p.983)
1963 Oct, Nnamdi Azikiwe became
the 1st president of Nigeria and proclaimed a republic.
(EWH, 1st ed., p.1172)
1963 Gulf Oil began oil production
in Nigeria.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8)
1964 The documentary film “Give Me
a Riddle” was made by David Schickele in Nigeria after his service in
the Peace Corps.
(SFC, 11/3/99, p.C6)
1966 In Nigeria Gen'l. Yakuba
Gowon led military coup that ended civilian rule. He ruled until 1975.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8)(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A8)(WSJ,
4/15/03, p.A14)
1967 May 29, Lt. Col. Emeka Ojukwu
declared the independence of Biafra from Nigeria.
(http://flagspot.net/flags/ng-biaf.html)
1967 Jul 6, The Biafran War
erupted. The war, which lasted more than two years, claimed some
600,000 lives. The Republic of Biafra was proclaimed when the eastern
region of Nigeria, the homeland of the Igbo people, seceded. This was
followed by civil war. The federal troops of Nigeria held most of
rebellious Biafra by the end of 1968 but the Igbos attempted to hold
out in a small and crowded area. The war broke out when the Igbos, led
by Colonel Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu of the Nigerian army, launched a
rebellion to form a separate state following allegations of ethnic
cleansing, neglect and marginalization against federal forces.
(AP, 7/6/97)(HNQ, 5/27/98)(AFP, 1/10/07)
1967 Sep 19, Nigeria began an
offensive against Biafra. [see Jul 6]
(MC, 9/19/01)
1968 Sep 15, The Organization of
African Unity condemned the secession of Biafra.
(WUD, 1994, p.1687)
1969 Singer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti of
Nigeria visited California for 10 months.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A10)
1970 Jan 12, In Nigeria the
30-month civil war ended. The Biafran forces surrendered after nearly a
million ethnic Igbos died mostly of hunger and disease. Emeka Ojukwu
had led some 40 million Igbos in secession. In 2008 Nigeria paid the
pension of Ojukwu and 63 other former rebels as part of efforts to heal
wounds. In 2007 Pres. Obasanjo declared Jan 15 as “Armed Forces
Remembrance Day" in honor of the soldiers that died in the war.
(HNQ, 5/9/00)(AFP, 1/15/07)
1970 The federal government passes
a law that gives all mineral rights to the federal government.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1971 Feb 11, Whitney Young Jr.
(b.1921), National Urban League director, drowned in Nigeria.
(www.answers.com/topic/whitney-moore-jr-young)
1971 Dec 20, Ten French physicians
created a team that later became known as "Doctors Without Borders"
(Medecins Sans Frontreres) to help the people in the Nigerian region of
Biafra. They formed in frustration with the neutrality of the Int'l.
Committee of the Red Cross.
(SFC, 10/16/99, p.A17)(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.A14)
1972 AgipPetroli S.p.A., an
Italian oil firm, began oil operations at Akaraolu.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
1975 May 25, ECOWAS Treaty1 was
signed. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was
formed in Nigeria with 15 members that included: Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
(www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english/achievements.htm)
1975 Gen'l. Murtala Muhammad
staged a coup after Gen'l. Gowon postponed a return to civilian rule.
(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A8)
1976 Feb 3, In Nigeria Gen.
Murtala Ramat Muhammed (1938-1976) proclaimed Abuja as the new federal
capital. It was founded to replace Lagos and became the official
capital in 1991.
(SFC, 11/23/06,
p.A28)(www.datelineafrica.org/stories/200802130370.html)
1976 Feb 13, In Nigeria Gen'l.
Murtala Ramat Muhammad (b.1938) in the ruling junta was killed in a
coup attempt and his deputy, Gen'l. Olusegun Obasanjo, was named
president.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A10)(SFC, 3/2/99,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olusegun_Obasanjo)
1976-1979 In Nigeria Gen’l. Olusegun Obasanjo ruled
as head of state. He relinquished the presidency after an election and
was jailed by Abacha in 1995 for treason.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1977 Feb 18, Soldiers from the
army of Gen'l. Obasanjo raided Kalakuta, the communal home of singer
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Fela's mother (77) was thrown from a 2nd-story
window and later died from her injuries. The compound was burned and a
fire brigade was prevented from reaching the site. Fela wrote the song
"Coffin for Head of State" to describe how he and his followers carried
her coffin to present it to Gen'. Obasanjo.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A1,10)
1977 The Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation was established. In 2007 Pres. Umaru Yar’Adua
planned to replace it with 5 new companies.
(Econ, 9/29/07, p.51)
1979 Oct 1, Gen’l. Olusegun
Obasanjo (b.1937), head of Nigeria, relinquished the presidency after
civilian elections. He was jailed by Abacha in 1995 for treason. Shehu
Shagari became the civilian Second Republic president until 1983.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A8)(WSJ,
4/15/03, p.A14)
1979 Nigeria outlawed gas flaring,
to be phased out over 5 years. The law was not enforced and in 2008
some 20 billion cubic meters of year were flared, out of a global total
of 150 billion.
(Econ, 4/5/08, p.50)
1983 Dec 31, In Nigeria the
military again ousted the civilian government.
(www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/nigeria2.htm)
1983 Chinua Achebe authored the
manifesto “The Trouble With Nigeria.” His novels included “Things Fall
Apart.”
(SFC, 8/1/01, p.A9)
1984 Jan, In Nigeria Arthur Judah
Angel (21) was beaten and thrown behind bars when he went to visit a
friend who had been taken into custody at a neighborhood police
station. He failed to pay a bribe and was sentenced to death. During
his time in prison he made drawings and witnessed the hangings of over
450 fellow inmates. After a series of appeals he was released in
February 2000. Rights groups from around the world have used his
surviving 51 death row works to lobby for the abolition of the death
sentence.
(AP, 12/30/08)
1984 Singer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti of
Nigeria was convicted on "spurious" charges of currency violations and
sentenced to 5 years in prison. He was released after 2 years.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A10)
1984 Standard Oil of California
(Socal), under George M. Keller (1923-2008), purchased Gulf Oil and its
extensive operations in Nigeria and changed its name to Chevron.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8)(SFC, 10/20/04, p.C6)(SFC,
10/18/08, p.B1)
1984-1985 Gen’l. Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the
Hausa tribe, ruled Nigeria.
(WSJ, 4/15/03, p.A14)
1985 Newswatch was founded while
the country was under the military regime of Gen’l. Ibrahim Babangida.
Sani Abacha was the deputy head of state and set new standards in the
brutality the state was willing to use to limit criticism.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A13)
1985 Aug 27, In Nigeria Gen’l.
Ibrahim Babangida began his rule. He gave up power in 1993.
(www.nigeriabusinessinfo.com/nigeria-elections2003/babangida-regime.htm)
1986 The Nobel Prize in literature
was awarded to Wole Soyinka of Nigeria.
(WSJ, 10/15/96, p.A16)
1986 A new government came to
power and singer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was released from prison.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A10)
1987 Chinua Achebe authored the
novel "Anthills of the Savannah."
(SFEC, 8/6/00, BR p.4)
1990 Nigeria founded a drug agency
and was soon in scandal as the top people were found to be involved in
trafficking.
(Econ, 12/8/07, p.56)
1990 In Nigeria 109 children died
after taking paracetamol laced with a compound similar to diethylene
glycol and also used in engine coolants.
(AFP, 3/31/09)
1991 Jul 11, A Nigerian Airlines
jet carrying Muslim pilgrims crashed at the Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, int'l
airport, killing all 261 people on board. The plane was a
Canadian-chartered DC-8.
(AP, 7/11/97)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)
1991 The city of Abuja, Nigeria,
officially replaced Lagos as the new capital.
(SFC, 11/23/06, p.A28)
1991 Ken Saro-Wiwa organized the
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. It demanded $10 billion
for environmental damage and royalties from the federal government and
Royal Dutch/Shell Corp., and it threatened to secede from Nigeria.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1992 Sep 26, A Nigerian military
transport plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 163 people
aboard.
(AP internet, 9/26/97)
1992 Kenneth Nnebue, a Nigerian
trader based in Onitsha, shot a film called “Living in Bondage” to help
sell a large stock of blank videocassettes that he had purchased from
Taiwan. The film sold 750,000 copies and prompted imitators and the
growth of a Nigerian film industry known as Nollywood. By 2006
Nigeria’s film industry employed about a million people.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.58)
1992 Commercial creditors forgave
much of Nigeria’s debt.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.80)
1993 Jun 12, Chief Moshood
Abiola, a Yoruba, was elected to the presidency but the election was
annulled by the ruling Hausa and the country plunged into turmoil.
Gen’l. Ibrahim Babangida cancelled the elections. The northern Hausa
and Fulani tribes tended to dominate the military governments.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A20)
1993 Aug 27, Gen’l. Ibrahim
Babangida ended his rule over Nigeria.
(www.nigeriabusinessinfo.com/nigeria-elections2003/babangida-regime.htm)
1993 Sep 5, Seven Nigerian
soldiers were killed in a militia ambush in Somalia as they went to the
aid of other UN peacekeepers surrounded by a stone-throwing mob.
(AP, 9/5/98)
1993 Gen. Sani Abacha seized power
after nullifying an election that Moshood Abiola, a rich businessman,
appeared to have won.
(WSJ, 11/13/95, p.A-10)
1993 Shell Oil stopped pumping oil
in the Ogoni Province, but continued to use pipelines that pass through
it. The Ogonis are a 500,000-strong community in southwestern Nigeria.
They maintain that oil production has polluted their land, destroying
their livelihoods of fishing and farming. Shell canceled several
community development projects. It had earlier agreed to spend $29
million per year on such projects.
(WSJ, 10/14/95, p.A-11) (WSJ, 11/15/95, p.A-1) (WSJ,
12/15/95, p.A-16)
1994 Feb, Nigerian and Cameroon
forces clashed over the Bakassi region on the fishing and oil-rich Gulf
of Guinea.
(SFC, 5/7/96, p.A-10)
1994 May, Four Ogoni political
leaders, accused of collaboration by the youth wing of the MOSOP, were
murdered.
(WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
1994 Jun, A ban began on the
Nigerian paper “Punch” and lasted until Oct 1995.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.67)
1994 Opposition leader Anthony
Enahoro was detained for several months after the military crushed a
pro-democracy strike.
(SFC, 5/14/96, A-10)
1994 Moshood Abiola was imprisoned
by Sani Abacha on charges of treason for declaring himself president.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C2)(SFEC, 7/19/98, p.A20)
1994 Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize
winning author, fled Nigeria to avoid arrest on treason charges by
Gen’l. Abacha. He returned in 1998.
(SFC, 10/15/98, p.C4)
1995 Mar, Retired Gen’l. Olusegun
Obasanjo, former head of state, was arrested by the military junta on
suspicion of complicity in an alleged coup. He was released in 1998.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)(SFC, 3/2/99, p.A10)
1995 Jun 22, Nigeria’s former
military ruler Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and his chief deputy were charged
with conspiracy to overthrow Gen. Sami Abacha’s military government.
(HN, 6/22/00)
1995 Nov 10, The execution by
hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight other members of the Movement for
the Survival of the Ogoni People was supervised by military gov. Col.
Dauda Musa Komo. This prompted the threat of economic sanctions
by the US and the EU.
(WSJ, 11/13/95, p.A-1)(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)
1995 A government tribunal
sentenced a leading environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and three
others to hang for murder. He denied the charges and led protests
against oil activities and pollution in the Ogoniland region.
(WSJ, 11/1/95, p.A-1)
1995 Beko Ransome-Kuti, an
opposition figure, was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison for
trying to make public trial transcripts of an accused coup plotter.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A11)
1995 Nigeria had about 100 million
people and $40 bil in external debt. It was the fifth largest oil
producer in OPEC, and the US imported about 40% of its oil. Per capita
income was $230.
(WSJ, 11/13/95, p.A-10)
1995 Nigeria’s Pres. Sani Abacha
initiated the construction of a natural gas complex.
(WSJ, 6/21/04, p.A3)
1995-2002 In 2003 French prosecutors alleged that
some $180 million in illegal payments were made over this time to
Nigeria by the TSKG consortium in connection with a $4.9 billion
natural gas project at Bonny Bay. The US Halliburton Corp. had a 25%
stake.
(WSJ, 2/5/04, p.A1)
1996 Jan, The son of Nigeria's
military ruler was killed in a plane crash with 13 others. An unknown
group claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 1/22/96, p.A-1)
1996 Mar 16, Voter turnout was
heavy in municipal elections, the first step in a return to civilian
rule.
(WSJ, 3/18/96, A-1)
1996 Mar 30, The military ruler
fired the chiefs of the army and air force amid a high profile visit by
a UN delegation evaluating a promised return to civilian rule.
(WSJ, 4/1/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 4, Nigerian and Cameroon
forces again clashed over the Bakassi region on the fishing and
oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.
(SFC, 5/7/96, p.A-10)
1996 May 13, Bopp van Dessel,
Shell’s former head of environmental studies reported in a taped
interview that the company broke its own rules and inter-national
standards in Nigeria and caused widespread pollution. He resigned from
his post in protest in late 1994.
(SFC, 5/13/96, p.C-12)
1996 Jun 4, In Nigeria Kudirat
Abiola, wife of imprisoned opposition leader Moshood Abiola, was shot
and killed by 6 gunmen near her home in Lagos.
(SFC, 6/5/96, p.C2)
1996 Aug 15, In Nigeria 27 of the
30 governors were sacked by Abacha. The other 3 were transferred to
other states.
(WSJ, 8/16/96, p.A1)
1996 Sep 19, It was reported that
police clashed with demonstrators last week and 10 people were killed
in the city of Kaduna. The crowd was protesting the arrest of their
spiritual leader on charges of broadcasting material that could incite
unrest.
(WSJ, 9/19/96, p.A1)
1996 Nov 7, Flight 086, a Boeing
727 belonging to the Aviation Development Corp., crashed near Epe, east
of Lagos, and 141 people died.
(SFC, 11/8/96, p.A18)
1996 Wole Soyinka published in
exile “The Open Sore of a Continent: A Personal Narrative of the
Nigerian Crises.”
(SFC, 3/13/97, p.A12)
1996 Ibrahim El-Zak Zaky, a
radical Shiite preacher, was detained by the government for inciting
the public against the military government.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1996 In Nigeria Pfizer Inc. tested
an unapproved drug on children for an often deadly strain of
meningitis. In 2006 Nigerian medical experts concluded that Pfizer
violated international law and was never authorized by the Nigerian
government to give the unproven drug Trovan to nearly 100 children and
infants at a field hospital in Kano, where they were being treated.
(Reuters, 5/6/06)
1997 Mar 12, Wole Soyinka, exiled
Nobel Prize winning author, was charged with treason along with 11
others.
(SFC, 3/13/97, p.A12)
1997 Mar 27, Villagers occupied a
7th oil installation on the Niger Delta in protests over local
government elections. Tribesmen last week seized 6 Shell sites. This
shut down 10% of Nigeria’s oil production.
(WSJ, 3/28/97, p.A12)
1997 Jun 2, Nigerian naval vessels
opened fire on Sierra Leone.
(SFC, 6/2/97, p.A8)
1997 Jun 8, Amos Tutuola, folk
writer, died at age 77. Born in Abeokuta his novels included “The
Palmwine Drinkard” and “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.”
(SFC, 6/14/97, p.C2)
1997 Jul 31, Nigeria was named the
most corrupt country in the world by business people in a report
released by the German-based Transparency Int’l.
(SFC, 8/1/97, p.B3)
1997 Aug 2, In Nigeria Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti (b.1938), pop superstar, died of AIDS. He was a
saxophone player who fused rock with African rhythms into a blend known
as "Afrobeat." His albums included: "Zombie," "Army Arrangement," and
"Vagabond in Power." He recorded more than 50 albums in the 1970s and
1980s and his 27 wives mourned his death. In 2003 Michael Veal authored
"Fela: the Life and Times of an African Lion."
(SFC, 8/4/97, p.A16)(SFC, 4/27/04, p.E6)
1997 Nov 20, In Nigeria the
government of Gen’l. Sani Abacha gave 5 political parties $637,000 each
to campaign in elections to restore civilian rule. Opposition groups
called politicians of the 5 parties government stooges. 18 parties had
applied for recognition but only 5 were deemed suitable.
(SFC,11/21/97, p.D6)(SFC, 4/28/98, p.A6)
1997 Nov, Onome Osifo-Whiskey, a
managing editor of Tell news magazine, was abducted from his Lagos
home. Tell under Kola Ilori has managed to maintain publication since
1993 on a weekly basis by printing in secret on presses all over the
country.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.A13)
1997 Dec 20, There was an alleged
coup and Gen’l. Donaldson Oladipu Diya and 11 others were arrested.
(SFC,12/24/97, p.A6)
1997 The military moved the tribal
boundary between the Itsekiri and Ijaw granting more land to the
Itsekiri in the Niger Delta.
(SFC, 6/2/99, p.A14)
1998 Jan 12, An underwater
pipeline from a Mobil Oil production platform broke and released 40,000
barrels of oil into the Niger delta.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, p.A26)
1998 Mar 21, Pope John Paul II
arrived in Abuja and began urging the military government to respect
human rights and release political prisoners.
(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.A2)
1998 Apr 1, A boat enroute to
Gabon with 300 passengers sank in the Bight of Bonny off Nigeria’s Akwa
Ibom state. 280 were missing and feared dead.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.A23)
1998 Apr 19, Police shot dead at
least 3 Shiite Muslims, supporters of Ibrahim El-Zak Zaky, and wounded
many more in Kaduna in clashes over 2 days.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 20, The last of 5
government-sanctioned parties agreed to back Sani Abacha in the
presidential elections. the government gave each party $250,000 for its
convention.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A13)
1998 Apr 28, A military tribunal
sentenced 6 men to death for plotting a 1997 coup against Gen’l.
Abacha. Gen’l. Oladipo Diya, former deputy head of state, maintained
that he was framed by officers close to Abacha who fabricated the plot.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A10)
1998 May 1, In Nigeria police in
Ibadan fired into a crowd of 5,00 people demanding the ouster of Sani
Abacha and witnesses said 7 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.A9)
1998 May 8, Olisa Agbakoba, a
lawyer and leader of the Unite Action for Democracy, was arrested.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1998 May 29, Two activists were
killed by the Nigerian Mobile Police on Chevron’s Parabe oil production
platform. The police were flown in on Chevron helicopters following 4
days of protests. In 2009 a federal judge upheld a San Francisco jury’s
verdict that cleared Chevron of wrongdoing in the shootings.
(SFC, 11/19/98, p.A8,9)(SFC, 3/5/09, p.C1)
1998 Jun 8, Nigeria’s Gen’l. Sani
Abacha (54) died of a heart attack in the arms of 2 Indian prostitutes
and a local virgin. Gen’l. Abdulsalam Abubakar, the defense chief of
staff, was quickly named the new head of state.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A11)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.62)
1998 Jun 12, Security forces broke
up a planned mass protest organized to mark the 5-year anniversary of
the annulment of the last presidential elections.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 15, Nine prominent
political prisoners were released.
(SFC, 6/16/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 18, Six more political
detainees were released.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B7)
1998 Jun 25, Nigeria released 17
more political prisoners.
(WSJ, 6/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jun 27, It was reported that
a plague of “army” worms was ravaging grain fields in the northern
states of the country. The worms could lay 500 eggs in 3 days.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A7)
1998 Jul 2, UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi
Annan announced that at least 250 political prisoners would soon be
released including Moshood Abiola.
(SFC, 7/3/98, p.A14)
1998 Jul 7, In Nigeria opposition
leader Moshood Abiola (60) died of a heart attack while still in prison
and his death sparked rioting in Lagos that left at least 19 people
dead. Gen’l. Abubakar dissolved his cabinet, inherited from Abacha, but
left intact the Provisional Ruling Council. He called the death a
tragedy and appealed for calm.
(SFC, 7/8/98, p.A1)(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A1)(AP, 7/7/99)
1998 Jul 9, Nigeria’s junta
commuted the death sentence of Gen’l. Oladipyo Diya and five other men
convicted of plotting to overthrow Abacha. The rioting continued and
the death toll was raised to 60. Northern Hausa Muslims were fighting
Yorubas.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 7/10/98, p.A1)(SFC,
7/11/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 20, Abubakar announced
that elections would be held in 1999 and power passed to a civilian
president on May 29.
(SFEC, 7/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 1, Elections were planned
and Gen’l. Sani Abacha was to have run unopposed.
(WSJ, 4/21/98, p.A1)
1998 Aug 11, Gen’l. Abubakar named
a new electoral commission and gave it 2 weeks to plan elections to
restore civilian rule by May 29.
(WSJ, 8/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 18, Authorities dropped
charges against Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka and 14 others. Gen’l.
Abubakar had asked that the charges be dropped and said that he was
seeking a national reconciliation.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C16)
1998 Sep 23, Transparency Int’l,
an int’l. good-government advocacy group, said that Cameroon is viewed
as the most corrupt of the 85 countries rated. Nigeria, Tanzania,
Honduras and Paraguay filled out the bottom five. Denmark, Finland and
Sweden were seen as having the cleanest political systems.
(WSJ, 9/23/98, p.B17)
1998 Oct 6, In Nigeria attacks by
Niger Delta protesters shut down the Shell and ENI pipelines. Anger
over pollution of cropland and fishing grounds was growing.
(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 17, In Nigeria a pipeline
explosion near the town of Jesse killed some 700 people. Authorities
believed that scavenger’s tools sparked the explosion.
(SFC, 10/19/98, p.a1)(SFC, 10/20/98, p.A8)(SFC,
10/21/98, p.C2)(AP, 10/17/08)
1998 Oct 22, In Nigeria 6 people
died in clashes between the ethnic Ijaw and Itshekiri youths in the oil
town of Warri.
(SFC, 10/23/98, p.A19)
1998 Dec 2, In Nigeria the
military government uncovered a $2 billion fraud by members of Abacha’s
family involving overpayment to Russia for a steel project.
(WSJ, 12/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 5, In Nigeria local
government elections were held.
(SFEC, 12/6/98, p.A21)
1998 Dec 6, It was reported that
14 people died in poll-related violence.
(WSJ, 12/9/98, p.A1)
1999 Jan 4, Chevron received word
of an attack on its Searrex oil rig in Nigeria. Soldiers dispatched to
the rig allegedly fired on Opia village from a helicopter and 2
villagers were killed. 2 more villagers were killed a short time later
at Ikenyan. A day later Chevron was invoiced $109.25 for the services
of the soldiers.
(SFC, 8/4/05, p.A4)
1999 Jan 9, Gubernatorial
elections were scheduled.
(WSJ, 1/7/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 14, In Sierra Leone the
rebel alliance was prepared for a cease-fire after Nigerian led forces
took control of Freetown.
(SFC, 1/15/99, p.A15)
1999 Feb 9, An oil worker was
kidnapped.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.T14)
1999 Feb 14, A British oil worker
and his son were kidnapped in the southern delta region.
(SFEC, 3/7/99, p.T14)
1999 Feb 15, In Nigeria Gen'l.
Olusegun Obasanjo (61) won the nomination for president by the People's
Democratic Party.
(SFC, 2/16/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 20, In Nigeria National
Assembly elections were scheduled. 469 seats in a bicameral legislature
were vied for by 3 parties. 360 members were for the House of
Representatives and 109 were for senators.
(WSJ, 2/19/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 2/21/99, p.A20)
1999 Feb 21, In Nigeria the
People's Democratic Party, led by Gen'l. Obasanjo, won 169 of 360 seats
in the House. Lola Abiola-Edowar won a seat in the House of
Representatives. She was the daughter of Moshood Abiola, the
billionaire politician who died in military detention in 1998.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A10)(SFC, 2/24/99, p.C3)
1999 Feb 27, Presidential
elections were held. Also it was reported that some 1,200 soldiers had
died in fighting the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra
Leone.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A14)(WSJ, 2/26/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 28, In Nigeria retired
Gen'l. Obasanjo led the presidential vote with 62%. Serious concern
over vote-rigging was expressed.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 2/26/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 1, A gasoline bombing of
2 police stations left 2 people dead including one policeman and 4
injured. The attack was blamed on a group called Odudua, which wants a
separate country for the Yoruba tribe of southwest Nigeria.
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.C4)
1999 Mar 3, In Nigeria 8-14 people
were killed in post-election violence.
(SFC, 3/4/99, p.C4)
1999 Mar 4, In Nigeria the
outgoing military government freed 47 political prisoners including
Gen'l. Oladipo Diya.
(SFC, 3/5/99, p.D2)
1999 Mar 30, Olusegun Obasanjo,
pres. elect of Nigeria, met with Pres. Clinton and vowed to build
democracy.
(WSJ, 3/31/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 1, In Nigeria the NV
George, a wooden vessel, capsized on the St. Bartholomew River several
dozen people were presumed drowned. The death toll was raised past 100
after 50 bodies were found in a sunken hull.
(SFC, 4/3/99, p.A4)(SFC, 4/8/99, p.C3)
1999 May 5, Gen’l. Abubakar signed
a new constitution designed to smooth the transition to civilian rule.
(WSJ, 5/6/99, p.A1)
1999 May 21, It was reported that
the military was plundering the treasury prior to the upcoming transfer
of power. The foreign reserves were said to have decreased by $3
billion since Jan.
(SFC, 5/21/99, p.A12)
1999 May 29, In Nigeria Pres.
Olusegun Obasanjo took office. He suspended contracts awarded by his
predecessor. In the oil region 56 people were killed in ethnic unrest
in the Niger Delta between the Ijaw and Itsekiri. Ijaw tribe fighters
beheaded 3 elderly Itsekiri people.
(WSJ, 5/6/99, p.A1)(SFEC, 5/30/99, p.A17)(WSJ,
6/1/99, p.A1)(SFC, 6/2/99, p.A14)
1999 May 30, Fighting broke out
among members of the Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw tribes in the Niger
River delta.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 2, In Nigeria troops were
deployed to the Niger Delta where the death toll from tribal clashes
had reached 200 after 4 days.
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.C4)
1999 Jun 10, In Nigeria Pres.
Obasanjo forced 122 top officers from the military over the last 2 days
and seized hundreds of millions of dollars from associates of the late
dictator Gen'l. Sani Abacha.
(SFC, 6/11/99, p.D2)
1999 Jun 25, In Nigeria
representatives of the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo ethnic groups agreed
to end ethnic strife and pursue a lasting peace through dialogue.
(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A16)
1999 Jun 28, In Nigeria it was
reported that armed members of the group Enough is Enough had seized 5
workers of Royal Dutch/Shell in Rivers State.
(SFC, 6/29/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 8, Activists in southern
Nigeria claimed to have captured and shut down 61 oil wells operated by
Shell Co. Shell workers were also ejected from wells in the states of
Egbema East and Egbema West.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.D5)
1999 Jul 10, Clashes began between
the Yorubas, mostly Christians, and Hausas, northern Muslims, that left
at least 60 people dead in the southwestern city of Sagamu.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Jul 17, In Nigeria fighting
erupted when a Hausa woman was caught watching a Yoruba ritual. Over
the next days hundreds of Hausa tribes people fled Shagamu to escape
fighting with their Yoruba neighbors.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.C2)
1999 Jul 25, Ethnic fighting
killed at least 70 [40] people in Kano over the weekend.
(WSJ, 7/27/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/24/99, p.)
1999 Jul, Fighting flared between
members of the Ijaws and Ilajes over land long disputed in the
southwest of Ondo state.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Oct 7, It was reported that
floodgates were opened on the Niger River at 2 dams, Jebba and Shiriro,
to prevent Shiriro Lake from overflowing its banks. 400 villages were
submerged leaving 300,000 people homeless and some 500 people were
estimated to have been drowned.
(SFC, 10/7/99, p.C2)
1999 Oct 19, In Nigeria US Sec. of
State Albright recommended that US aid to the country be increase 4
times the current level. The extradition of drug lords as also
discussed with Pres. Obasanjo.
(SFC, 10/20/99, p.B3)
1999 Oct, Swiss authorities first
announced that they froze bank accounts belonging to the late dictator
Sani Abacha and his family members. The accounts totaled some $550
million. Pres. Olusegun said documents proved that Abacha and
associates had diverted some $2.2 billion over a 4-year rule.
(WSJ, 12/15/99, p.A17)
1999 Oct, A joint venture between
Shell, Agip of Italy and TotalFinaElf of France opened a $4 billion
liquid natural gas plant.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
1999 Oct, In Nigeria hundreds of
civilians were killed by soldiers in Benue. In 2002 Pres. Obasanjo
acknowledged that he ordered the military operations.
(SFC, 9/12/02, p.A4)
1999 Nov 3, Armed Itsekiri tribal
youths raided the Nigerian Gas Co. in Ekpan and left 30 people injured.
They protested the firm's decision to pay levies to mainly Urhobo
community groups.
(SFC, 11/5/99, p.A17)
1999 Nov 15, In Nigeria fighting
began in the city of Warri in a dispute over the distribution of pipes
donated by Dutch Oil. At least 40 people were killed.
(SFC, 11/19/99, p.D2)
1999 Nov 22, In Nigeria officials
reported that 43 people had been killed in the Niger Delta including 8
soldiers after some 2,000 soldiers were sent to restore order in Odi
village in southern Bayelsa state. In 2002 Pres. Obasanjo acknowledged
that he ordered the military operations in Odi that killed an estimated
1000 people.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A16)(SFC, 9/12/02, p.A4)
1999 Nov 25, At least 27 people
were killed at a food market in Kedu when Yoruba traders, backed by
members of the militant Odua People's Congress, clashed with Hausa
counterparts.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.B4)
1999 Nigeria’s Kano state
introduced Islamic sharia law.
(Econ, 2/3/07, p.50)
2000 Jan 5, In Nigeria rival
youths of the Yoruba and Hausa tribes clashed in Lagos and Ibadan and
some 35 people were killed.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D3)
2000 Feb 9, In Nigeria it was
reported that 17 people were killed when a young man, who was not
allowed to participate, lit a match at a site where people were
siphoning off fuel from a pipeline in Ogwe.
(SFC, 2/10/00, p.C4)
2000 Feb 21, In Nigeria Muslim and
Christian youths seized parts of Kaduna in clashes over a
proposal to bring Islamic law (Shariah) to the state. Over 20 people
were killed.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A10)
2000 Feb 23, In Nigeria residents
fled Kaduna after 2 days of religious clashes left at least 200 people
dead.
(SFC, 2/24/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 28, In Nigeria ethnic
violence between the Ibos and Hausas was reported from Aba in reaction
to the fighting in Kuduna. At least 50 people were reported dead.
(WSJ, 2/29/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 1, In Nigeria Pres.
Obasanjo deplored the recent killings in the southeast as the death
toll passed 400.
(WSJ, 3/2/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 22, In Nigeria a pipeline
fire killed 50 people siphoning off gas in Abia state.
(SFC, 3/23/00, p.D2)
2000 Apr 19, Dozens of boat
passengers were missing and feared dead after a boat carrying as many
as 500 villagers sank on the Nembe River.
(SFC, 4/21/00, p.A20)
2000 May 22, Fresh
Christian-Muslim clashes left 3 people dead in Kaduna.
(WSJ, 5/23/00, p.A1)
2000 May 23, In Nigeria Christians
and Muslims clashed for a 2nd day in Kaduna and the death toll mounted
to 100.
(SFC, 5/24/00, p.C4)
2000 Jun 8, In Nigeria rioting in
Lagos and a nationwide strike began after a 50% increase in fuel prices.
(SFC, 6/9/00, p.A15)
2000 Jun 13, In Nigeria a national
strike ended after the government agreed to a substantial reduction in
the 50% increase to fuel prices.
(SFC, 6/14/00, p.A13)
2000 Jun 19, Representatives of
Nigeria said they found bank accounts in Liechtenstein with over $150
million held by family members of former dictator Gen Sani Abacha.
(SFC, 6/20/00, p.A13)
2000 Jul 10, Over 100 people, many
of them children, were burned to death after a damaged gasoline pipe
exploded near the villages of Adeje and Oviri-Court in the Niger Delta.
The toll was later raised to 200.
(SFC, 7/12/00, p.A8)(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A12)
2000 Jul 16, Another pipeline
blast killed over 100 people between the villages of Ifie and Ijala.
The line was punctured to steal fuel.
(SFC, 7/17/00, p.A13)(WSJ, 7/17/00, p.A1)(WSJ,
7/18/00, p.A1)
2000 Jul 23, In Nigeria another
pipeline fire broke out near the port of Warri and left 40 fuel
scavengers dead.
(SFC,7/25/00, p.A14)(SFC, 7/26/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 6, In Nigeria an
overcrowded boat capsized on the Atlantic coast near the Cameroon
border and at least 40 people drowned. 42 survived.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A12)
2000 Aug 26, Pres. Clinton visited
Nigeria. Pres. Obasanjo, head of 110 million people, pressed Clinton to
help reduce the country’s $32 billion debt.
(SFEC, 8/27/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 27, Pres. Clinton visited
the village of Ushafa in Nigeria and urged Nigerians to confront the
“tyranny” of AIDS.
(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 5, Nigerians from Libya
arrived home on repatriation flights and bore tales of a pogrom by
youths resentful of economic immigrants.
(WSJ, 10/6/00, p.A1)
2000 Oct 16, In Lagos, Nigeria,
over 100 people died in clashes between Hausas and Yorubas. Most of the
dead were believed to be Hausas.
(SFC, 10/17/00, p.A16)(WSJ, 10/18/00, p.A1)(SFC,
10/20/00, p.D8)
2000 Oct 17, Lagos state Gov. Bola
Tinubu summoned Hausa and Yoruba leaders to peace talks.
(SFC, 10/19/00, p.C10)
2000 Oct 18, The Odudua Peoples
Congress, a Yoruba nationalist group, was banned and some officials of
the movement were arrested.
(SFC, 10/20/00, p.D8)
2000 Nov 5, At least 96 people
were killed when an oil tanker truck slammed into a line of parked
vehicles at a police check point between Ife and Ibadan.
(SFC, 11/7/00, p.B2)
2000 Nov 30, Dozens were
incinerated while scooping gasoline from a pipeline.
(WSJ, 12/1/00, p.A1)
2000 Dec 9, 62 people were killed
when a bus collided with a truck a 3rd vehicle hit the 1st two and
burst into flames.
(SFC, 12/13/00, p.B4)
2000 In Nigeria Anambra Gov.
Chinwoke Mbadinuju invited a fanatical Christian group, the Bakassi
Boys, to enforce law and order after some 35 merchants were killed near
Onitsha.
(SFC, 3/26/01, p.A8)
2000 In Nigeria 12 northern states
declared sharia law.
(Econ, 2/25/06, p.54)
2000 Nigeria was rated the most
corrupt country in the world according to Transparency Int’l. By 2007
it improved to become the 32nd most corrupt.
(Econ, 10/20/07, p.66)
2001 Jan 19, In Nigeria Bariya
Magazu (19) was flogged 100 times for having premarital sex under
Islamic law (sharia).
(SFC, 1/23/01, p.A11)
2001 Mar 6, In Jos 30 girls died
from a fire at the Gindiri Girls School. They were reportedly locked in
for the night so as not to mix with boys.
(WSJ, 3/8/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 18, A mosque collapsed
amid a downpour in a Lagos shantytown and at least 12 children were
killed.
(WSJ, 4/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 26, Kofi Annan addressed
an AIDS summit in Nigeria and called for an increase of funding against
AIDS to at least $7 billion.
(SFC, 4/27/01, p.D2)
2001 Apr 26, Nigeria announced an
agreement with Cipla, an Indian drug maker, for drugs to treat 10,000
people with AIDS at $350 per patient per year.
(SFC, 4/26/01, p.A13)
2001 Apr 27, 53 African states
signed a joint declaration to boost health spending to 15% to fight
AIDS.
(SFC, 4/28/01, p.A10)
2001 Apr, Dorothy Akunyili took
over as head of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration (Nafdac). Her main mission was to shut down drug
counterfeiters.
(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.A1)
2001 Jun 12, Clashes erupted
between the Azare and Tiv communities in central Nigeria.
(SFC, 6/30/01, p.A10)
2001 Jun 30, It was reported that
some 50,000 people had been driven from their homes in central Nigeria
during 2 weeks of ethnic violence in which as many as 200 people died
in Nassarawa state.
(SFC, 6/30/01, p.A10)
2001 Jul 18, A 30-member robbery
gang killed up to 22 people in the town of Awkuzu in Anambra state.
They began with the house of Francis Okafor, a vigilante member.
(SFC, 7/21/01, p.E2)
2001 Jul, Over 100 people were
killed in Nassarawa state in clashes between Tivs and other tribes.
(SFC, 8/1/01, p.A8)
2001 Sep 7, In Nigeria violence
between Christians and Muslims erupted in Jos. Pres. Obasanjo called
out the military the next day with dozens dead. Thousands fled the area
and at least 70 people were killed.
(SSFC, 9/9/01, p.A18)(WSJ, 9/10/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 12, Fighting resumed in
Jos and the death toll estimate was raised to 165. Police moved to
quell the violence.
(SFC, 9/13/01, p.C2)
2001 Oct 14, Weekend anti-American
protests left at least 200 people dead in Kano.
(SFC, 10/15/01, p.A5)
2001 Oct 12, The mutilated bodies
of 19 abducted soldiers were found in Benue state.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C16)
2001 Oct 22-24, In eastern Nigeria
soldiers killed up to 200 civilians and caused thousands of villagers
to flee into the bush. The killings were apparently in revenge for 19
soldiers killed in Benue state. Pres. Obasanjo later acknowledged
ordering the attacks and made a formal apology Jan 1, 2003.
(SFC, 10/25/01, p.C16)(SFC, 10/26/01, p.D3)(AP,
1/3/03)
2001 Oct 23, African leaders
gathered in Nigeria for the formal launch of the New Africa Initiative,
aimed at reviving ailing their economies.
(WSJ, 10/23/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct, Safiya Hussaini
Tungar-Tudu (35) was convicted of adultery and sentenced in an Islamic
court to be stoned while buried up to waist in sand. Her appeal began
in Jan 2002. Hussaini was acquitted Mar 25 based on insufficient
evidence.
(SFC, 1/15/02, p.A9)(SFC, 3/26/02, p.A6)
2001 Nov 4, In northern Nigeria
Christian-Muslim fighting over the weekend left about 10 dead. It was
sparked by the imposition of Muslim religious law, Shariah.
(WSJ, 11/6/01, p.A1)
2001 Dec 23, Bola Ige (71),
justice minister and attorney general, was shot and killed at his
home in Ibadan, Osun state. Pres. Obasanjo sent troops to Ibadan.
(SFC, 12/25/01, p.A4)
2001 Over 100 flare stacks burned
some 2 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per day. It was
estimated that 35 million tons of carbon dioxide was released annually
along with 12 million tons of methane.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
2001 Muslim-Christian fighting in
Jos over the year left some 915 dead.
(WSJ, 9/19/02, p.A1)
2002 Jan 6, It was reported that
Nigeria had a National Youth Service Corps that required participation
by all university graduates under age 30.
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 12, In Nigeria fighting
broke out in Owo when members of the Odua People’s Congress approached
the palace of a Yoruba tribal leader. Dozens were feared dead.
(SFC, 1/14/02, p.A6)
2002 Jan 17, In Nigeria labor
leaders ended a 2-day general strike after Adams Oshiomole and other
activists of the Labor Congress were arrested.
(SFC, 1/18/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 27, In Nigeria explosions
at the Ikeja military base rocked Lagos. Hundreds of people died when
they fled the area and drowned in Oke Afa drainage canal. Deaths from
panic later rose to 600 and then 1,000-2,000.
(SFC, 1/29/02, p.A5)(SFC, 1/30/02, p.A9)(SFC,
1/31/02, p.A9)(SSFC, 2/3/02, p.A17)
2002 Feb 2, In Lagos fighting
broke out between militants of the Yoruba and Hausa tribes. At least 55
people were killed over the next 2 days as fighting spread.
(SFC, 2/4/02, p.A3)(SFC, 2/5/02, p.A5)
2002 Feb 5, Troops cracked down on
ethnic fighting in Lagos following 3 days of clashes that left over 100
dead.
(WSJ, 2/6/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 14, Parliament voted to
condemn Pres. Obasanjo for “ineptitude, insensitivity” and other
offenses.
(WSJ, 2/15/02, p.A1)
2002 Feb 23, Switzerland largest
bank said it was freezing accounts containing money of the family of
Sani Abacha of Nigeria, dictator from 1993-1998. The total blocked now
reached $720 million.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.A20)
2002 Apr 4, Young Ijaw men from
Amatu kidnapped 10 oil workers off the southern coast. They demanded
employment, oil contracts and other help.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.A12)
2002 Apr 17, The Swiss government
announced that the family of Sani Abacha will return $1 billion to
Nigeria in an out-of-court settlement that allowed them keep $100
million.
(SFC, 4/18/02, p.A11)
2002 May 4, A Nigerian jet crashed
in Kano. 4 of 76 onboard survived. Nigeria's EAS Airlines owned the
British Aerospace twin-engine jet. The Red Cross reported 145 dead. A
total of 154 people on the plane and the ground were killed.
(SSFC, 5/5/02, p.A16)(SFC, 5/6/02, p.A3)(AP, 5/4/03)
2002 Jul 8, In Nigeria unarmed
women, from the Arutan and Igborodo communities occupied a
Chevron-Texaco oil terminal, preventing 700 workers, including
Americans, Britons, and Canadians, from leaving. Their number soon
reached as many as 2,000.
(AP, 7/11/02)
2002 Jul 15, In Nigeria women
occupying a ChevronTexaco oil terminal agreed to end their eight-day
siege after the company offered to hire at least 25 villagers and to
build schools, electrical and water systems.
(AP, 7/15/02)
2002 Jul 17, In Nigeria hundreds
of unarmed women of the Ijaw tribe seized control of at least 4 more
ChevronTexaco facilities in the Niger Delta.
(SFC, 7/18/02, p.A17)
2002 Jul 19, In Abiteye, Nigeria,
unarmed women occupying at least four ChevronTexaco facilities took two
hostages in a bid to meet with oil executives.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Jul 20, In southeastern
Nigeria unarmed women occupying at least four ChevronTexaco facilities
said they had freed their two hostages in return for a promise from oil
executives to meet with them.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Jul 20, In Nigeria a huge
fire broke out Saturday at ChevronTexaco's main oil terminal, days
after unarmed village women ended a 10-day siege that crippled the oil
giant's local operations.
(AP, 7/20/02)
2002 Jul 20-22, In Nigeria dozens
of villagers have been killed, many hacked to death, in three days of
clashes between rival political factions battling for influence in an
oil-rich area of the Niger Delta.
(AP, 7/23/02)
2002 Jul 25, Hundreds of Nigerian
women left ChevronTexaco pumping stations in canoes and on foot
following an agreement with company executives.
(AP, 7/26/02)
2002 Jul 29, In Nigeria
presidential bodyguards opened fire on young men who were throwing
stones near the rear of Obasanjo's mile-long motorcade. Some people
were seen falling with multiple gunshot wounds, and at least six limp
bodies were seen being hauled away.
(AP, 7/29/02)
2002 Aug 3, In Nigeria amid
political wrangling and fears of violence, President Olusegun Obasanjo
said nationwide municipal elections would be postponed for the second
time in six months.
(AP, 8/3/02)
2002 Aug 8, In Nigeria police
freed 46 captives many of them chained and badly beaten in raids on
five "torture centers" run by a feared vigilante group.
(AP, 8/9/02)
2002 Aug 13, In Nigeria the lower
house called for the resignation of Pres. Obasanjo.
(WSJ, 8/14/02, p.A10)
2002 Aug 16, In central Nigeria
gunmen killed Ahmad Ahman Pategi, Kwara state chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party and a senior official of President Olusegun Obasanjo's
ruling party, along with his police bodyguard.
(AP, 8/17/02)
2002 Aug 19, An Islamic high court
in northern Nigeria rejected an appeal by Amina Lawal, a single mother
sentenced to be stoned to death for having sex out of wedlock.
(AP, 8/19/02)(WSJ, 8/20/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 26, In Nigeria an Islamic
court has sentenced a couple to death by stoning for having an affair,
marking the first time in Nigeria that a man has been sentenced to
death for adultery.
(AP, 8/29/02)
2002 Aug 28, Nigeria renewed
warnings that it cannot pay its debt service payments for the year
because of falling oil revenue.
(AP, 8/28/02)
2002 Sep 16, In Lagos, Nigeria, an
accidental factory fire complex fire left at least 15 dead. Thousands
of rioters soon burned and looted the factory. 45 bodies were later
recovered.
(AP, 9/17/02)(WSJ, 9/19/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 19, In Nigeria Ijaw tribe
militants captured seven foreign-owned oil facilities and threatened to
invade dozens more in a bid to force the government to change election
boundaries they say favor a rival tribe.
(AP, 9/20/02)(SFC, 9/21/02, p.A6)
2002 Sep 30, The National
Intelligence Council said China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria and Russia
will have 50-75 million HIV-infected people by 2010, more than any
other 5 countries.
(SFC, 10/1/02, p.A5)
2002 Oct 10, The United Nations'
highest judicial body ruled in favor of Cameroon in a border dispute
with Nigeria, giving it possession of an oil-rich peninsula in the Gulf
of Guinea.
(AP, 10/12/02)
2002 Oct 23, The Nigerian
government said it rejects a World Court ruling that granted possession
of a disputed oil-rich peninsula to neighboring Cameroon.
(AP, 10/23/02)
2002 Oct 24, Nigeria's parliament
approved changes to an oil revenue-sharing law that gives state
governments a share of revenues from offshore oil and gas production.
(AP, 10/25/02)
2002 Nov 8, Nigeria's Supreme
Court scrapped limits on the number of political parties, opening the
way for dozens of groups hoping to battle President Olusegun Obasanjo's
ruling party in 2003 elections.
(AP, 11/9/02)
2002 Nov 12, The Nigerian navy
raided a village in the swamps of the Niger Delta killing five people
after attackers from the village robbed a ChevronTexaco oil boat.
(AP, 11/14/02)
2002 Nov 21, In Kaduna, Nigeria,
protesters set fire to cars and churches in the during demonstrations
over a newspaper article suggesting Islam's founding prophet might have
chosen a wife from among contestants in the Miss World beauty pageant
in Nigeria. Witnesses said at least four people were stabbed and burned
to death.
(AP, 11/21/02)
2002 Nov 22, In Kaduna, Nigeria,
Christian youths retaliated against Muslims in the 3rd day of riots
triggered by a newspaper article about the Miss World pageant. Red
Cross officials said about 100 had died and 500 were injured.
(AP, 11/22/02)
2002 Nov 23, Miss World organizers
moved the beauty pageant from Nigeria to London after three days of
Muslim-Christian bloodletting killed 215 people. The violence was
triggered by a newspaper's suggestion that the Islamic prophet Muhammad
would have liked the event.
(AP, 11/23/02)(AP, 11/24/02)
2002-2004 The Nigerian and Cameroon nations spent two
years exchanging small areas of territory along their land border north
of Bakassi until September 2004 when the peninsula itself was first due
to change hands. Nigeria cited "technical difficulties" for missing
that deadline, and after two years of stalemate agreed at a meeting in
the United Nations on June 12, 2006, to pull out within 60 days.
(AP, 8/13/06)
2003 Feb 2, In Nigeria a powerful
explosion destroyed a bank and dozens of apartments above it on Lagos
Island, and relief workers reported at least 46 killed and many more
trapped.
(AP, 2/2/03)(AP, 2/3/04)
2003 Feb 15, Nigerian oil
workers launched an indefinite strike that could shut down crude
exports in the world’s 6th largest oil exporter.
(AP, 2/15/03)
2003 Feb 25, In Nigeria
cars and buses ground to a halt in Africa’s leading oil-producing
nation, gripped by its worst fuel shortage since military rule ended
four years ago. Nigeria, with a population of 120 million people,
consumes 300,000 barrels of crude oil daily. Panic buying followed a
recent strike.
(AP, 2/25/03)
2003 Feb 27,
Semi-nomadic fighters attacked a village near Nigeria’s remote eastern
border with Cameroon, reportedly leaving dozens of people, including
seven policemen and a soldier, dead. Separately a large dugout canoe
capsized on the Niger River, drowning at least 30 passengers.
(AP, 3/3/03)
2003 Feb 28, The
International Atomic Energy Agency said it has sent an emergency
mission to Nigeria to help find an undisclosed amount of missing or
stolen radioactive material.
(AP, 2/28/03)
2003 Mar 5, In
Nigeria Marshall Harry, a senior member of the main opposition
party, was shot and killed by gunmen who broke into his home in the
capital.
(AP, 3/5/03)
2003 Mar 7, In Nigeria the
“Oba,” or king, of Lagos Island, Adeyinka Oyekan II (92), died. Ritual
human sacrifice was feared and a week of mourning left streets deserted.
(AP, 3/14/03)
2003 Mar 12, In Nigeria tribal
fighting began between the Ijaw and Itsekiri.
(SFC, 3/21/03, p.A9)
2003 Mar 17, In Nigeria ethnic
clashes left 8 people dead, including an employee of ChevronTexaco.
(AP, 3/18/03)
2003 Mar 19, Boatloads of Nigerian
troops headed into the oil-rich Niger Delta on to put down days of
ethnic violence that has left dozens dead and disrupted multinational
oil operations.
(AP, 3/20/03)(SFC, 3/21/03, p.A9)
2003 Mar 22, In Nigeria ethnic
militants threatened to blow up 11 multinational oil installations they
claimed to have captured in retaliation for military raids.
(AP, 3/22/03)
2003 Mar 26, In Nigeria Ijaw
militants battling soldiers and tribal enemies in the oil-rich delta
region called for a cease-fire after state officials agreed to support
their political demands.
(AP, 3/26/03)
2003 Mar 29, Nigeria police shot
and killed seven members of the Movement for the Actualization of the
Sovereign State of Biafra and arrested more than 20 to forestall a
rally where they planned to make a symbolic declaration of
independence. The leader of the failed Biafra state, Emeka Odumegwu
Ojukwu, a leading opposition politician, lost in the April, 2003,
presidential elections that were widely alleged to have been rigged.
(AP, 3/30/03)(AP, 3/23/05)
2003 Apr 1, In Nigeria the 12-day
rampage by Ijaw extremists has cut the normal oil output of 2 million
barrels a day by 40 percent. Nigeria is the fifth-biggest supplier of
US oil imports.
(AP, 4/1/03)
2003 Apr 6, Babatunde Olatunji,
Nigerian drummer, died at the Esalen Inst. in Big Sur, Ca. He pioneered
African music in the US with his 1959 album “Drums of Passion.”
(SFC, 4/9/03, p.A31)
2003 Apr 12, In Nigeria
parliamentary elections took place for 469 seats in the House and
Senate. 61 million voters were registered. The ruling party led
legislative elections, but violence accompanying voting in the oil-rich
south left at least two dozen people dead.
(WSJ, 4/11/03, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/13/03, p.A8)(AP,
4/14/03)
2003 Apr 19, In Nigeria elections
Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military ruler turned civilian
statesman, sought a second term against some 20 other candidates.
Obasanjo won 62% of 42 million votes. Opponents denounced the elections
as fraudulent and claimed serious rigging in 16 of 36 states.
(AP, 4/21/03)(WSJ, 4/22/03, A1)(Econ, 1/29/05,
p.45)
2003 Apr 19, Striking Nigerian oil
workers took about 100 foreign workers hostage on several offshore oil
installations.
(AP, 4/29/03)
2003 May 2, Striking Nigerian oil
workers released the first of hundreds of people they have held for
days on oil rigs as part of an agreement to free all the captives.
(AP, 5/2/03)
2003 Jun 19, In northeastern
Nigeria 30 miles north of the city of Umuahia, fuel gushing from a
vandalized pipeline exploded, killed at least 105 villagers as they
scavenged gasoline.
(AP, 6/21/03)
2003 Jun 30, In Nigeria a general
strike called to protest massive fuel-price increases paralyzed the
major cities. Police fired tear gas to break up mobs of banner-waving
workers and roving armed gangs.
(AP, 6/30/03)
2003 Jul 8, Nigeria's main trade
unions accepted a government compromise on fuel prices and ended a
crippling eight-day strike.
(AP, 7/8/03)
2003 Jul 12, Pres. Bush met with
Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo in Nigeria. They discussed the circumstances
under which Liberian President Charles Taylor will live in exile in
Nigeria, Wrapping up a five-day tour of Africa, President Bush said he
would not allow terrorists to use the continent as a base "to threaten
the world."
(SFC, 7/7/03, p.A8)(AP, 7/12/04)
2003 Aug 16, In Nigeria's southern
oil port city of Warri, authorities imposed a nighttime curfew
following gunbattles between rival tribal militias that have killed at
least 20 people.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2003 Aug 22, In Nigeria 5 days of
street battles in Warri left as many as 100 dead.
(SFC, 8/23/03, p.A16)
2003 Aug 29, In Nigeria crude oil
spilling from a ruptured Shell Oil pipeline burst into flames near a
southeastern village, scorching yam fields and spreading thick, black
smoke for miles. More than one-tenth of Nigeria's exports are stolen
daily by criminal rings who siphon the fuel from pipelines using
everything from buckets to sophisticated pumps.
(AP, 9/2/03)
2003 Sep 8, In central Nigeria 3
buses and a truck collided, killing more than 100 people in the impact
and the fiery explosion that followed.
(AP, 9/8/03)
2003 Sep 25, In Nigeria an Islamic
appeals court overturned the conviction of Amina Lawal. She had been
sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery.
(AP, 9/25/03)
2003 Sep 27, A Russian rocket
brought two Russian and four foreign satellites, including Nigeria's
first, into orbit. Nigeria's $13 million craft, to be used for taking
photos, was built by a British firm.
(AP, 9/27/03)(Econ, 9/13/03, p.42)
2003 Sep 30, Nigeria lifted its
fuel price cap on petrol, diesel and kerosene throwing the market open
to competition and chaos ensued.
(Econ, 10/18/03, p.46)
2003 Oct 7, A ferry hit a bridge
in eastern Nigeria and capsized. Dozens were believed dead.
(AP, 10/11/03)
2003 Oct 15, Nigerian police
returned 74 child workers to Benin. As young as 4 years old, their skin
broken and palms callused from months of hauling granite, they received
food, clothes and medical care in the West African state of Benin after
being rescued from the traffickers who sold them into heavy labor. On
Sept. 27 authorities brought back 116 children who had been put to work
in the granite quarries of southwest Nigeria.
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Oct 24, Nigerian health
workers began an emergency drive to immunize some 15 million children
against polio. Some 192 cases were currently active.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.A3)
2003 Oct, The Panama-registered
tanker African Pride, carrying 11,300 tons of crude oil, was boarded by
the Nigerian navy. The oil had allegedly been stolen by pirates in the
Niger Delta. 12 Russian sailors, two Romanians and a Georgian were
imprisoned in Nigeria. 2 naval admirals were prosecuted and dismissed
after the Greek-owned ship disappeared following its seizure. In 2005 a
Nigerian court agreed to free the sailors on bail.
(AP, 8/5/05)
2003 Nov 4, In Nigeria pirates
armed with automatic rifles and dressed in camouflage fatigues ambushed
a police boat in the troubled oil delta. 5 officers were missing and
presumed killed.
(AP, 11/6/03)
2003 Nov 10, The US State Dept.
distanced itself from a congressional push to capture toppled Liberian
leader Charles Taylor in Nigeria via a $2 million reward.
(SFC, 11/15/03, p.A9)
2003 Nov 25, Nigeria's President
Olusegun Obasanjo said he will surrender ousted Liberian leader Charles
Taylor to face a war crimes trial if Liberia asks.
(AP, 11/25/03)
2003 Dec 2, Nigeria dismissed a
human rights report that accused the government of killing opposition
activists and stifling free speech, calling the charges "jaundiced and
misconceived."
(AP, 12/2/03)
2003 Dec 5, In Nigeria in the
opening session of the summit of Britain and its former colonies
British PM Tony Blair urged African leaders not to lift Zimbabwe's
suspension from the Commonwealth.
(AP, 12/5/03)
2003 Dec 7, Zimbabwe pulled out of
the Commonwealth rather than endure a suspension after members in
Nigeria decided to extend the southern African country's suspension
from the organization of Britain and its former colonies.
(AP, 12/7/03)
2003 Dec 8, In Nigeria the
Commonwealth summit of 54-nations, representing nearly one-third of the
world's 6 billion people, ended with Western nations blaming Zimbabwe
for its own growing international isolation.
(AP, 12/8/03)
2003 Nigeria banned trafficking in
humans and set up an agency to curb it.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.45)
2003 Nigeria’s Pres. Obasanjo
created a financial-crimes investigation unit. Nuhu Ribadu was
appointed as the antifraud czar.
(WSJ, 4/13/05, p.A1)
2004 Jan 3, Nigeria said it had
routed a newly emerged Muslim militant movement fighting to create an
Islamic state in Africa's most populous nation. 2 weeks of running
gunbattles had killed at least eight people.
(AP, 1/3/04)
2004 Jan 28, Nigeria said North
Korea had agreed to share its missile technology. Nigerian VP
Atiku Abubakar reached the accord with Yang Hyong Sop, the visiting VP
of North Korea's Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. Nigeria
rejected the offer under US pressure.
(AP, 1/28/04)(WSJ, 2/4/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 30, A 25-30 seat
passenger plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Lagos, Nigeria.
(AP, 1/30/04)
2004 Jan, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a
former World Bank director and Nigeria’s new finance minister, promised
that the civil service would be cut by 40%, and that top bureaucrats
would have to pass exams.
(Econ, 2/28/04, p.46)
2004 Feb 6, Nigeria ordered an
investigation into allegations that a Halliburton Co. subsidiary paid
$180 million in bribes to land a natural gas project (1995-2002), while
US Vice President Dick Cheney was head of Halliburton.
(AP, 2/6/04)(WSJ, 2/5/04, p.A6)
2004 Feb 22, An Islamic state in
Nigeria that is at the heart of a spreading Africa polio outbreak
declared it would not relent on its boycott of a mass vaccination
program which it called a U.S. plot to spread AIDS and infertility
among Muslims.
(AP, 2/22/04)
2004 Feb 23, The World Health
Organization launched a massive immunization campaign targeting 63
million children in 10 African countries as a polio outbreak spread
from heavily Muslim northern Nigeria.
(AP, 2/21/04)
2004 Feb 24, In central Nigeria
suspected Muslim militants armed with guns and bows and arrows killed
at least 48 people in an attack on a farming village. Most of the
victims died as they sought refuge in a church.
(AP, 2/25/04)
2004 Mar 9, A shootout between
unidentified gunmen and government troops in Nigeria's oil city of
Warri killed five people, including one soldier. Separately an
overturned candle ignited a fire that raged through a shantytown in
Lagos.
(AP, 3/10/04)
2004 Mar 22, Oil giant Royal
Dutch/Shell said it plans to streamline its operations in Nigeria. An
estimated 1,500 people, or about 30 percent of its work force of about
5,000, will be laid off.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Mar 27, Tens of thousands of
security forces guarded voting stations as Nigerians cast ballots in
tense municipal elections.
(AP, 3/27/04)
2004 Mar, In Lagos, Nigeria, a
fire destroyed the 11-story food and drug administration building
(Nafdac). 2 days later a Nafdaq lab in Abuja was burned. Criminal gangs
linked to drug counterfeiters were suspected.
(WSJ, 5/28/04, p.A5)
2004 Apr 22, In Nigeria rival
militias threatened to escalate an ethnic conflict in Nigeria's oil
delta, where 10 people were killed this week in an attack on a boat
full of market vendors.
(AP, 4/22/04)
2004 Apr 23, In Nigeria a
speedboat full of gunmen attacked a boat carrying oil workers in the
delta region. 2 Americans and 4 others were killed.
(AP, 4/24/04)(SSFC, 4/25/04, p.A3)
2004 May 2-2004 May 4, In Nigeria
Tarok fighters, a predominantly Christian tribe, attacked Yelwa, a town
dominated by Hausa, a rival Muslim ethnic group, razing homes and
mosques and killing 500-600 people in 2 attacks over the last 3 days.
(AP, 5/6/04)(SFC, 5/7/04, p.A9)
2004 May 6, In Nigeria lawmakers
in the mostly Islamic Kano state approved a law calling for Muslims to
be whipped and Christians to be jailed if they are caught drinking
alcohol.
(AP, 5/8/04)
2004 May 11, In Nigeria angry
young Muslim men attacked "nonbelievers" with machetes in Kano, while
others burned cars, stores and apartments in apparent revenge for last
week's killings of hundreds of Muslims by a Christian group.
(AP, 5/11/04)
2004 May 12, In Nigeria Muslim
mobs in Kano attacked Christians and as many as 30 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/13/04, p.A10)
2004 May 18, Nigeria's Pres.
Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in a troubled central state on,
invoking sweeping powers in a bid to halt religious and ethnic
bloodletting. Obasanjo sacked Gov. Joshua Dariye and dissolved the
legislature in the central state of Plateau.
(AP, 5/18/04)
2004 May 27, The Nigerian state of
Kano abandoned its moratorium on polio vaccinations.
(SFC, 5/28/04, p.A3)
2004 May 31, Nigeria’s President
Olusegun Obasanjo said that his country's 30-billion-dollar external
debt was "burdensome, unsustainable and unpayable" and appealed for
leniency from its creditors.
(AP, 5/31/04)
2004 Jun 4, Nigerian troops killed
17 armed bandits in oil-rich Delta state, as military operations
intensified to disarm criminals engaged in oil theft and piracy in the
Niger delta.
(Reuters, 6/5/04)
2004 Jun 9, In Nigeria unions
representing millions of workers launched a general strike over fuel
price hikes.
(AP, 6/9/04)
2004 Jun 9, In Nigeria Christians
battled Muslims in Abuja, burning homes and places of worship in a
dispute over construction of a mosque near a Christian tribal leader's
palace. Police confirmed nine deaths and witnesses put the toll at more
than 50.
(AP, 6/10/04)
2004 Jun 11, In Nigeria labor
groups representing millions of workers abandoned a crippling three-day
general strike.
(AP, 6/11/04)
2004 Jun 12, At least 14 people
were killed in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta state as vigilante mobs hunted
down suspected armed robbers, soaked them in petrol and then set them
alight.
(Reuters, 6/15/04)
2004 Jun 18, West African defense
chiefs agreed to create a 6,500-strong multinational force to respond
to "crisis and threats to peace" in the war-ravaged region. The
announcement followed a 2-day meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, involving
defense chiefs of staff from the 15 member nations of ECOWAS.
(AP, 6/18/04)
2004 Jun 30, From Nigeria it was
reported that Alhaji Dokubo-Asari head of an ethnically diverse mix of
fighters who chiefly worship Egbesu, the traditional god of war for
ethnic Ijaw, was trying to wrest the oil-rich Niger Delta away from
multinational oil giants and the government, and put it into the hands
of "the people."
(AP, 7/1/04)
2004 Jul 11-14, Security forces
raided five villages in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, leaving 15
people dead and homes ransacked and burned.
(AP, 7/15/04)
2004 Aug 4, Police in eastern
Nigeria discovered skulls and corpses of at least 83 people in shrines
where a secretive cult was believed to have carried out traditional
ritual killings. 30 shamans were arrested in a part of Anambra state
called “the evil forest.”
(AP, 8/5/04)(WSJ, 8/6/04, p.A1)(CP, 8/13/04)
2004 Aug 12, In northeastern
Nigeria flash floods have submerged houses and farms, drowning at least
23 people as they slept and forcing more than 1,000 to flee their
villages.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Aug 16, In Nigeria an oil
tanker truck went out of control and plowed into a bustling Nigerian
market in Kano, killing 17.
(AP, 8/16/04)
2004 Aug 24, The Nigerian Senate
ordered Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell to pay 1.5 billion dollars (1.2
billion euros) compensation for damages caused by nearly 60 years of
exploration in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 8/25/04)
2004 Sep 9, Nigerian troops
battled militia forces in the mangrove swamps of Africa's leading oil
region, the Niger Delta. The offensive has forced refugees to stream
into the Port Harcourt.
(AP, 9/9/04)
2004 Sep 16, In Nigeria an oil
pipeline exploded near Lagos as thieves tried to siphon oil from it,
sparking a fire that killed at least 30 people.
(AP, 9/17/04)
2004 Sep 21, In northern Nigeria
Islamic militants fighting to create a Taliban-style state launched
their first attacks since January, assaulting two police stations in
the northeast and killing six people.
(AP, 9/23/04)
2004 Sep 23, In northern Nigeria a
gunbattle between security forces and Islamic militants fighting to
create a Taliban-style state left 29 people dead, most of them
militants.
(AP, 9/24/04)
2004 Sep 27, In Nigeria militiamen
trying to wrest control of the oil-rich Niger Delta threatened to
launch a "full-scale armed struggle" on petroleum-pumping operations in
Africa's largest crude oil producing nation.
(AP, 9/28/04)(WSJ, 9/28/04, p.A1)
2004 Sep 28, Virgin Group boss
Richard Branson has signed an agreement with Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo to launch a new airline out of the west African
nation that will be majority owned by Nigerian investors.
(AP, 9/28/04)
2004 Sep 29, Nigeria reached a
truce with Alhaji Dokubo-Asari, head of an ethnically diverse mix of
fighters, that threatened a war in the Niger Delta.
(WSJ, 9/30/04, p.A1)(Econ, 10/2/04, p.45)
2004 Oct 8, In northeast Nigeria
Islamist rebels attacked a major police patrol taking a number of
hostages in a remote area near the Cameroonian border.
(AFP, 10/9/04)
2004 Oct 11, In Nigeria a
nationwide strike to protest fuel price hikes shut down Lagos.
(AP, 10/11/04)
2004 Oct 14, Nigerian unions
called off a general strike which had jeopardized oil supplies from the
world's seventh largest exporter for four days.
(Reuters, 10/14/04)
2004 Oct 26, In Nigeria a 2nd day
of peace talks on the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region broke off after
rebels called for more time to prepare proposals for a long-term
political resolution to the conflict.
(AP, 10/26/04)
2004 Oct 27, Nigeria's state-owned
news agency reported that an outbreak of measles in a remote Nigerian
village had killed a dozen people. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for
500,000 deaths from measles every year.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 28, Five policemen
working for Nigeria's anti-drug enforcement agency were among 7 people
killed by a mob that mistook them for armed robbers in a remote
northern village.
(AP, 10/29/04)
2004 Oct 31, In Nigeria unions
declared the top oil multinational here, Royal Dutch/Shell, "an enemy
of the Nigerian people" and called a Nov. 16 nationwide strike.
(AP, 11/1/04)
2004 Nov 10, An Islamic court in
northern Nigeria threw out a death by stoning sentence against a
pregnant 18-year-old girl who had been condemned for adultery.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Nov 12, Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo attempted to calm labor discontent ahead of a planned
general strike, saying he would order the reduction of kerosene prices.
(AP, 11/12/04)
2004 Nov 15, Nigeria ordered
immediate cuts in domestic fuel prices, trying to avert a looming
general strike.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 15, Nigeria's main labor
union indefinitely suspended a looming countrywide strike that had
threatened to shut down the oil industry.
(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 20, In Ojobo, Nigeria, a
protest at an oil rig operated by Shell left 7 people dead.
(SFC, 12/10/04, p.A23)
2004 Nov, In Nigeria thugs burned
down the main government building in the state capital of Anambra and
shot at the governor.
(Econ, 1/29/05, p.45)
2004 Dec 5, In Nigeria hundreds of
protesters besieged two oil platforms run by Royal Dutch/Shell Group
Cos. and ChevronTexaco Corp. in the southern oil region, shutting down
production of 90,000 barrels of oil a day.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 7, Nigerian villagers
lifted their blockade of three oil pumping stations in the volatile
Niger Delta after energy giants Shell and ChevronTexaco agreed to
discuss funding local development projects.
(AP, 12/7/04)
2004 Dec 13, In Nigeria the first
face-to-face working meeting between Sudan government and Darfur rebel
negotiators began. Cease-fire violations were on the rise in Sudan's
bloodied Darfur region and the fighting was "poisoning" peace talks.
(AP, 12/13/04)
2004 Dec 22, Thieves stealing fuel
from a pipeline in Nigeria set it ablaze as they fled from police, and
at least 20 people died in the fire.
(AP, 12/23/04)
2004 Charles Soludo, governor of
the Central Bank of Nigeria, ordered banks to raise their minimum
capital base 12-fold.
(Econ, 6/11/05, p.71)
2005 Jan 1, Nigeria was forecast
for 2.6% annual GDP growth with a population at 139.8 million and GDP
per head at $380.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.94)
2005 Jan 8, Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo flew to Sudan's troubled Darfur region to assess the
crisis there following talks with his Sudanese counterpart Omar
al-Beshir.
(AP, 1/8/05)
2005 Jan 10, Canada and Nigeria
agreed to terms under which the Canadian International Development
Agency is to provide 24.9 million Canadian dollars (20.4 million US)
for health projects in the west African country.
(AP, 1/11/05)
2005 Jan 12, Nigeria made public
plans to build a second $6-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in
the southwestern state of Ondo.
(AFP, 1/13/05)
2005 Jan 19, In Nigeria a fuel
tanker crashed into two buses and burst into flames on a road in Lagos,
killing at least 30 people.
(AP, 1/20/05)
2005 Jan 30, UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan, at a summit of the 53-member African Union in Abuja,
Nigeria, urged pan-African cooperation to resolve conflicts.
(AFP, 1/30/05)
2005 Jan 31, In Nigeria African
leaders pledged to send more peacekeeping troops to conflict zones,
especially the western Sudan region of Darfur, and to boost their role
in world affairs.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 4, The Nigerian army
quelled a demonstration at one of Nigeria's main oil export terminals,
while activists accused the soldiers of killing four protesters.
(AP, 2/4/05)
2005 Feb 10, Togo turned away a
plane carrying Nigerian peacemakers, drawing threats of sanctions and
accusations from Nigeria that it was blocking efforts to resolve a
crisis widely condemned as a military coup.
(Reuters, 2/11/05)
2005 Feb 19, Nigerian soldiers,
sailors and police descended on Odioma to hunt down a local militia
leader and black magic guru who was accused of murdering 12 people from
Obiaku. 28 people killed and Odioma was burned down by government
troops.
(AP, 3/21/05)
2005 Feb 23, In northern Nigeria
hunters burning land to flush out game set fire to a munitions dump,
triggering a string of explosions which damaged military buildings and
spread panic in the city of Kaduna.
(AP, 2/24/05)
2005 Feb 28, African Union (AU)
chairman, Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, met Sudan's first vice
president Ali Taha over the bloody crisis in Darfur region.
(AFP, 2/28/05)
2005 Mar 3, In Nigeria thousands
of rioters wielding sticks and broken bottles burned down a police
station in Makurdi, protesting the police killing of a bus driver who
apparently refused to pay a bribe equivalent to 14 cents.
(AP, 3/3/05)
2005 Mar 7, Authorities said
Nigerian police have rescued more than 100 children from child
traffickers over the last 3 days, including 56 discovered at a
checkpoint in a frozen food truck.
(Reuters, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 8, The parliament of
Nigeria, Africa's most-indebted nation, passed a nonbinding resolution
demanding Nigeria stop repaying its $35 billion foreign debt.
(AP, 3/9/05)
2005 Mar 21, It was reported that
measles in Nigeria had killed 529 people this year.
(WSJ, 3/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 22, Nigeria’s Pres.
Olusegun Obasanjo fired his education minister, Fabian Osuji, accusing
him of bribing lawmakers including the Senate leader Adolphus Wabara
and a string of other named senators of taking bribes totaling $398,550.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 28, Tafa Balogun,
Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, was arrested. He was later
charged with numerous counts including embezzling $93 million from
police funds.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.37)(www.efccnigeria.org/)
2005 Mar 29, It was reported that
China’s influence in Africa was expanding rapidly. Chinese projects
included the rebuilding of Nigeria’s railroad network; the paving of
roads in Rwanda; ownership of copper mines in Zambia; timber operations
in Equatorial Guinea; and supermarket operations in Lesotho.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 8, ChevronTexaco Corp.
said it has awarded a $1.7 billion contract to build Nigeria's third
natural gas-to-liquids plant to a consortium including Halliburton Co.
subsidiary KBR.
(AP, 4/8/05)
2005 Apr 11, Britain imposed a
year-long ban on delivering first-time visas to Nigerians aged 18 to
30, citing a backlog of applications, most of which are rejected.
(AP, 4/11/05)
2005 May 3, ChevronTexaco's
Nigerian subsidiary said it would overhaul its aid projects in the
country's oil-rich south after finding much of the tens of millions of
dollars spent yearly was fueling violence and wasted by corruption.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 5, President Bush met
with Nigerian Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo. They discussed oil and Obasanjo
said he would explore how to address US concerns that former Liberian
President Charles Taylor be brought to justice.
(AP, 5/5/05)
2005 May 10, A UN resolution
backed by the US urged Nigeria to hand Charles Taylor to a court in
Sierra Leone on the grounds that Taylor had violated his terms of
asylum.
(Econ, 5/14/05, p.52)
2005 May 17, In southeastern
Nigeria hundreds of youths stormed a police station and set fire to
cars after a protester was fatally shot by a police rifle.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 May, In Nigeria Mike Amadi
was sentenced to 16 years in prison for setting up a Web site that
offered juicy but phony procurement contracts. Amadi was caught by an
undercover agent posing as an Italian businessman.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Jun 4, Hundreds of activists
gathered in southern Nigeria to rally support for an opposition
conference, backed by the Nobel prize-winning author Wole Soyinka, to
end ethnic and political violence in Africa's most populous nation.
(AP, 6/4/05)
2005 Jun 8, In Nigeria 5 men and
one woman were shot dead in the poor Apo neighborhood Abuja. Police
initially said they were armed robbers caught in the act, but an
inquiry established that they were unarmed. In Dec Nigeria apologized
to the families of the people who were shot dead and offered them 3
million naira ($22,600) each, setting a precedent in a country where
police brutality is a fact of daily life.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Jun 15, A militant group in
Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region kidnapped 2 German and 4 Nigerian
workers of a contractor firm providing service for Anglo-Dutch oil
giant Shell.
(AP, 6/15/05)
2005 Jun 18, Militants in southern
Nigeria released six oil workers taken hostage by a group demanding $20
million from Shell for local communities.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun, The Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Initiative began operations. The US funded plan
intended to provide military equipment and development aid to 9
north-east African countries considered fertile ground for Muslim
militant groups. Participating countries included Algeria, Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia.
(SFC, 12/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 12, French company
Technip SA said it has been awarded a $800 million contract by Chevron
Corp. to develop its largest Nigerian oil project.
(AP, 7/12/05)
2005 Jul 16, In Lagos a court
convicted Amaka Anajemba, a Nigerian woman, of helping defraud a
Brazilian bank of $242 million in the country's biggest international
fraud case. She was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered to
give up $25.5 million in cash and assets. Banco Noroeste of Sao Paolo,
Brazil, was reportedly fleeced of some $242 million over seven years
until 2001.
(AP, 7/17/05)
2005 Jul 24, In northern Nigeria a
long-haul passenger bus skidded off a bridge and tumbled into a river
after the driver fell asleep, and 56 people were killed.
(AP, 7/24/05)
2005 Jul 26, A boat ferrying
passengers between remote villages sank in a southwestern Nigerian
river, killing at least 18 people.
(AP, 7/28/05)
2005 Jul 30, Rep. William
Jefferson, D-La., received $100,000 at the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington,
Virginia, to use for bribing Abubakar Atiku, vice-president of Nigeria.
Vernon Jackson, a Kentucky businessman, later admitted to paying over
$400,000 in bribes to secure deals for his telecommunications company
in Nigeria and other African countries. Documents released in 2005 said
an FBI informant recorded a video of the transaction.
(SFC, 5/22/06, p.A3)
2005 Aug 1, In Nigeria protesting
Akabuka villagers demanding more jobs for their community forced the
Nigerian branch of Total SA to shut down the Obagi onshore oil field.
(AP, 8/6/05)
2005 Aug 3, The FBI raided the
Maryland residence of Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar as part of
a probe into whether a US congressman made or approved payments to
officials in West Africa.
(AP, 8/28/05)
2005 Aug 18, Nigerian media quoted
Pres. Obasanjo as saying police violations "ranged from extra-judicial
killings to torture and unlawful detention." He singled out an incident
in June in which policemen in the capital, Abuja, allegedly killed six
people returning from a night outing after branding them armed robbers.
Six policemen were charged in the killings. Among those accused is
Danjuma Ibrahim, the second-ranking policeman in the city.
(AP, 8/23/05)
2005 Aug 25, African ministers and
international donors unveiled a 1.1-billion-dollar (894 million euro)
strategy to boost catches, build fish farms and develop the seafood
sector after a high-level meeting of the New Partnership for Africa’s
Redevelopment (NEPAD) Fish for All Summit, in Abuja, Nigeria.
(AP, 8/25/05)(www.nepad.org/)
2005 Aug, In Nigeria Amaka
Anajemba was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered to return
$25.5 million of the $242 million she helped to steal from a Brazilian
bank.
(AP, 8/7/05)
2005 Sep 5, Nigerian unions
dropped a threat to hold a nationwide general strike but instead vowed
to launch a series of mass street rallies to protest against rising
petrol prices.
(AFP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 15, British police
arrested Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, leader of the oil-rich
southern Nigerian state of Bayelsa, as part of a money laundering
investigation.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Nigeria dozens of
soldiers and police arrested Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, the main militia
leader in Nigeria's south, at his office in the oil city of Port
Harcourt. A militia with a history of violence in Nigeria's oil-rich
south threatened to blow up oil installations if the government did not
release its arrested leader.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 22, In Nigeria police
said Moujahid Dokubo-Asari, a separatist militia leader, will be
charged with treason, a capital offense. His arrest set off tense
protests in the oil heartland. Dokubo-Asari said his Ijaw ethnic group
and the other people of the Niger delta should break away from Nigeria
and take control of the billions of dollars of oil flowing from their
land.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Sep 22, Boatloads of Nigerian
guerrilla fighters armed with rifles, machetes and dynamite launched a
drive to hijack oil installations in the waterways of the Niger Delta,
after a judge jailed their leader.
(AP, 9/23/05)
2005 Sep 28, In Nigeria 2 oil
workers, one Briton and the other from Ireland, were kidnapped in the
southern delta.
(Reuters, 9/29/05)
2005 Oct 4, In Nigeria at least 3
civilians were killed in crossfire and a Lagos police headquarters was
burned down after a dispute between armed police and soldiers erupted
in street fighting. Witnesses said that brawling broke out after an
army officer tried to prevent a police patrol extorting an illegal 20
naira (seven cent) toll from a motorcycle taxi driver.
(AP, 10/5/05)
2005 Oct 8, Nigeria's financial
crimes agency said it had returned $4.5 million last month seized from
scammers to an 86-year-old Chinese woman.
(AP, 10/8/05)
2005 Oct 12, A build up of
pollution from factories and old cars caused a wave of smog that
enveloped much of Lagos, Nigeria's largest city.
(AP, 10/13/05)
2005 Oct 15, Nigeria and Cameroon
discussed a new program for Nigeria to withdraw from the disputed
Bakassi peninsula, but failed to set a new deadline after two days of
talks in Abuja.
(AP, 10/16/05)
2005 Oct 20, The Paris Club
announced and agreement to cancel 60% (about $18 billion) of Nigeria's
foreign debt. This fueled optimism among anti-poverty campaigners, but
corruption and requirements imposed by the West overshadowed the
future. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, was rated the sixth
most corrupt nation in the world in a survey released earlier this week
by Berlin-based Transparency International.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 22, In Nigeria a
passenger jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Lagos, killing all 117
on board.
(AP, 10/25/05)
2005 Oct 23, Stella Obasanjo (59),
the wife of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, died after undergoing
liposuction surgery in Spain. In 2009 A court in Malaga convicted
plastic surgeon Antonio Mena Molina of negligent homicide. He was given
a suspended sentence of a year in jail, barred from practicing medicine
for three years, and ordered to pay euro120,000 ($175,000) in damages
to the woman's son.
(AP, 10/23/05)(AP, 9/22/09)
2005 Oct 27, Nigerian security
forces said they have detained three of the country's most powerful
militant leaders, as part of an apparent crackdown on the separatist
forces threatening to tear the country apart.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 30, Nigeria reported that
its inflation rate rose to 15.5% in the 12 months ending in August, up
14.2% from the month before according to the Federal Office of
Statistics (FOS).
(AP, 10/30/05)
2005 Oct, Oando, a Nigerian energy
group, became the first company from another African country to be
listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange (JSE).
(Econ, 6/10/06, p.72)
2005 Nov 12, Africa Union leaders
from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal met in
Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the challenges of the
global order: Desirability of union government," with the leaders
discussing the broad principles of integration.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 14, It was reported that
India's top oil exploration firm, Oil & Natural Gas Corp., and the
world's largest steel maker, the Netherlands-based Mittal Group,
planned to build an oil refinery in Nigeria. They offered to invest
another $6 billion in building a power plant and railroads there.
(AP, 11/14/05)
2005 Nov 14, In northern Nigeria
12 children were trampled to death as panicked pupils fled what they
thought was a fire in their school at Kaduna.
(AP, 11/15/05)
2005 Nov 21, British authorities
said Diepreye Alamieyeseigha (1953), the governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich
state Bayelsa, has skipped bail and returned home. He had been arrested
and charged in Britain for laundering millions.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 23, In Nigeria a Bayelsa
state government spokesman said an impeachment notice has been filed
against Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who skipped bail in London,
accusing him of money laundering, holding illegal foreign bank
accounts, corruptly enriching his family and misappropriating public
funds among other offenses.
(AP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 28, In Nigeria hundreds
of troops armed with rocket launchers and machine guns manned check
points in the oil-producing Bayelsa state as protesters staged rival
rallies over the impeachment of the state governor.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 29, A Sudanese Darfur
rebel faction said it attacked a town in West Darfur state, killing 37
soldiers and police, to push for its inclusion in peace talks due to
open in the Nigerian capital Abuja later in the day.
(AP, 11/29/05)
2005 Dec 2, In Nigeria rebel
leaders from the western Sudanese region of Darfur rejected an African
Union draft agreement on power-sharing between their forces and the
government in Khartoum, pushing the sides' seventh session of peace
talks close to stalemate.
(AFP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 5, In southeastern
Nigeria Separatist protesters demanding authorities release their
leader shut down businesses and banks, and an activist said security
forces opened fire on the crowd, killing three people.
(AP, 12/05/05)
2005 Dec 6, Separatist radicals
faced off against heavily-armed Nigerian police in eastern cities as a
protest to demand an independent homeland for the 40-million-strong
Igbo people entered its second day.
(AFP, 12/06/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Nigeria Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, the governor of the oil-rich state of Bayelsa who
skipped bail in Britain to escape trial there for money-laundering, was
arrested by 200 armed policemen, after lawmakers removed his immunity
from prosecution.
(AFP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 9, In Nigeria police
broke down the gate of a huge housing complex to oust thousands of
civil servants and their families in the third mass eviction by the
government this week in the commercial capital of Lagos. The move
followed a decision by the government to sell off several publicly
owned housing blocks for civil servants in a privatization scheme.
Authorities have not provided the estimated 8,000 residents with other
accommodation.
(AP, 12/09/05)
2005 Dec 10, Nigeria’s Sosoliso
Airlines Flight 1145 carrying 110 passengers crashed while landing
during a storm in the southern city of Port Harcourt. Some 107 people
were killed including 71 children. The runway lights were off because
the airport had not bought a generator.
(AP, 12/10/05)(AFP, 12/12/05)(WSJ, 10/1/07, p.A1)
2005 Dec 18, Nigeria grounded
Boeing 737 planes across the country for safety checks, stranding
thousands of travelers after two deadly accidents in two months.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 20, The impeached
governor of a Nigerian oil-exporting state faces charges of stealing
$55 million in public funds, according to a charge sheet produced in
court by Nigeria's anti-corruption agency.
(Reuters, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 20, In southern Nigeria
attackers blew up a Royal Dutch Shell PLC pipeline carrying crude oil
across, killing at least eight people and cutting crude production in
Africa's oil giant.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2005 Dec 21, In Nigeria
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell announced the closure of a third
flowstation, following the alleged sabotage of a pipeline, bringing a
loss in crude oil production to 180,000 barrels per day (bpd).
(AFP, 12/21/05)
2005 Dec 29, Authorities said
Mohammed Marwa, a former official in Nigeria's junta, has been detained
as part of a corruption probe in what was the first arrest and
questioning of a top official in the former ruling military regime.
(AP, 12/29/05)
2005 The CD "I Go Chop Your
Dollars," penned by Nigerian artist Osofia, became a hugely popular hit
in Lagos. It also became the anthem of Nigeria’s 419 internet
scam artists.
(LAT, 10/20/05)
2006 Jan 6, Nigeria’s government
anti-AIDS agency said it will double the number of centers where AIDS
patients can get free drugs in the next three months as part of a major
drive to widen access to treatment.
(Reuters, 1/6/06)
2006 Jan 8, Nigeria's
multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas company Nigeria NLNG said it
had shipped the first cargo of gas from its fourth production plant to
the US.
(AFP, 1/8/06)
2006 Jan 11, In Nigeria gunmen
stormed an offshore oil platform run Royal Dutch Shell and kidnapped
four foreign oil workers. The Movement for the Emancipation of the
Nigerian Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility. The four were freed
nearly three weeks later.
(Econ, 1/21/06, p.47)(AP, 1/11/07)
2006 Jan 14, Sadatu Abubakar Rimi,
the wife of a senior Nigerian opposition figure, was hacked to death in
the early hours by suspected hired assassins.
(Reuters, 1/14/06)
2006 Jan 15, Separatist gunmen
shot dead several Nigerian troops and overran an oil plant run by the
Anglo-Dutch Shell, amid fears for the safety of four kidnapped foreign
workers. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Nigerian Delta (MEND)
claimed responsibility. MEND told Shell to pay $1.5 billion to the
state of Bayelsa for pollution it said Shell has caused.
(AFP, 1/15/06)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.47)
2006 Jan 19, Nigerian kidnappers
said their US hostage was gravely ill and threatened to kill three
other foreign oil workers held captive if he died.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 21, In Nigeria, a police
spokesman said 14 suspects have been arrested following clashes in
Lagos earlier this week in which three people were killed.
(AP, 1/21/06)
2006 Jan 24, In Port Harcourt,
Nigeria, an armed gang dressed in police uniform attacked the offices
of Agip oil company, a unit of Italy's ENI, and at least 9 people were
killed.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2006 Jan 30, In Nigeria 4 foreign
oil workers were released after being held hostage for more than two
weeks by a militia demanding that residents in southern Nigeria benefit
more from its energy wealth.
(AP, 1/30/06)
2006 Feb 8, The World Organization
for Animal Health said the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus has been detected
on a large commercial chicken farm in Nigeria, the first reported
outbreak in Africa. Researchers later reported that 3 different strains
of bird flu had entered Nigeria and most closely resembled those
identified in Egypt, Mongolia and Russia.
(AP, 2/8/06)(SFC, 7/6/06, p.A6)
2006 Feb 9, Health authorities
imposed a quarantine on poultry farms across northern Nigeria. 2 more
states reported cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.
(AP, 2/9/06)(SFC, 2/10/06, p.A8)
2006 Feb 18, In Nigeria armed
militants carried out a wave of attacks across the troubled Niger
delta, blowing up oil and gas pipelines and seizing nine foreign oil
workers: 3 Americans, a Briton, 2 Egyptians, 2 Thais and one Filipino.
Royal Dutch Shell suspended exports from the 380,000 barrel-a-day
Forcados terminal after militants bombed the tanker loading platform.
(Reuters, 2/18/06)
2006 Feb 18, Nigerian Muslims
protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and
burned churches, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest
confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the drawings.
(AP, 2/19/06)
2006 Feb 20, In Nigeria militants
in southern Nigeria destroyed an oil pipeline and blew up a boat in
violence that has cut about 20 percent of crude production in Africa's
oil giant.
(AP, 2/20/06)
2006 Feb 21, Christian mobs
rampaged through the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha, burning mosques
and killing several people in an outbreak of anti-Muslim violence that
followed deadly protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad
over the weekend.
(AP, 2/21/06)
2006 Feb 22, In Nigeria at least
20 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the eastern Nigerian city of
Onitsha. Gangs of rioters armed with machetes and shotguns poured
through the streets of the mainly Christian southern city as the death
toll from days of Christian-Muslim violence across Nigeria rose to at
least 93.
(AP, 2/22/06)(Reuters, 2/22/06)(SFC, 2/23/06, p.A13)
2006 Feb 23, Christians in the
southern Nigerian city of Onitsha burned Muslim corpses and defaced
wrecked mosques, showing little repentance after days of sectarian
violence that has killed more than 120 people across the country.
(AP, 2/23/06)
2006 Feb 24, Christian youths
armed with machetes, stones and clubs attacked Muslims in the
southeastern Nigerian city of Enugu. A Reuters witness saw a mob beat
one man to death. Sectarian violence spread to three more Nigerian
cities, claiming at least seven lives and pushing up the death toll in
days of killings to at least 127.
(Reuters, 2/24/06)(AP, 2/24/06)
2006 Feb 24, A Nigerian court
ordered Royal Dutch Shell PLC to pay southern communities $1.5 billion
(1.2 billion euros) in compensation for environmental pollution and
degradation in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Shell appealed against
the court's decision.
(AFP, 2/25/06)
2006 Feb 25, In northern Nigeria
35 were killed and five were injured when two buses collided head-on
and caught fire at Kwarna-Jagga in Jigawa state.
(Reuters, 2/27/06)
2006 Feb 28, Nigerian separatist
militants stormed a tanker ship working in the Niger Delta and took a
large sum of cash, 12 days after they kidnapped nine foreign oil
workers from another vessel. The insurgent spokesman said the tanker
captain had parted with 500,000 naira as a "goodwill token" during the
encounter, although a shipping industry source put the sum at two
million naira (15,500 dollars / 13,000 euros).
(AFP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 1, In Nigeria militants
released six foreign oil workers, including a diabetic Texan
celebrating his 69th birthday, taken captive last month to press
fighters' demands for a greater share of oil revenues generated in this
restive southern state.
(AP, 3/1/06)
2006 Mar 5, Nigerian militants
threatened to halve the country's oil output by cutting another one
million barrels a day this month in their campaign to gain more
autonomy for the southern delta region.
(Reuters, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 6, Nigeria unveiled
details of spending plans in its record 14.8-billion-dollar
(12.3-billion-euro) federal budget and made ambitious predictions for
strong economic growth.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 7, A four-year-old
Indonesian boy became the latest suspected human casualty of bird flu
as the virus spread in Nigeria and Poland. A Russian virus expert
warned that a human pandemic was highly likely and told the government
to get ready.
(AFP, 3/7/06)
2006 Mar 8, In Nigeria government
sources said the head of the Nigerian military in the oil-producing
Niger Delta has been removed from his post on suspicion of involvement
in the theft of crude oil. Militants killed at least 5 soldiers in a
firefight during an attack by the army in the southern Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 3/9/06)(AFP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 13, In Nigeria and
official report said ethnic and religious fighting, land disputes and
communal conflicts have driven more than three million Nigerians from
their homes since the return to democracy in 1999.
(Reuters, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 17, Liberia said it has
asked Nigeria to hand over former Pres. Charles Taylor, who is living
there in exile and wanted on war crimes charges for his role in Sierra
Leone's civil war.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 21, Nigeria launched its
first census for 15 years. Residents remained indoors on government
orders on the first day of the controversial census.
(AP, 3/21/06)
2006 Mar 22, In Nigeria heavy
winds ripped away much of the top nine floors of a fire-weakened
building in Lagos, raining debris on mostly empty streets and leaving
people on lower floors waving frantically for help.
(AP, 3/22/06)
2006 Mar 22, A ferry carrying 150
passengers sank off the coast of Cameroon, and 23 people were rescued.
The rest were feared dead. The was bound for Gabon from Nigeria with
passengers from Burkina Faso, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.
(AP, 3/23/06)(SFC, 3/24/06, p.A12)
2006 Mar 23, Human rights
campaigners said Nigerian separatists have attacked census officials
with acid and machetes in a violent campaign for the southeastern
region to boycott the headcount. A violent start to Nigeria’s first
census in 15 years left at least 10 dead and scores of others injured.
(AP, 3/23/06)
2006 Mar 25, Nigeria said it will
send back to Liberia exiled ex-president and one-time warlord Charles
Taylor, wanted for trial on war crimes by a UN-backed court.
(AP, 3/25/06)
2006 Mar 25, Nigeria announced a
two-day extension of a controversial census to allow for everyone in
Africa's most populous nation to be counted despite delays caused by
poor organization and violence.
(AP, 3/25/06)
2006 Mar 27, In Nigeria a weeklong
census ended as workers scrambled to tally everyone across Africa's
most-populous nation, but many remained uncounted in the exercise,
marred by violence and the lack of forms, census takers and money.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Mar 27, Militants demanding
control of revenues from Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta released
their last remaining foreign hostages, two Americans and a Briton, but
the group threatened to continue attacks on oil installations.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Mar 28, Officials said former
Liberian President Charles Taylor disappeared from his Nigerian haven,
days after his hosts agreed to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal
for the murder, rape and maiming of more than a half-million Africans.
Taylor was arrested trying to cross the border into Cameroon. He then
was flown back to Liberia.
(AP, 3/28/06)(AP, 3/29/06)
2006 Apr 8, In Nigeria at least a
dozen people drowned when an overcrowded dugout canoe capsized in a
remote creek in the delta region. 5 employees of a contractor to US oil
company Chevron were among the dead. Nigerian newspapers said at least
20 people died, adding 12 bodies had been recovered.
(AP, 4/10/06)
2006 Apr 10-2006 Apr 12, About 25
people were killed in three days of skirmishes between two Nigerian
tribes over ownership of land in the central state of Plateau.
(Reuters, 4/13/06)
2006 Apr 18, Nigeria said it plans
to build a $1.8 billion highway and create jobs to address the crises
in the Niger Delta. Militants dismissed the efforts as insufficient.
(WSJ, 4/19/06, p.A1)
2006 Apr 19, Nigerian militants
killed two people in a car bomb attack on an army barracks in the
southern city of Port Harcourt, extending a four-month onslaught
against the world's eighth largest oil exporter.
(Reuters, 4/20/06)
2006 Apr 27, In Nigeria President
Hu Jintao said China wants a "strategic partnership" with Africa,
seeking to add a new political dimension to a blossoming economic
romance. China agreed to commit $4 billion for infrastructure in
exchange for 4 oil drilling licenses.
(Reuters, 4/27/06)(WSJ, 4/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Apr 29, A car bombing in the
Nigerian oil city of Warri destroyed at least five tanker trucks. The
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which demands
more local control over the southern delta's oil wealth, said it had
used a mobile phone to detonate 30 kg (66 lb) of dynamite in the
bombing.
(Reuters, 4/30/06)
2006 May 10, In southern Nigeria a
gunman riding a motorcycle shot to death an American oil worker on his
way to the office.
(AP, 5/11/06)
2006 May 11, In Nigeria gunmen
kidnapped at least two foreign oil workers from a bus in the southern
city of Port Harcourt.
(AP, 5/11/06)
2006 May 12, In southwestern
Nigeria a ruptured pipeline exploded as villagers rushed to collect oil
gushing from it and a local TV station said up to 200 people were
feared dead. Militants threatened to destroy NLNG, a $13 billion
natural gas export plant.
(AP, 5/12/06)
2006 May 16, The Nigerian Senate
rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed President
Olusegun Obasanjo to run for a third term in office in 2007.
(AFP, 5/16/06)
2006 May 19, Nigeria sold to a
state-owned Chinese group licenses to explore four oil blocks,
underlining Beijing's increasing drive for energy resources. In
exchange for the drilling rights, China agreed to invest two billion
dollars in northern Nigeria's Kaduna refinery. The Movement for the
Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), rejected the claim and described
the allocation as a "bribe".
(AFP, 5/19/06)
2006 May 21, In Nigeria rock star
and activist Bono told African finance ministers that the recent
goodwill of wealthy industrialized countries toward Africa could
dissipate unless the continent tackles corruption.
(Reuters, 5/21/06)
2006 May 29, In southwestern
Nigeria a truck hauling iron rods lost control and crashed into several
roadside buses as passengers were boarding, killing at least 30 people.
(AP, 5/30/06)
2006 May, In Nigeria 30 men
stormed the headquarters of the National Agency for the Prohibition of
Traffic in Persons in Abuja, destroying filing cabinets and boxes of
documents. The same month, an investigator was murdered.
(AP, 9/30/06)
2006 Jun 1, In southern Nigeria a
major oil spill forced Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell to cut production by
50,000 barrels per day.
(AFP, 6/1/06)
2006 Jun 2, Norwegian rig owner
Fred. Olsen Energy ASA said 8 foreign workers on an oil rig operating
off Nigeria were kidnapped overnight. The workers, six British, one
American and one Canadian, were aboard the drilling rig Bulford Dolphin
when it was attacked during the night.
(AP, 6/2/06)
2006 Jun 4, In Nigeria 8 foreign
oil workers, kidnapped on June 2, were released. Police declined to say
whether a ransom was paid and did not say who was responsible for the
hostage-taking.
(AP, 6/4/06)
2006 Jun 7, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped five South Koreans in an overnight raid on a gas plant
owned by Shell. 10 soldiers were killed in the raid.
(AP, 6/7/06)(WSJ, 6/8/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 8, In Nigeria militants
released one Nigerian and five South Korean gas workers after a plea
from the jailed militant leader in whose name they were abducted.
(AP, 6/8/06)
2006 Jun 16, In southeast Nigeria
at least six people were killed in the city of Onitsha when a feud
between a separatist group and a transport union degenerated into
street battles.
(AP, 6/17/06)
2006 Jun 19, In Onitsha, Nigeria,
204 prison inmates were set free by the "hoodlums" who invaded the
building at around 2:00 am. The attack on Onitsha prison came less than
24 hours after troops were deployed and a curfew imposed on the
troubled city. Clashes between the banned Movement for the
Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), a separatist
group, and police were reported to have left several people dead at the
weekend.
(AP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jun 20, Two Filipino oil
workers were kidnapped near the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt in
the southern Niger Delta.
(AFP, 6/20/06)
2006 Jun 21, Nigeria’s Pres.
Olusegun removed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from the finance ministry and
installed her as the foreign minister.
(Econ, 2/28/04,
p.46)(http://people.africadatabase.org/en/person/16262.html)
2006 Jun 25, Two Filipino oil
workers, kidnapped in Nigeria's southern oil delta, were released after
five days in captivity.
(AP, 6/25/06)
2006 Jun 26, Nigerian authorities
re-arrested Gbenga Arulegba, the presenter of a political TV program,
and charged him with sedition over a show critical of the president.
(Reuters, 6/27/06)
2006 Jul 6, In Nigeria a Dutch oil
worker was kidnapped by armed men from a Royal Dutch Shell gas plant.
He was released July 10.
(AP, 7/6/06)(AP, 7/10/06)
2006 Jul 12, In Nigeria 2
explosions hit oil installations belonging to an Italian oil company
along two Agip pipelines in Baleysa state.
(AP, 7/13/06)
2006 Jul 17, Nigeria signed a deal
with the Clinton Foundation to make cheap AIDS drugs available to fight
the disease.
(AFP, 7/17/06)
2006 Jul 19, In Nigeria a 4-story
apartment building collapsed overnight in Lagos. Red Cross officials
confirmed that at least 24 people were killed.
(AFP, 7/20/06)
2006 Aug 4, In southern Nigeria 3
Filipinos working for a US construction firm were kidnapped, a day
after a German was abducted in the same region.
(AP, 8/4/06)
2006 Aug 9, Two Norwegians and two
Ukrainians were kidnapped at gunpoint from an oil services ship off the
coast of Nigeria.
(Reuters, 8/9/06)
2006 Aug 10, In southern Nigeria
gunmen in military fatigues seized two foreign oil workers. A Belgian
and a Moroccan were abducted as they traveled through the city of Port
Harcourt taking to at least 10 the number kidnapped in the past week.
(AP, 8/10/06)
2006 Aug 12, Nigeria pulled
thousands of troops out of the Bakassi peninsula ahead of an August 12
UN deadline for a complete withdrawal, but many residents said they
would resist a handover to Cameroon.
(AP, 8/13/06)
2006 Aug 14, Nigeria formally
handed sovereignty over the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to
Cameroon after withdrawing its 3,000 troops in compliance with a
UN-brokered deadline. This ended a 13-year feud between Abuja and
Yaounde. Nigeria will maintain administrative control of southern
Bakassi for the next two years, after which the area will be in a state
of flux for another five years before it will be finally handed over to
Cameroon.
(AP, 8/13/06)(AFP, 8/14/06)
2006 Aug 14, In Nigeria Ayo
Daramola, a member of the country's ruling party and a potential
candidate in Ekiti state, was found stabbed to death in his home, the
third killing of a potential gubernatorial candidate in recent weeks.
Armed men kidnapped four more foreign oil workers in the southern oil
city of Port Harcourt, but released 3 Filipinos abducted more than 10
days ago.
(AFP, 8/14/06)(AP, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 15, Two Norwegian and two
Ukrainian oil workers being held hostage in Nigeria were freed as the
government promised to crack down on a surge in unrest in Africa's
largest oil producer.
(Reuters, 8/15/06)
2006 Aug 18, Nigeria’s military
launched a crackdown on suspected militants in the oil-rich south as
militants released another foreign hostage taken in a spate of
kidnappings.
(AP, 8/18/06)
2006 Aug 19, In Nigeria government
troops arrested about 100 people in a search for militants suspected of
taking oil industry workers hostage in the petroleum-rich south.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 20, At least 11 people
were killed when militants engaged Nigerian troops in a fierce gun
battle in the restive Niger Delta. Local press reports said 12 people,
10 militants, a Shell worker and a soldier, were killed during the
shootout.
(AFP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 21, In Nigeria soldiers
stopped cars at checkpoints and arrested 60 people in the third day of
a crackdown on militants in the volatile oil region.
(AP, 8/21/06)
2006 Aug 25, Nigerian soldiers in
Port Harcourt burned hundreds of slum houses located close to the
compound of an Italian oil company where at least one Italian worker
was kidnapped and his bodyguard killed overnight.
(Reuters, 8/25/06)
2006 Aug 30, Nigerian officials
and the UN refugee agency appealed to some 6,000 recalcitrant Liberian
refugees to go back home, warning that time and hospitality were fast
running out for them.
(AFP, 8/30/06)
2006 Aug, In Nigeria Transcorp
acquired NITEL, the state-run telecommunication company. Pres. Olusegun
Obasanjo was widely believed to have a large stake in Transcorp. In
2009 the government voided the sale.
(AFP, 6/2/09)
2006 Sep 14, Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo held talks in Tokyo on the start of a trans-Pacific
trip.
(AP, 9/14/06)
2006 Sep 17, A Nigerian military
transport aircraft, traveling from Abuja to the southern town of Obudu,
went down in the southeast with a group of military officers on board.
12 of 17 people were killed and most were senior military personnel.
(AP, 9/18/06)
2006 Sep 20, The town of Dutse,
capital of northern Nigeria’s Jigawa state, was recovering after 1,000
people fled their homes in the latest in a series of inter-communal
flare-ups that analysts warn could escalate in the coming months. This
fall 16 churches were burned in Dutse and thousands made homeless in
rioting.
(http://badgals-radio.com/?p=745)(Econ, 2/3/07,
p.50)(http://tinyurl.com/22xej3)
2006 Sep 25, In Nigeria an
inauguration ceremony in Lagos featured new bailiffs, a corps of 30 men
and women, all graduates, in uniforms of black trousers, ash-colored
shirts, yellow badges and cowboy hats and handcuffs on their belts.
Former Lagos bailiffs had converted their role as enforcer of court
judgments on property into an extortion racket.
(AP, 9/26/06)
2006 Sep 28, Nigeria's vice
president Atiku Abubakar was suspended by his party for three months
because of corruption allegations, preventing him from running for
president on the party's ticket.
(AP, 9/28/06)
2006 Sep 30, In northwest Nigeria
families were swept away in a torrent of water and scores were feared
dead in flooding from a dam collapse outside Zamfara state's capital
city of Gusau. About 40 people were feared dead and 500 houses were
washed away.
(AP, 10/1/06)
2006 Oct 2, Dozens of militants
abducted 25 Nigerian oil workers in an attack on their convoy in the
southern delta region. 5 soldiers were killed and 9 left missing when
militants sank two boats used to guard a Shell convoy.
(AP, 10/3/06)(WSJ, 10/3/06, p.A1)
2006 Oct 3, OPEC President Nigeria
called on its fellow OPEC countries to make deeper output cuts as
prices tumbled to an 8-month low below $59 a barrel and the tide showed
no sign of turning.
(AP, 10/3/06)
2006 Oct 4, In Nigeria militants
freed around 25 kidnapped oil workers but five abducted expatriates
were still missing in another part of the Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/4/06)
2006 Oct 6, ECOWAS leaders met for
summit talks in Nigeria.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 7, Microsoft Corp.
founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda met President Olusegun Obasanjo
for talks on plans to manufacture cheap software in Nigeria, fight
HIV/AIDS and alleviate poverty.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 8, Liberia’s presidency
said ECOWAS leaders, who met in Nigeria on Oct 6, had agreed for an
extension of the term of office of Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo
by 12 months, paving the way for presidential and general elections
there.
(AP, 10/9/06)
2006 Oct 10, Nigeria charged six
people, including men from Ireland, Israel and Romania, with illegally
obtaining classified defense documents. Nigerians with assault rifles
overran a navy base, taking several troops hostage, and occupied a
nearby oil facility belonging to a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
(AP, 10/10/06)(AP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 11, Edmund Daukoru,
Nigerian oil minister and OPEC president, said OPEC has agreed to trim
global oil production by 1 million barrels a day to boost prices, and
its members were discussing how to share the cut. Nigerian security
sources said armed youths have released dozens of Nigerian employees of
the oil company Shell and its subcontractors, but around 15 workers
were still being held at a flow station in the restive Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/11/06)(AFP, 10/11/06)
2006 Oct 16, In Nigeria
legislators in southwest Ekiti state voted to remove Gov. Ayo Fayose on
after finding him guilty of siphoning state funds into personal bank
accounts and receiving kickbacks.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 19, Nigeria's president
declared a state of emergency in a troubled southwest state where he
said the impeachment of the governor by the local legislature violated
the constitution. Thirty-one of Nigeria's 36 state governors are being
investigated for corruption, according to the country's financial
crimes agency.
(AP, 10/19/06)
2006 Oct 21, In Nigeria police
said all seven foreign oil workers who were being held hostage in the
southern Niger Delta have been released and are in good health.
(AP, 10/21/06)
2006 Oct 25, In Nigeria angry
villagers seized three Shell oil platforms in the volatile Niger Delta,
forcing production to be shut down at each.
(AP, 10/25/06)
2006 Oct 29, In Nigeria protesters
demanding jobs and aid took over an oil pumping station run by an
Italian oil firm in the southern delta region, forcing the company to
shut the flow of oil. Output of 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil was
cut when armed protesters forced the closure of a flowstation belonging
to Italy's Agip company in the Niger Delta.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Oct 29, A Nigerian airliner
carrying 104 people, including the man regarded as a spiritual leader
of Nigeria's Sunni Muslims, crashed in a storm after taking off from
the airport in Abuja. Most of those on board were feared dead. 9 people
survived. The Nigerian pilot of the plane did not heed air traffic
controllers' advice to not depart in stormy weather.
(AP, 10/29/06)(AP, 10/30/06)
2006 Oct 30, Nigeria and China
signed a 8.3 billion dollar contract for the construction of a railway
line from the economic capital Lagos to Kano, the largest commercial
city in the north.
(AFP, 10/30/06)
2006 Nov 1, In Nigeria a court of
appeal in Ibadan, capital of the southwestern Oyo state, declared
unconstitutional the removal earlier this year of governor Rasheed
Ladoja by local lawmakers. Ladoja was impeached by a faction of the
state parliament on January 12 for alleged corruption and abuse of
office and was replaced by his deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala.
(AFP, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 2, Authorities in Nigeria
named Muhammadu Sada Abubakar III (50), an army colonel, as the
country's top Muslim leader, replacing his brother Muhammadu Maccido,
the Sultan of Sokoto, who died in a plane crash last weekend. Armed
gunmen seized two expatriate oil workers, an American and a Briton,
during a raid on a Norwegian oil services ship off Nigeria's southern
coast.
(AP, 11/2/06)
2006 Nov 6, Nigeria signed a deal
with British firm Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) to build
an earth observation satellite.
(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 7, In Nigeria an American
and a Briton kidnapped from a ship mapping petroleum deposits off the
oil-rich southern coast were released.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Nigeria at least 6
hostages escaped from an oil facility where they had been held along
with dozens of other people since armed men raided the Italian-run
pumping station earlier this week.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Nov 13, In Nigeria Joshua
Dariye (49), the beleaguered governor of troubled Plateau State, was
impeached by state legislators after being accused of corruption.
Nigeria's anti-graft commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), issued a statement saying it was seeking both Dariye
and Ayodele Fayose (46), the impeached former governor of southwest
Ekiti State. The EFCC said recently that it was investigating 31 state
governors out of a total of 36 for corruption.
(AFP, 11/13/06)
2006 Nov 15, In Nigeria 11 armed
men attacked a southern oil facility owned by a subsidiary of Royal
Dutch Shell PLC Wednesday, leaving two attackers dead.
(AP, 11/16/06)
2006 Nov 17, Nigeria's opposition
called for an investigation into a 12-billion naira (93-million dollar)
scandal that hit the front pages with allegations of government
involvement. Several Lagos newspapers reported that Starcrest was only
a firm "on paper" and that it had been founded in May by several
figures in government including President Olusegun Obasanjo's electoral
campaign fundraiser Emeka Ofor.
(AFP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 20, Armed men attacked
the offices of a Nigerian aid group in the southern oil hub of Port
Harcourt, killing one person and wounding another. The dead man had
offered to help find Ateke Tom, a militant wanted by the Nigerian
government in connection with a string of kidnappings and bank
robberies.
(AP, 11/20/06)
2006 Nov 22, In Nigeria a Briton
was killed and one Italian injured when a group of armed men fleeing in
a boat with their seven foreign oil worker hostages exchanged fire
offshore with a navy patrol in the southern Rivers State. A rescue
attempt freed the 6 remaining hostages and left 2 kidnappers and a
soldier dead.
(AFP, 11/23/06)(SFC, 11/23/06, p.A40)
2006 Nov 27, A three-story bank
under construction collapsed in the main Nigerian city of Lagos, and
two people were unaccounted for and believed trapped inside the rubble.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Nov 28, A Nigerian court
voided a report of the country's anti-graft agency which indicted Vice
President Atiku Abubakar and a business associate of corruption.
Amnesty International said Nigerian police and soldiers are using rape
to intimidate restive communities and "as means of torture to extract
confessions from suspects in custody."
(AP, 11/28/06)(AFP, 11/29/06)
2006 Nov 30, Nigeria opened the
first ever summit of African and South American leaders. Participants
called for greater control by the two continents over their vast
reserves of raw materials. The inaugural gathering also set to tackle
issues ranging from the conflict ravaging the Darfur region of Sudan to
the boosting of inter-continental trade.
(AFP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 1, In Nigeria OPEC
President Edmund Daukoru said that he expects the OPEC oil export group
to cut its output quota by at least half a million barrels per day when
it meets on December 14.
(AFP, 12/1/06)
2006 Dec 2, In Nigeria press
reports said Abubakar Audu, a former governor of Nigeria's central
state of Kogi (1999-2003), has been charged in a high court with
corruption and money laundering. Audu was slammed with 80 counts of
corruption and money laundering during his tenure.
(AFP, 12/2/06)
2006 Dec 7, Gunmen attacked a
southern Nigerian oil installation belonging to a subsidiary of Italy's
Eni SpA, taking three Italians hostage and killing another person.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 8, A Nigerian court ruled
that Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s suspension from the dominant
political party was unconstitutional, potentially clearing the way for
him to run for president on the party's ticket in the upcoming election.
(AP, 12/8/06)
2006 Dec 9, Nigeria’s governing
party suspended gubernatorial primaries in at least two of 36 states
following candidate protests and violent clashes.
(AP, 12/10/06)
2006 Dec 15, In Nigeria armed men
who seized control of a Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil complex overnight
fled, taking three Nigerian hostages, shooting a man and forcing the
oil giant to halt production at the site.
(AP, 12/15/06)
2006 Dec 17, Nigeria's ruling
party chose a reclusive Muslim state governor, Umaru Yar'Adua, to be
its candidate to succeed Olusegun Obasanjo as president of Africa's
most populous nation in elections next year.
(Reuters, 12/17/06)
2006 Dec 18, In southern Nigeria
near-simultaneous blasts tore through two oil company facilities. The
region's main militant group claimed responsibility, saying it had
planted car bombs.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 19, Nigeria's former
military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the presidential
candidate of one of the country's main opposition parties, All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP).
(AFP, 12/19/06)
2006 Dec 21, In southern Nigeria
armed militants in speedboats have killed three policemen in an
overnight attack on a residential facility belonging to French oil
company Total. Shell, began relocating staff dependants after a bomb
blast.
(AP, 12/21/06)
2006 Dec 23, A spokesman for
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said long queues for
gasoline were “just in the spirit of the season.” An explosion occurred
near the headquarters of Rivers State government in the oil capital of
Port Harcourt, moments after militants said they were about to detonate
two car bombs in the region.
(Reuters, 12/23/06)(AFP, 12/23/06)
2006 Dec 24, Nigerian vice
president Atiku Abubakar's new party, the Action Congress (AC), slammed
President Olusegun Obasanjo's declaration that his former deputy's
office was now vacant as unconstitutional.
(AFP, 12/24/06)
2006 Dec 26, In Nigeria a ruptured
gasoline pipeline burst into flames as scavengers collected the fuel in
Lagos, killing 269 people. Witnesses said thieves had broken into the
pipeline after midnight and hundreds of men, women and children had
been collecting leaking fuel in plastic buckets, cans and bags for
hours before the explosion. 2 different armed groups lifted sieges of
two oilfield stations, releasing more than 20 local workers. Shell
resumed production at its Nun River facility. 4 oil workers were still
being held hostage by a different armed group after an attack on Agip's
Brass River export terminal on Dec 7.
(AP, 12/26/06)(AP, 12/27/06)(AP, 12/28/06)
2006 Dec 29, New census figures
said Nigeria's population had nearly doubled to an estimated 140
million people since the last count in 1991. Nigerian medical
authorities announced that the death toll in the oil pipeline fire in
Lagos had risen to 284 after 15 more people succumbed to their injuries
in hospital.
(AP, 12/29/06)
2006 Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel
Prize winning writer (1986), authored “You Must Set Forth at Dawn,” a
memoir that followed up on his childhood memoir “Ake.”
(SSFC, 4/23/06, p.M3)
2007 Jan 3, A Nigerian militant
group said it had seized $545,000 sent by Italian oil firm Agip to
obtain the release of 4 foreign workers kidnapped on Dec 7 but had kept
the men hostage.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 4, Nigeria’s President
Olusegun Obasanjo said Nigeria has repaid 1.4 billion dollars (1.12
billion euros) to the so-called London Club of private creditors and
that the rest of the debt will be cleared by March. At least 3 people
were killed in violent clashes between farmers and nomads in the
northwestern state of Zamfara. A 4th died in hospital the next day.
(AFP, 1/4/07)(AFP, 1/6/07)
2007 Jan 5, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped five Chinese workers fixing overhead telephone lines.
(AP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 8, The Nigerian
government withdrew a suit seeking to sack Vice President Atiku
Abubakar for defecting to a party other than the one in which he was
elected.
(AFP, 1/9/07)
2007 Jan 9, Nigeria started paying
more than 1,000 Biafran police pensioners, 37 years after the west
African country ended a bloody civil war.
(AFP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 10, Militants kidnapped
nine South Korean oil workers and one local worker in the Niger Delta
region of southern Nigeria, bringing the total number of foreigners
currently held hostage there to 18.
(AFP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 11, The Nigerian military
said it has recovered the body of an officer who was abducted last week
in the country's southern oil producing region.
(AFP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 12, In Nigeria 9 South
Korean pipeline workers and a Nigerian kidnapped in southern Nigeria
were released with the help of a youth group.
(AP, 1/12/07)
2007 Jan 13, Suspected avian
influenza was recorded in northern Nigeria's Sokoto State, a day after
the disease reportedly infected 5,000 birds in nearby Kastina state.
(AP, 1/14/07)
2007 Jan 14, In Nigeria 12 chiefs
from various delta communities were killed overnight when assailants
attacked their boat.
(AP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 16, Royal Dutch Shell
evacuated staff from two oil installations in southern Nigeria and the
military boosted troop levels in the volatile area after a dozen
village elders were killed in a riverboat attack.
(AP, 1/16/07)
2007 Jan 17, In Nigeria rebels
released 5 Chinese telecommunications workers and an Italian oil worker
abducted in the southern delta region. A female (22) in Lagos died from
bird flu. This was Nigeria’s first confirmed fatality from Avian
Influenza. Tests on 3 other deaths were inconclusive.
(AP, 1/18/07)(AFP, 1/31/07)
2007 Jan 19, The EU said it has
donated an additional 3.95 million euros ($5 million) to support the
implementation of the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary demarcation project.
(AP, 1/20/07)
2007 Jan 23, In southern Nigeria
unidentified assailants seized oil engineers, an American and a Briton,
in the latest kidnapping.
(Reuters, 1/23/07)
2007 Jan 25, In southern Nigeria
gunmen stormed the local offices of a major Chinese oil company,
abducting seven Chinese employees and stealing a large amount of cash.
(AP, 1/25/07)
2007 Jan 25, Nigeria divested
24.87% of its equity in the ailing Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN),
while the French government also conceded to shed 30% interest in the
company, which was turned over to ASD Motors Nigeria.
(AFP, 1/26/07)
2007 Jan 26, Officials at Davos,
Switz., said Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, now depends 100
percent on imports of petroleum products due to the closure of its
three refineries and canalization of pipelines.
(AFP, 1/27/07)
2007 Jan 27, A Belgian man working
for a building materials company was murdered in the oil city of Warri,
in Nigeria's Niger Delta. 2 suspects were arrested. Carjackers with
AK-47s shot dead two women in a US embassy vehicle in Nairobi's western
outskirts. Police killed two of the fleeing gunmen during a shootout in
the nearby bush.
(Reuters, 1/27/07)(Reuters, 1/28/07)
2007 Jan 28, Some 50 Nigerian
rebels attacked a city centre police station in the Niger Delta and
freed George Sobomabo, a top commander, arrested earlier that day.
Militants released 125 inmates when they stormed the police station in
Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 1/28/07)(AFP, 1/30/07)
2007 Jan 29, A truck crashed in
northern Nigeria's Yobe state killing at least 35 people and seriously
injuring another 37. A burst tire caused the truck loaded with cement
as well as 72 people to veer off the road.
(AFP, 1/30/07)
2007 Jan 30, Nigeria's Vice
President Atiku Abubakar accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of buying
arms to suppress unrest in the oil-rich Niger delta rather than
pacifying the region with development.
(AFP, 1/31/07)
2007 Jan 31, A human rights group
said its study of one of Nigeria's oil-producing states found that
officials squandered or stole public money, some hospitals required
patients to bring their own beds, and schools were running out of chalk.
(AP, 1/31/07)
2007 Feb 1, A Nigerian oil worker
abducted 2 days earlier from a facility operated by Addax Petroleum in
southern Nigeria was found dead.
(AFP, 2/1/07)
2007 Feb 4, In Nigeria officials
said 9 Chinese oil workers, abducted last month by militants in an
armed attack in the southern delta, were released.
(Reuters, 2/4/07)
2007 Feb 7, Gunmen seized a French
oil worker in Nigeria's restive southern petroleum-producing region.
Kidnappers there also seized a woman from the Philippines. Kidnappers
released a British oil-worker after the man taken in a raid last month
fell ill. President Olusegun Obasanjo called for a high-level meeting
to address the violence.
(AP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 8, Benin, Nigeria, and
Togo formed a new regional body aimed at fast-tracking the integration
of their economies. The body, known as the Co-Prosperity Alliance Zone
(COPAZ), was formally inaugurated following a mini-summit of Nigeria’s
President Olusegun Obasanjo, Benin’s President Boni Yayi and Togo’s
President Faure Gnassingbe.
(AFP, 2/8/07)
2007 Feb 13, In Nigeria gunmen
released 24 Filipino sailors taken hostage in the lawless southern
oil-producing region.
(AP, 2/13/07)
2007 Feb 17, Nigerian hostage
takers released an American oil worker in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2007 Feb 18, In Nigeria gunmen
seized three Croatian workers. The men were abducted in the region's
main city of Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 2/19/07)
2007 Feb 20, Nigeria's court of
appeal ruled that President Olusegun Obasanjo had no legal power to
sack of his deputy president for having joined an opposition party.
(AFP, 2/20/07)
2007 Feb 21, In Nigeria a Lebanese
hostage abducted along with three Italians in southern Nigeria was
freed after being held for more than 10 weeks. MEND said the men
guarding Saliba had been bribed to allow his escape. Two of the
Italians abducted with Saliba were still being held by MEND. The third
was freed on January 18 because of health problems. Gunmen killed two
soldiers and wounded a third in the southern Niger delta.
(AFP, 2/21/07)(AP, 2/22/07)(AFP, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 23, In Nigeria gunmen
shot dead a Lebanese engineer and kidnapped two Italians in two
separate incidents in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt.
(Reuters, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 25, In Nigeria riot
police were deployed to quell communal clashes that have claimed
several lives in the southern oil-rich Ogoniland.
(AP, 2/25/07)
2007 Feb 28, In Nigeria at least
50 people were feared dead when a ferry sank on the Nun River in the
southern state of Bayelsa.
(AFP, 3/2/07)
2007 Feb 28, In Michigan Thomas
Katona, a former county treasurer of a Lake Huron vacation community,
was ordered to stand trial on charges that he looted $186,500 in public
funds for a Nigerian investment scam. Katona was treasurer of Alcona
County from 1993 until his dismissal late in 2006.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Mar 2, In Nigeria 7 people
were shot dead and 10 others were seriously wounded when gunmen opened
fire in a crowded district of Port Harcourt.
(AP, 3/3/07)
2007 Mar 7, A Nigerian court
cleared Vice President Atiku Abubakar to take part in next month's
presidential poll, overturning a decision by the electoral commission
to disqualify him.
(AFP, 3/8/07)
2007 Mar 9, The UN Special
Rapporteur on Torture said Nigerian police routinely torture suspects,
shooting them in the legs, beating them and hanging them from the
ceiling for long periods. Royal Dutch Shell said that it has
successfully contained a major oil spill in a production facility in
southern Nigeria but yet to regain output loss of 187,000 barrels per
day.
(AP, 3/9/07)(AFP, 3/9/07)
2007 Mar 12, In Nigeria’s oil
region hostage takers released 3 European captives. 2 Croatians and one
Montenegrin seized Feb. 18 in Port Harcourt were in good health after
their release to state officials.
(AP, 3/12/07)
2007 Mar 15, Nigeria’s electoral
commission barred Vice President Atiku Abubakar from crucial elections,
omitting his name from the roster of two dozen approved candidates. In
southern Nigeria militants released two Italian oil workers who were
kidnapped more than three months ago.
(AP, 3/15/07)(AFP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 16, Frenchman Gerard
Laporal, kidnapped in Nigeria's southern oil capital Port Harcourt more
than a month ago, was released.
(AFP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 17, In Nigeria retired
general Adetunji Olurin, who runs Ekiti State, warned he could invoke
State of Emergency Laws against politicians bent on causing violence as
April general elections draw near. Newspapers next day reported that he
threatened to have troublemakers shot on sight to curb political
violence. In central Nigeria 2 Asians and one Nigerian were kidnapped.
(AFP, 3/18/07)(AP, 3/19/07)
2007 Mar 18, In Nigeria a senior
veterinary official said the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus is spreading
among poultry farms around Kano, northern Nigeria's largest city.
(AFP, 3/18/07)
2007 Mar 21, A Nigerian Senate
committee ruled that President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Atiku
Abubakar, acted "illegally" in the management of a petroleum fund and
recommended them for prosecution. 5 people were killed in clashes over
land in Ikare-Akoka in the southwestern state of Ondo.
(AFP, 3/21/07)(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Mar 23, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped three foreign construction workers, including a Dutch
national, in two separate incidents.
(AP, 3/23/07)
2007 Mar 25, In Nigeria a
diplomatic source said an Indian and a Lebanese man kidnapped in
volatile southern Nigeria last week amid disputes over oil revenues
have been released.
(AFP, 3/25/07)
2007 Mar 26, In northern Nigeria
at least 89 people burned to death in Kaduna when a tanker lorry caught
fire as they were stealing fuel from it.
(AFP, 3/28/07)
2007 Mar 27, In Nigeria
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell confirmed that the federal government had
charged it with the alleged loss of some "radioactive tools" belonging
to one of its contractors. Shell denied reports that it had been
involved in any dumping of toxic waste in Nigeria.
(AFP, 3/27/07)
2007 Mar 31, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped a British oil worker from an offshore oil rig.
(AP, 3/31/07)
2007 Apr 2, Gunmen in Nigeria's
southern Bayelsa State kidnapped two Lebanese nationals.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nigerian Vice
President Atiku Abubakar lost an appeal against a decision by the
electoral commission to bar him from this month's presidential
election. Two courts issued competing rulings on the disqualification,
setting up a legal showdown just weeks before an election meant to
solidify civilian rule in the country.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 4, Hostage takers in
southern Nigeria released four foreign workers held captive in the
oil-rich region. The British High Commission and an industry source
said a Briton and a Dutch national held hostage in volatile oil-rich
southern Nigeria have been released. Gordon Gray was kidnapped March 31
from an offshore rig in the Niger delta. The Dutch man was kidnapped
March 23 from Port Harcourt. 2 Lebanese nationals working for a
construction firm, Setraco, were also released.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 6, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped two Turkish engineers from their car in Port Harcourt.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Nigeria 5 people,
including a senior police officer, were killed in clashes between rival
cult gangs in the southern oil-rich state of Rivers.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Nigeria gunmen
shot dead a radical Muslim cleric in his mosque and fired on the
congregation, killing two more people, in the northern city of Kano.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 14, Voters went to the
polls in Nigeria to choose their state officers in the first of a pair
of elections meant to solidify civilian rule. PDP gunmen beat up
opponents, snatched ballot boxes and stuffed them with pre-marked
ballots. Gunmen killed seven policemen in raids on two police stations
in Port Harcourt.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AFP, 4/14/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.56)
2007 Apr 15, Nigeria's mass daily
newspapers reported that dozens of people died during state elections,
as results began to emerge from state elections that were marred by
rigging and violence.
(AP, 4/15/07)(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nigeria's Supreme
Court ruled that the country's electoral commission unlawfully
disqualified a top opposition politician once allied with the president
from running to replace his former mentor.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 17, Nigeria's electoral
commission said it would comply with a Supreme Court ruling that the
vice president be placed on the ballot for this weekend's presidential
elections, as sporadic violence was reported around the country. 18
Nigerian opposition parties threatened to boycott the presidential and
legislative elections if the April 14 regional polls were not
cancelled. 12 Nigerian police were killed when an unknown armed group
stormed their station in the northern city of Kano.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Nigeria's government
rejected an opposition call to postpone the presidential election
following widespread abuses in state polls last weekend. Nigerian
soldiers killed at least 25 Islamic militants, in the second day of
violent clashes in Kano.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Nigeria the
opposition said that troops have intercepted a truck-load of already
completed ballots a day before the presidential election, heightening
fears the vote will be rigged. A Nigerian navy helicopter crashed in
the country's south, killing its three crew members. 7 policemen on
election duty were ambushed and shot dead near Karu town in central
Nassarawa State.
(Reuters, 4/20/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, A truck bomb aimed at
Nigeria's electoral commission headquarters ran into barriers and
failed to explode. Polls opened despite the attack for a presidential
vote already shadowed by charges of fraud and a last-minute ballot
hitch. Voting in Nigeria's parliamentary elections was suspended in
most of central Lagos, the economic capital, because of errors on the
ballot papers.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 22, The two main
opposition parties denounced the conduct of Nigeria's presidential
elections. An influential, homegrown observer group called for a
cancellation of the vote meant to cement civilian rule in Africa's top
oil producer.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 23, Umaru Yar'Adua of
Nigeria's ruling party was declared winner of a presidential poll
rejected by the opposition and condemned by observers as a "charade."
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 24, The Nigerian
government accused Bola Tinubu, the governor of Lagos, of operating
foreign accounts contrary to his oath of office.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 26, Nigeria's main
opposition party said it will not recognize or cooperate with any
government formed as a result of last weekend's presidential election,
which was won by the party of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, Nigeria's Supreme
Court voided the removal of Joshua Dariye, a Plateau state governor,
who fled London on money laundering charges in November 2004. In
Nigeria police said 5 gunmen and two police officers were killed during
an attempt to kidnap two foreign oil workers in the oil-rich city of
Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Nigeria ballot
papers were stolen and voters intimidated as polls were re-staged for
hundreds of state and federal legislators' seats after elections widely
condemned as fraudulent. Oil officials said Nigeria is currently losing
600,000 barrels of oil per day in the oil rich Niger Delta as a result
of the activities of militants in the region.
(AP, 4/28/07)(AFP, 4/28/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people
gathered in heavily guarded squares and stadiums in Nigeria's main
cities to protest last month's flawed presidential election. Dare
Folorunso, a Nigerian journalist of the state-owned radio-television
station, was beaten unconscious by policemen at workers rally in Akure
in southern Ondo state. MEND militants kidnapped six foreign oil
workers, including four Italians, in an attack on a floating storage
vessel off the coast of southern Bayelsa State. A Nigerian sailor was
killed.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)(SFC, 5/2/07, p.C2)(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 2, A company spokesman
said US oil giant Chevron has shut down 15,000 barrels per day of oil
production in its Funiwa facility in southern Nigeria following a
militant attack.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 3, In Nigeria at least 21
workers, most of them foreigners, were kidnapped in separate attacks in
the oil-rice delta region. 8 foreigners and a Nigerian were later freed.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 5, In southern Nigeria
armed men kidnapped a Briton overnight from the Trident 8 oil rig.
Unknown gunmen in Port Harcourt kidnapped a Russian woman who worked
for a catering company.
(AFP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 7, Nigeria's next
president Umaru Yar'Adua departed on a tour of seven African countries,
his first foreign trip since being elected in April. Oil major Chevron
said it had temporarily shut down its Ebite flow station in southern
Nigeria because of a community protest.
(AFP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 8, In southern Nigeria
militants staged coordinated attacks on 3 pipelines in the wetlands
region, the most damaging assault on the country's vital oil
infrastructure in over a year. MEND claimed responsibility for the
bombings, which forced Italian oil giant Eni to halt production of
150,000 barrels per day (bpd) feeding its Brass export terminal.
Militants released 3 South Koreans and 8 Filipinos kidnapped last week
at a Daewoo construction site in the oil-rich south.
(Reuters, 5/8/07)(AFP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In southern Nigeria
gunmen seized four American workers overnight as violence escalated in
the petroleum-producing region. South Korea's top builder Daewoo
Engineering and Construction welcomed the release of its kidnapped
workers in Nigeria and said the incident would not affect its lucrative
business in the country.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 10, Nigeria's Senate
cleared outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption in the
management of a multi-billion-dollar oil fund but indicted his deputy.
In Port Harcourt gunmen wearing military fatigues jumped from their
vehicles and killed two police officers.
(AFP, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Only around half of
45 oil exploration blocks Nigeria put up for auction attracted bids,
with foreigners wary of political uncertainty ahead of a government
change.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 12, In Nigeria Lora
Kabir, a Russian woman, set off with 50 volunteers on a 225-kilometer
(140-mile) walk from polio-endemic Nigeria's most populous city Kano to
raise public awareness among parents of the dangers of polio.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 13, Nigeria's central
labor union called for a two-day mass protest against last month's
elections, which have been roundly criticized by both local and foreign
observers for fraud. In southern Nigeria at least 30 people were killed
when three vehicles burst into flames after colliding on a road.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, A Chinese rocket
blasted a Nigerian communications satellite into orbit, marking an
expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space
hardware. The NIGCOMSAT-1 ceased functioning on November 11, 2008, due
to a power failure.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 May 14, In southern Nigeria's
Rivers State unidentified gunmen snatched a Nigerian working for
Italian oil giant Agip.
(AFP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 15, Royal Dutch Shell
Plc. said protestors have occupied an oil facility in southern Nigeria
forcing daily production cuts of 170,000 barrels per day.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 16, Nigerian militants
used dynamite to blow up a home of vice president-elect Goodluck
Jonathan, killing two police officers.
(AFP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, In Nigeria labor
leaders called a two-day nationwide strike coinciding with the May 29
inauguration of the new government to protest what they said was a
fraudulent election.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 19, In southern Nigeria
gunmen dynamited the front gate of a residential compound and kidnapped
three Indians in an attack that left one Nigerian dead.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 20, Officials said
Nigeria's largest state has sued US drug firm Pfizer for allegedly
using 200 children as "guinea pigs" for a drug test in 1996 that led to
multiple deaths and deformities.
(AFP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 24, Nigeria's powerful
oil unions began a strike at its state-owned oil company and threatened
to target exports in hopes of reversing the sale of government
refineries.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In southern Nigeria
gunmen kidnapped a group of foreign oil workers, including three
Americans and four Britons.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 26, Nigeria's oil unions
said they have suspended a two-day-old strike after the government met
their demands over the proposed sale of two state-owned oil refineries.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 29, Umaru Yar'Adua (56),
a former governor hand-picked by departing President Olusegun Obasanjo,
was sworn in as president in Nigeria’s first transfer of power from one
elected government to another. Gun battles between rival gangs in
Nigeria's southern oil-producing state of Rivers erupted in violence
linked to a change of governor, killing 15 people.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 30, In southern Nigeria 4
American oil workers abducted three weeks ago were released.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 Jun 1, Nigeria’s national
dailies reported that nearly 2,000 students sitting university entrance
exams in have been caught using mobile phones to cheat. Gunmen
disguised as riot police abducted four foreign workers from the
residential compound of oil services giant Schlumberger in Nigeria's
oil city Port Harcourt. The four hostages were citizens of Britain,
France, the Netherlands and Pakistan. Gunmen kidnapped three senior
expatriate management staff and four family members from the
residential compound of chemical company Indorama.
(AFP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Southern Nigeria's
most prominent armed group released six foreign oil workers held
captive for four weeks and announced a month-long moratorium in attacks
on petroleum facilities.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 3, Nigerian gunmen
kidnapped six foreign staff of United Company RUSAL after blowing up
their apartment with explosives in the southeastern town of Ikot Abasi.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 4, The Nigerian police
said military troops stormed a hideout in Ebonyi state and freed one of
two Chinese workers abducted by unknown gunmen on Mar 17.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 6, A senior official said
Nigeria's anti-graft agency has summoned 15 former governors over
corruption charges involving millions of dollars and they are due to
appear before investigators.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Nigeria's Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie won Britain's Orange Prize for fiction by women for her
book “Half of a Yellow Sun,” becoming the first African to take the
award in its 12-year history.
(AP, 6/6/07)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 11, Hostage takers in
Nigeria's restive oil heartland released 13 captives, including three
Americans.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 13, In London Chinua
Achebe (76), a Nigerian novelist, won the Booker Int’l. Prize for
fiction, awarded every 2 years for a body of fiction. He is best known
for his 1st book “Things Fall Apart” (1958).
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.E5)
2007 Jun 14, Nigerian separatist
leader Mujahid Asari Dokubo, whose detention on treason charges since
2005 has sparked kidnappings in the oil-rich Niger Delta, was
provisionally freed on health grounds. Militants freed 10 Indian
hostages, including 2 women and 2 children.
(AFP, 6/14/07)(AFP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Nigeria military
and industry sources said gunmen have kidnapped several foreigners in
the main oil-producing region of southern Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 18, Nigeria's main labor
organizations said they had called a general strike for June 20, two
days later than originally planned, threatening key oil exports.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 19, In Nigeria a top
militant leader freed on bail said that armed groups in the restive
south will halt attacks on oil installations to give the new government
a chance to deal with the region's problems.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Nigerian stocks
dipped 1.74% as a general strike called by the country's two main labor
movements over a 15-percent hike in petrol prices took its toll.
Nigerian health officials said an outbreak of measles in a village in
the northern state of Borno had killed 20 children and caused a further
100 children to be hospitalized.
(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 21, In Nigeria police
used tear gas on strikers manning a barricade in Lagos as the second
day of a general strike brought parts of Africa's largest oil producer
to a standstill. Two Nigerian employees of Italian oil company Agip
were killed when troops stormed an oil facility to free hostages in the
Niger delta. A total of 20 people were killed in the operation,
including 15 militants.
(AFP, 6/21/07)(AFP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 22, Nigeria's crippling
general strike entered a third day with labor leaders and government
officials deadlocked after all-night talks ended in failure.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Nigeria labor
unions called off a strike aimed at overturning a government fuel-price
hike, ending a four-day work stoppage that shut down most major
economic activity in Africa's biggest oil producer. Labor officials
said they accepted a government proposal to hold off on raising fuel
prices for a year, while accepting an earlier offer to halve the price
increase that had sparked the strike. Kidnappers released four foreign
oil workers seized weeks ago.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 25, In Nigeria 2 youth
activists were killed in a clash between two rival groups in southern
Nigerian Rivers State.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 26, A seven billion
dollar (5.2 billion euro) lawsuit pitting the Nigerian government
against the world's biggest pharmaceutical company Pfizer opened with
the US giant demanding the court dismiss the charges.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 28, Nigeria’s President
Umaru Yar'Adua revealed personal wealth of $5 million, saying public
financial disclosures should be standard practice amidst official
corruption. Torrential rain brought Lagos virtually to a standstill as
streets flooded with more than 50 centimeters (20 inches) of water, in
places blocking traffic.
(AFP, 6/28/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jul 2, Nigerian university
lecturers called off a more than three-month strike to press for
improved working conditions.
(AFP, 7/2/07)
2007 Jul 4, In southern Nigeria
armed men kidnapped five foreigners, the same day the country's most
prominent militant group announced it would end a truce with the
government.
(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 5, In Nigeria kidnappers
snatched the 3-year-old daughter of a British worker as she was being
taken to school.
(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jul 8, In southern Nigeria a
British toddler was released by gunmen and reunited with her parents,
who said she was fine but hungry and covered in mosquito bites.
(AP, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 9, In Nigeria gunmen
attacked two southern oil installations, kidnapping two senior Nigerian
employees of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and two foreigners.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2007 Jul 10, Nigerian troops
foiled an attempt by militants to kidnap workers at a Korean firm in
southern Rivers state, killing one insurgent and injuring several
others. Police said several people were injured and many houses and
vehicles were destroyed in two days of fighting between two rival cult
gangs in southern Ogoniland.
(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Jul 11, Nigeria's
anti-corruption agency arrested two former governors who had refused to
present themselves for questioning.
(AP, 7/12/07)
2007 Jul 12, In Nigeria the
3-year-old son of town chief Eze Francis Amadi was grabbed by gunmen
who smashed a window of his father's SUV in the fourth child kidnapping
in the oil-rich south in less than two months. The boy was returned the
next day.
(AP, 7/12/07)(AP, 7/13/07)
2007 Jul 17, Anglo-Dutch oil giant
Shell said it has been unable to fight a major fire along a key oil
supply pipeline because of unrest in southern Nigeria's Ogoniland
region. The fire, raging for more than a month, has affected the
company's Trans-Niger pipeline that passes through six villages whose
residents are hostile to the company.
(AFP, 7/17/07)
2007 Jul 18, A top Nigerian lawyer
accused former president Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption and asked the
anti-graft commission (EFCC) to investigate his financial activities
while in office. A Nigerian oil official said the economy has lost more
than one billion dollars a month and hundreds of thousands of barrels
of crude a day since 2006 due to unrest in the Niger Delta. In northern
Nigeria a radical Sunni Islamic preacher was shot dead near a mosque.
Sunni Muslims in Sokoto said they suspected members of the rival Shiite
community.
(AFP, 7/18/07)(AFP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 20, Nigeria filed a new
lawsuit against US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer claiming some 6.5
billion dollars in damages for deaths allegedly stemming from drug
trials. In Sokoto, Nigeria's main Islamic city, mobs burned down houses
in Shiite neighborhoods in apparent reprisal for the murder this week
of a radical Sunni Muslim cleric. In northern Nigeria at least one
person died and about 100 were detained in a series of dawn raids
following sectarian clashes sparked by the killing of a popular Sunni
cleric In southern Nigeria Gunmen killed a Lebanese businessman in his
home. Later in the day attackers tried to ambush a truck carrying
several foreign workers in what appeared to be a kidnapping attempt.
(AFP, 7/20/07)(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jul 21, In southern Nigeria
armed men seized the son (30) of a local chief near Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 23, Nigerian police said
at least 10 people were killed over the weekend and dozens sustained
burns in the southern Delta state after adulterated kerosene they were
using in their stoves exploded. In southwest Nigeria at least six
people were killed and several trapped when a three-storey building
under construction collapsed.
(AFP, 7/23/07)(AFP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 24, Nigerian President
Umaru Yar'Adua ordered the release of funds belonging to the government
of the economic capital Lagos seized three years ago by his
predecessor. Suspected ransom-seekers kidnapped the mother of the
speaker of the state house of assembly in neighboring Bayelsa state.
(AP, 7/24/07)(AP, 7/25/07)
2007 Jul 25, The Nigerian
government filed suit against three leading tobacco companies, seeking
more than 40 billion dollars (29 billion euros) in damages for the cost
of treating smoking-related diseases.
(AFP, 11/7/07)
2007 Jul 26, A court in Nigeria
sentenced Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha, former Bayelso state governor, to
two years in jail on charges of corruption and money laundering and
ordered him to forfeit millions in property and cash. Vice Admiral
Ganiyu Adekeye, the new head of the navy, told a parliamentary
commission about the suspected illegal bunkering on ships under naval
guard and how the ex-officers allegedly dipped into the lucrative trade.
(AP, 7/26/07)(AFP, 7/28/07)
2007 Jul 31, In Nigeria Peter
Ogwuma, a staff (member) of Elf Petroleum, was abducted as he was about
to leave the church for home.
(AFP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 5, In Nigeria 18 men were
arrested in remote northern Bauchi state, where they were found with
women's apparel as they prepared for a gay wedding. They faced charges
of sodomy in a Nigerian Islamic court. They were accused of lesser
crimes in court but angry crowds reacted violently. Three weeks later
they were rearrested and charged with more severe crimes including
indecent acts and faced 10 years in jail if found guilty.
(AP, 8/10/07)(Econ, 10/13/07, p.49)
2007 Aug 6, Nigerian police said
that they have arrested 17 people over the past two months on suspicion
of carrying out kidnappings in the oil-rich south of the country. At
least 17 people were killed in flooding in central Nigeria's Plateau
state while more than 200 houses were washed away.
(AP, 8/6/07)(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 Aug 7, ECOWAS said the last
refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone in Nigeria have been allowed to
settle and they will have access to work, education and health on the
same terms as Nigerians, West African regional bloc.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 7, In Nigeria 6 Russian
hostages, kidnapped on June 3, were freed in the oil producing Niger
Delta after two months in captivity. Rusal, the world's largest
aluminium producer, acquired 77 percent of the Nigerian company Alscon
in February.
(AFP, 8/7/07)
2007 Aug 8, In Nigeria kidnappers
released a British and a Bulgarian hostage in the southern oil region,
while the young son of a local legislator was seized in a separate
incident and gunbattles raged for a third day.
(AP, 8/8/07)
2007 Aug 10, In Nigeria gunmen
kidnapped an American manager from oil services firm Hydrodive as he
traveled to work in Port Harcourt, where gunfire rang out across the
region’s main city for a fifth day.
(Reuters, 8/10/07)
2007 Aug 12, In southern Nigeria a
foreigner taken hostage amid increased lawlessness died of an illness
while being taken to a hospital.
(AP, 8/12/07)
2007 Aug 14, Gunmen in southern
Nigeria abducted the mother of a state lawmaker, the latest in a spate
of kidnappings targeting the children and elderly parents of local
politicians.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Aug 17, Nigerian authorities
imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Port Harcourt after security forces
and gang members clashed in battles that left dozens dead.
(AP, 8/17/07)
2007 Aug 27, Gunmen in southern
Nigeria set free Peter Agwuna, a Nigerian supervisor for the Elf oil
group, who was seized in Port Harcourt about a month ago.
(AFP, 8/28/07)
2007 Sep 3, In southwestern
Nigeria at least 20 people were killed when a bus collided with a fuel
tanker.
(AFP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 4, Nigeria’s national
news agency said Nigeria will spend 950 million naira (7.3 million
dollars/ 5.3 million euros) to resettle nationals living in the
disputed Bakassi Peninsula ceded to Cameroon last year.
(AFP, 9/4/07)
2007 Sep 6, In Nigeria 5 people,
including two policemen, were shot dead in a failed attempt to rob a
bank in Lagos.
(AFP, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 11, In Nigeria journalist
Tope Abiola was beaten unconscious by prison guards and police as he
photographed the bodies of some of the inmates killed by police who
used live bullets to foil a jail break attempt at Agodi prison. At
least eight inmates were killed and another 14 seriously injured in the
riot.
(AFP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 14, Eight members of
Nigeria's ruling party seized by gunmen in the southern oil-producing
state of Ondo last weekend were released.
(AFP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 18, The Nigerian navy
said that over the past 3 years it had seized 236 ships, tugboats and
barges used for smuggling crude oil and petroleum products in the high
seas and Niger delta.
(AFP, 9/18/07)
2007 Sep 20, A Nigerian government
spokesman said Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala has sacked the entire
34,000-strong workforce in his Oyo state for refusing to heed a call to
suspend their one-month-old strike over pay.
(AFP, 9/20/07)
2007 Sep 21, Sources said the
presumed head of the Nigerian armed group the Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), who goes under the name of Jomo
Gbomo, has been arrested in Angola.
(AFP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 22, Nigeria suspended a
deal by a previous government allowing the private sector to run the
country's federal government-owned "unity" schools.
(AFP, 9/22/07)
2007 Sep 26, Dr. Judith Asuni
(60), A US aid worker, was arrested in the oil-rich Niger Delta along
with German nationals Florian Orpitz (35), and Andy Lehmann (26), and
one Nigerian, Danjuma Saidu. Asuni was said to have facilitated the
Germans' visit to Nigeria and helped them enter the petroleum
installation to film. Asuni was granted bail on Oct 23.
(AFP, 10/7/07)(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Sep 27, In Nigeria gunmen
disguised as soldiers killed a Colombian oil worker and abducted two
other foreigners in a raid on the construction yard of oil services
company Saipem.
(Reuters, 9/27/07)
2007 Oct 3, Local media said
police in southwest Nigeria have arrested five politicians for
allegedly raping a 15-year-old schoolgirl. The suspects, all members of
the west African giant's ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), were
arrested for the offence in Ilesha. An opposition Action Congress (AC)
spokesman said the rape victim was among eight supporters of the party
who were abducted two weeks ago in the town. At least 38 people were
killed and 48 reported missing after two ferries collided on a river in
northern Nigeria's Kebbi State.
(AP, 10/3/07)(AFP, 10/5/07)
2007 Oct 3, An Islamic court in
northern Nigeria banned a play written by a civil rights activist which
satirizes the implementation of Sharia law in 12 mainly Muslim states.
The upper Sharia court in the Tudun Wada neighborhood of the northern
city of Kaduna issued the order restraining Shehu Sani from selling or
circulating his play, "Phantom Crescent."
(AFP, 10/7/07)
2007 Oct 4, Officials said the
Nigerian central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate MPR from
eight to nine percent because of rising inflation.
(AFP, 10/4/07)
2007 Oct 10, A Nigerian electoral
court annulled the election of Ibrahim Idris, the governor of the
central Kogi State, following a complaint by his opponent, Abubakar
Audu, that he had been unfairly excluded from the April vote.
(AFP, 10/11/07)
2007 Oct 11, A World Health
Organization official said 69 children in northern Nigeria contracted
polio following vaccination against the disease. Peter Eriki indicated
that around 10 percent of the Nigerian population has dodged the
vaccination campaign. The new outbreak was caused by the mutation of a
vaccine's virus.
(AFP, 10/12/07)(AP, 8/14/09)
2007 Oct 14, Indian PM Manmohan
Singh arrived in the Nigerian capital Abuja in the first state visit by
an Indian premier to the oil-rich west African state in 45 years.
(AP, 10/15/07)
2007 Oct 16,
India and Nigeria reaffirmed their stance in favor of UN Security
Council reform and signed up to a slew of cooperation agreements on day
two of a state visit to Nigeria by Indian PM Manmohan Singh.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Oct 21, Shell officials said
gunmen in speedboats attacked an offshore oil field in the volatile
Niger Delta, kidnapping three foreign workers and four Nigerians.
(AP, 10/21/07)
2007 Oct 24, Nigeria's top
corruption investigator said that up to six former governors will be
charged by the end of the year, a sign the country's new leadership is
making good on pledges to stamp out graft in one of the world's most
corrupt nations.
(AP, 10/24/07)
2007 Oct 25, In southwest Nigeria
17 people were killed when a passenger bus collided with an oncoming
truck on a road.
(AFP, 10/26/07)
2007 Oct 26, In south Nigeria
armed militants attacked an offshore oil platform operated by Italy's
ENI and seized seven foreign workers and one Nigerian. The 6 foreign
workers were released on Oct 30.
(AP, 10/26/07)(AP, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct 30,
Patricia Etteh, the speaker of Nigeria's House of
Representatives, resigned, just hours after saying she would step aside
temporarily to enable lawmakers to debate a report indicting her over a
contract scam. A panel's report found Etteh did not follow due process
before awarding contracts worth several million dollars to equip and
renovate her official residence and that of her deputy.
(AFP, 10/30/07)
2007 Oct 31, In southern Nigeria
one navy officer was killed and four other naval personnel injured in
an overnight attack on a vessel protecting a Shell oilfield.
(AP, 10/31/07)
2007 Nov 2, A Nigerian court
sentenced Omoniyi Sanlola (25), a university student, to 34 years in
jail for forging US Postal Service money orders. The judge handed him
one-year terms for each count, to run concurrently.
(AFP, 11/3/07)
2007 Nov 7, The country's top
prosecutor said Nigeria will drop criminal charges against an American
peace worker, her Nigerian associate and two German film makers who had
been accused of endangering national security.
(AP, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 12, A Nigerian official
said security agents have arrested several men who allegedly had
materials for making explosives. Evidence has linked them to the
al-Qaida terror network.
(AP, 11/12/07)
2007 Nov 12, An unknown armed
group killed 19 Cameroonian soldiers in Bakassi, a border region handed
back to Cameroon by Nigeria last year.
(Reuters, 11/13/07)
2007 Nov 15, Royal Dutch Shell
said a major pipeline feeding one of its two main oil export terminals
in southern Nigeria was attacked and ruptured by unknown assailants.
(AP, 11/15/07)
2007 Nov 18, In Nigeria’s northern
Kano state supporters of rival political parties clashed over the
results of local government elections, leaving six people dead and
dozens behind bars.
(AP, 11/19/07)
2007 Nov 20, Officials said
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua will not allow his country to be used
as a base for the proposed US African military command AFRICOM.
(AFP, 11/20/07)
2007 Dec 4, In southern Nigeria
pirates attacked a vessel operated by oil major ExxonMobil in the Niger
Delta, killing a crew member and injuring another.
(AP, 12/4/07)
2007 Dec 11, In southeast Nigeria
20 people were killed and several injured when the driver of a truck
lost control and rammed into a crowd by the roadside in Awka, Anambra
state.
(AFP, 12/12/07)
2007 Dec 12, The former governor
of Nigeria's oil rich Delta state, James Ibori, was arrested on
corruption and money-laundering charges. His state salary was less than
$25,000 per year. In August a court in London ordered a freeze on $35
million of his worldwide assets.
(AP, 12/12/07)(Econ, 1/5/08, p.38)
2007 Dec 13, In south-west Nigeria
at least 17 people burned to death when four vehicles burst into flames
in a crash.
(AFP, 12/15/07)
2007 Dec 14, Ayo Fayose of
southwestern Ekiti state gave, a Nigerian former state governor, turned
himself in to police after more than a year on the run, vowing to
defend himself in court against allegations of corruption. High Chief
Ekpemupolo, an influential rebel commander in Nigeria's oil-producing
Niger Delta, ordered the suspension of peace talks with the government
because of military incursions and the arrest of another commander.
(Reuters, 12/15/07)
2007 Dec 17, Nigeria's main
militant group urged all armed factions in the restive southern oil
heartland to join together and cripple Africa's biggest petroleum
industry.
(AP, 12/17/07)
2007 Dec 24, A Nigerian court
ordered the arrests of three of the defendants in a trial over a drug
test conducted by Pfizer in 1996 which Nigerian authorities say killed
11 children and left others disabled.
(AP, 12/24/07)
2007 Dec 26, A ruptured gasoline
pipeline exploded in flames, killing at least 34 people near Nigeria's
main city of Lagos as they tried to scoop fuel from the gushing leak.
(AP, 12/26/07)
2007 Dec 27, Nigeria reported that
Nuhu Ribadu, head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), was being forced to resign in order to attend a one year course
at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies at Jos.
(Econ, 1/5/08, p.38)
2008 Jan 1, In Nigeria armed men
killed 13 people over New Year in Port Harcourt when they attacked two
police stations and a hotel. The Niger Delta Vigilante Movement, led by
Ateke Tom, claimed responsibility.
(AFP, 1/2/08)(SFC, 1/2/08, p.A3)
2008 Jan 11, In Nigeria MEND, the
prominent militant group in the oil-rich Niger Delta, said it planted
an explosive device that set a tanker on fire in Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 1/11/08)
2008 Jan 12, In Nigeria a speeding
fuel tanker crashed and spilled its cargo in Port Harcourt, and as many
as three dozen people were feared dead in the resulting fire.
(AP, 1/12/08)
2008 Jan 15, In Nigeria a civilian
was killed and two policemen injured in an overnight attack on the
convoy of a port authority official in the oil hub city Port Harcourt.
Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell said that local people were hampering
efforts to repair the sabotaged pipelines at the Forcados export
terminal in southern Nigeria.
(AFP, 1/15/08)
2008 Jan 21, In southern Nigeria a
major oil pipeline belonging to Italian oil company Agip caught fire
and a tanker truck exploded in separate incidents.
(AFP, 1/21/08)
2008 Feb 3, In Nigeria fighters
from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
attacked a military houseboat stationed at the Shell Petroleum Tora
manifold in Bayelsa state of Nigeria. The attack killed three soldiers.
(AFP, 2/5/08)
2008 Feb 6, In Nigeria armed men
killed a policeman in an overnight attack and kidnapped the wife of a
prominent politician in Port Harcourt. She was released 2 days later.
(AFP, 2/6/08)(AFP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 8, A presidential
statement said Nigeria has approved a new policy requiring gas
producers to direct a part of their output to the domestic market,
rather than exporting it.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 10, In Nigeria 6 people,
including three policemen, were killed in a gun battle with robbers in
Nigeria's commercial city Lagos.
(AFP, 2/11/08)
2008 Feb 11, Gunmen killed a
Nigerian naval officer and forced several others to dive for their
lives into the water in oil-rich southern Rivers State.
(AFP, 2/11/08)
2008 Feb 13, In Nigeria at least
seven people were killed and several more were trapped when a
four-storey building collapsed in Lagos.
(AFP, 2/14/08)
2008 Feb 14, Angola extradited
Henry Okah, the alleged leader of Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta (MEND), to Nigeria.
(AP, 2/15/08)
2008 Feb 26, A Nigerian election
tribunal upheld the president's declared victory in last year's
disputed election.
(AP, 2/26/08)
2008 Feb 28, The presidents of
resource-hungry China and oil-rich Nigeria met ahead of the planned
signing of energy deals in Beijing's latest overture to an African
nation.
(AFP, 2/28/08)
2008 Feb 29, In Ghana 9 Nigerians
were sentenced to 5 years each for faking e-mails and letters,
including one from the Ghanaian president, to dupe a Frenchman out of
$185,000.
(AFP, 3/10/08)
2008 Mar 11, Nigerian soldiers
hunting Niger Delta gang leader Ateke Tom said they had found a huge
cache of arms and ammunition, along with an illegal pipeline used to
tap stolen oil, in a raid on one of his bases.
(AFP, 3/12/08)
2008 Mar 15, Officials said the
main telecom operator in the United Arab Emirates, Etisalat, has
launched mobile services in Nigeria, becoming the fifth operator there.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 15, In Nigeria a Wings
Airline 19-seater aircraft went missing shortly after leaving Lagos for
the Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River state. On Aug 30 hunters found
the wreckage of the plane and the bodies of its three crew members.
(AFP, 9/3/08)
2008 Mar 20, Fidelis Omeni, an
environment ministry official said, Nigeria has been suspended from the
International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for
alleged breaches of its provisions.
(AP, 3/20/08)
2008 Mar 29, In southwestern
Nigeria 5 employees of Express Oil were seized by angry youths in Ondo
state over the company's failure to pay royalties for its operations in
the area.
(AFP, 3/31/08)
2008 Apr 6, In Nigeria
unidentified gunmen kidnapped an 11-year-old boy in Port Harcourt,
wounding his mother and killing the family's police guard and their
driver.
(AFP, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 8, Nigeria's government
filed graft charges against the daughter of ex-president Olusegun
Obasanjo and two ministers sacked last month.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2008 Apr 13, The Saudi Arabia
beheaded two Nigerian men convicted of smuggling cocaine into the
kingdom. 42 people have been beheaded this year, according to an AP
count.
(AP, 4/13/08)
2008 Apr 21,
A rebel group from Nigeria's oil producing Niger Delta said it
attacked two major oil pipelines there in what it called a message to
the United States to stop supporting "injustice" in the troubled region.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 Apr 22, Anglo-Dutch oil group
Shell reported output loss of 169,000 barrels per day following the
sabotage of its key supply pipelines in southern Nigeria.
(AP, 4/22/08)
2008 Apr 24, In Nigeria members of
a white-collar union working for Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), an
affiliate of US oil group ExxonMobil, began an indefinite strike over
pay and working conditions. MEND fighters sabotaged a Royal Dutch Shell
oil pipeline in southern Rivers State.
(AP, 4/24/08)(AP, 4/25/08)
2008 May 2, Nigeria’s high court
ruled that former president Olusegun Obasanjo's daughter, Iyabo
Obasanjo-Bello, currently in hiding, must face corruption charges.
(AP, 5/2/08)
2008 May 3, Rebels in Nigeria's
oil-rich Niger Delta blew up three oil wells operated by Royal Dutch
Shell, their fifth attack in recent weeks against the petroleum
industry.
(AP, 5/3/08)
2008 May 6, Niger Delta rebels
said that former US President Jimmy Carter had agreed to act as a
mediator if invited by Nigeria's government, and the group promised to
declare a ceasefire if talks went ahead.
(Reuters, 5/6/08)
2008 May 7, Nigeria announced it
was suspending import duties and other taxes on rice while launching a
raft of other measures to head off a food crisis in Africa's most
populous nation.
(AP, 5/7/08)
2008 May 10, Oil major Royal Dutch
Shell said it was losing the equivalent of 30,000 barrels of crude oil
per day because of recent attacks against its installations in Nigeria.
(AP, 5/10/08)
2008 May 11, In southern Nigeria
unknown gunmen raided a police station in the oil-rich state of Bayelsa
killing two police officers. The gunmen also stole arms and ammunition
during the attack at Okiki in Ogbia area of the state.
(AFP, 5/13/08)
2008 May 13, In Nigeria
unidentified gunmen in the restive south hijacked an oil-services
vessel carrying 11 crew members demanding about $250,000 for their
release. The crew members were released on June 25.
(AP, 5/14/08)(AFP, 6/26/08)
2008 May 14, US federal
prosecutors said Willbros Group Inc., a Houston-based oil services
company, agreed to pay $32.3 million in criminal and civil penalties to
settle charges that it bribed officials in Nigeria and Ecuador to get
contracts between 2003-2005.
(WSJ, 5/15/08, p.B2)
2008 May 15, In Nigeria a huge
explosion was triggered when an excavator accidentally pierced an oil
pipeline. The Nigeria Red Cross said some 100 people were killed in a
blaze that lasted more than a day. A local government official put the
death toll at 15.
(AFP, 5/16/08)
2008 May 21, In northern Nigeria
46 soldiers, who just returned from a peacekeeping mission in Darfur,
were killed in a road accident. 10 people drowned and six were rescued
when their boat capsized in Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 5/22/08)(AFP, 5/23/08)
2008 May 21, Dozens of men on
horseback armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades
ambushed Nigerian peacekeepers serving with the joint UN-African Union
force in Darfur. No casualties were reported.
(AP, 5/23/08)
2008 May 26, Rebels from Nigeria's
oil-producing Niger Delta said they had blown up a Royal Dutch Shell
pipeline and killed 11 soldiers in a firefight, but the army denied
losing any men.
(Reuters, 5/26/08)
2008 May 31, In Nigeria a senior
health department official for the federal capital said smokers in
public places in the capital of Abuja will be arrested and prosecuted
from June 1.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2008 May, In southeast Nigeria 20
teenage girls were rescued at the hospital in Enugu in a police swoop
on what was believed to be one of the largest infant trafficking rings
in the country. Buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and
can carry a 14-year jail term.
(AFP, 11/9/08)
2008 Jun 2, Nigeria's President
Umaru Yar-Adua arrived in South Africa for a four-day state visit to
forge closer ties between Africa's most populous country and its
biggest economy.
(AFP, 6/2/08)
2008 Jun 3, The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) raised its lending rate (MPR) to 10.25 percent from 10
percent to tame high inflation triggered by rising global food prices.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 9, Militants attacked an
oil security vessel off the coast of Nigeria and seized eight navy
personnel and a local Cameroon official. 3 soldiers escaped. On June 15
Cameroon military headquarters said authorities searching for the six
people found five mutilated and bullet-riddled bodies buried in the
mangroves.
(Reuters, 6/9/08)(Reuters, 6/16/08)
2008 Jun 10, Nigeria’s Foreign
Minister Ojo Maduekwe said official records show that 23,584 Nigerians
are in prisons abroad for immigration offences. 9 Nigerian navy members
were killed and four civilians injured in a second attack in as many
days on a security vessel in the volatile oil-rich south.
(AFP, 6/10/08)
2008 Jun 11, In Nigeria a pay
strike by teachers brought schools to a standstill after talks with the
government ended in deadlock.
(AFP, 6/12/08)
2008 Jun 14, In Nigeria a union
leader said teachers have ended their three-day strike after the
government agreed to heed their demand for a pay rise.
(AFP, 6/14/08)
2008 Jun 17, Nigerian police
stormed the hideout of the kidnappers of Eunice Gideon, the wife of a
senior Bayelsa state official and freed her. She was abducted two weeks
ago and was freed in neighboring Rivers state after a gunbattle with
the kidnappers.
(AFP, 6/17/08)
2008 Jun 19, Nigeria's most
prominent militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on
Shell's main offshore oilfield and said it had kidnapped a US oil
worker. The attack shut down a tenth of the country's oil output in a
rare attack on a deepwater facility. The Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) said US captain Jack Stone from oil services
company Tidex was freed in the afternoon.
(AFP, 6/19/08)(Reuters, 6/19/08)
2008 Jun 20, Nigerian militants
blew up a key oil supply pipeline operated by Chevron, in the latest
attack targeting the country's multi-billion-dollar oil industry. The
breached pipeline prompted Chevron to shut down its onshore oil
production.
(AFP, 6/21/08)
2008 Jun 22, Militants in
Nigeria's southern Niger Delta, whose campaign of sabotage has sharply
cut the country's oil output, announced a ceasefire but stopped short
of agreeing to participate in peace talks.
(Reuters, 6/23/08)
2008 Jun 23, The Nigerian senior
oil workers union, PENGASSAN, launched a strike against Chevron.
Company officials said the next day that oil production had not been
affected.
(AFP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun 24, Ibrahim Gambari said
Nigeria will seek a 90-day truce in the oil rich Niger Delta before
holding a summit on peace in that region. Gambari was appointed to
chair a summit.
(AFP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun 25, Nigeria's National
Bureau of Statistics said the inflation rate rose in May to 9.7 percent
from 8.2 percent the previous month, driven by increases in the cost of
food and household items. Witnesses said at least six people have been
killed over four days of fighting between rival militant gangs in
southern oil-rich Bayelsa state.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Jun, Nigeria's anti-drugs
agency seized 80 ton of cannabis in its largest ever single haul, in
the southwestern city of Ibadan.
(AFP, 11/16/08)
2008 Jun, Nigeria’s 144 prisons,
with an official capacity of 25,000, currently held almost twice that
number.
(Econ, 6/7/08, p.60)
2008 Jul 1, The Nigerian Senate
passed a resolution barring the anti-graft agency EFCC and other
security agents from arresting witnesses who appear before parliament.
The lawmakers passed the resolution following the arrests of an
Austrian contractor and two former ministers on the floor of the Senate
shortly after testifying before a parliamentary hearing on the aviation
sector.
(AFP, 7/2/08)
2008 Jul 2, The Nigerian
government charged two former aviation ministers with misusing a
$165-million fund set up to improve air safety after three airplane
accidents.
(AP, 7/2/08)
2008 Jul 4, In Nigeria hundreds of
soldiers, who served as UN peacekeepers in Liberia, went on the rampage
in southwestern Akure in protest against the military authorities'
refusal to pay their allowance. On April 27, 2009, a Nigerian
court-martial sentenced 27 former UN peacekeepers to life in prison
after they were convicted of mutiny following their protests. On Aug 29
the army commuted the life sentences to 7 years.
(AP, 7/5/08)(AP, 4/28/09)(AFP, 8/29/09)
2008 Jul 5, Nigerian officials
said radioactive materials in abandoned mining fields in central
Nigeria's Plateau state pose a serious health hazard to two million
people. Police said Nigeria has deployed troops in the remote
southeastern state of Ebonyi after 14 people were killed and scores of
buildings destroyed in clashes between rival groups feuding over land.
(AP, 7/5/08)(Reuters, 7/5/08)
2008 Jul 10, Nigeria's main
militant group said it would resume attacks in the country's oil-rich
river delta region because of Britain's recent pledge to back the
government in the conflict there. UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari
resigned as chairman of a planned peace summit for the oil-rich Niger
Delta following opposition from regional leaders.
(AP, 7/10/08)(AFP, 7/10/08)
2008 Jul 11, A senior military
official said the Nigerian navy has arrested 15 Filipinos after
intercepting a vessel carrying a significant quantity of stolen crude
oil off the coast of the Niger Delta. Gunboats intercepted the MV Lina
Panama in the waters off Brass, home to a major oil export terminal in
the southern state of Bayelsa. One security source said the vessel was
thought to be carrying tens of thousands of tons of stolen oil.
(Reuters, 7/12/08)
2008 Jul 12, In Nigeria a truck
drivers strike to protest soaring fuel prices entered its 2nd day. At
least 17 people died at a prayer meeting in rural Nigeria after
apparently breathing noxious fumes from their power generator while
asleep. Their bodies were discovered on July 15.
(AFP, 7/12/08)(Reuters, 7/16/08)
2008 Jul 16, In Nigeria about 30
armed men in speedboats attacked a navy vessel that was guarding key
oil facilities in southern Rivers state. Three militants, a naval
serviceman and a civilian were killed. MEND said it was not involved.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 17, Nigerian villagers
blew up a key crude oil supply pipeline operated by Agip, the Nigerian
subsidiary of Italian group Eni, cutting production.
(AFP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 23, Nigeria's main
militant group threatened to destroy the nation's major oil pipelines
within 30 days to counter allegations it had struck a $12 million deal
with the government to protect them.
(AP, 7/23/08)
2008 Jul 24, In Nigeria a petrol
tanker burst into flames main in the main city of Lagos, killing at
least 12 people and leaving several others with severe burns. 5 eastern
European oil workers were abducted from a Swedish boat in the Niger
delta. The 5 Russian oil workers were released on July 26.
(AFP, 7/24/08)(AP, 7/26/08)(AP, 7/28/08)
2008 Jul 25, In Nigeria two oil
workers, one Nigerian and one Filipino, were kidnapped in the Niger
delta.
(AP, 7/26/08)
2008 Jul 26, In Nigeria
unidentified men in a speed boat seized eight foreign oil workers at
gunpoint in the Niger delta. They were released later in the day.
(AP, 7/26/08)
2008 Jul 28, Militants in
Nigeria's Niger Delta said they had blown up two major oil pipelines
belonging to Royal Dutch Shell, forcing the firm to halt some
production and helping push world oil prices higher.
(Reuters, 7/28/08)
2008 Jul 30, Nigerian security
officials said rival militant factions in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger
Delta have clashed in an apparent turf war, killing at least four
people.
(Reuters, 7/30/08)
2008 Aug 2, In Nigeria gunmen
seized 2 French oil workers from a bar in Onne near the oil hub of Port
Harcourt. The 2 were released on Sep 5.
(AFP, 9/5/08)
2008 Aug 4, A Nigerian
presidential panel on oil and gas sector reform recommended that the
state oil company be transformed into an "independent limited liability
company."
(AFP, 8/4/08)
2008 Aug 8, In Nigeria police
arrested the head of a federal agency charged with developing Nigeria's
impoverished southern oil region after allegations the man spent
millions of dollars on a witch doctor in hopes vanquishing a rival.
(AP, 8/8/08)
2008 Aug 12, Nigerian militants
claimed they had destroyed a pipeline supplying gas to a key oil
refinery in southern Rivers state.
(AFP, 8/12/08)
2008 Aug 13, Nigerian officials
said flocks of quelea birds have invaded farmlands in northern Borno
state, destroying crops that were due for harvest in two months' time.
(AFP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 14, Nigeria relinquished
control of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon despite fears the
handover will provoke attacks from local armed groups who oppose it.
(Reuters, 8/14/08)
2008 Aug 15, Twelve Nigerian
militants and a naval officer were killed in a gunbattle near a Royal
Dutch Shell natural gas plant in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
(Reuters, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 20, Nigerian President
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua named new military chiefs dropping nearly all
appointees he inherited from his predecessor. MEND, the most prominent
armed group in Nigeria's volatile oil-rich Niger Delta, accused the
military of carrying out extra-judicial executions of 22 captured
insurgents in the region. The insurgents had been captured the previous
day.
(AFP, 8/21/08)(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 23, Environmental experts
said Nigeria and South Africa are the main emitters of greenhouse gases
in Africa, accounting for almost 90 percent of the emissions in the
continent.
(AFP, 8/23/08)
2008 Aug 24, The "Benue", a
Nigerian ship with eight crew members, was hijacked. It was owned by
service and repair firm West African Offshore Ltd (WAO).
(AFP, 8/25/08)
2008 Aug 28, In Nigeria Rashid
Ladoja, ex-governor of Oyo state (2000-2007), was arrested for
embezzling some 16 million dollars (11 million euros).
(AFP, 8/29/08)
2008 Aug 28, Iran’s Junior trade
minister Mohammadali Zeyghami said Iran is ready to share its nuclear
technology with Nigeria to help the energy-starved west African
powerhouse boost electricity generation.
(AFP, 8/29/08)
2008 Aug 30, Nigeria's main
militant group claimed that it killed at least 29 military personnel in
three separate attacks across the restive southern oil region. The
group reported that six of its own fighters were also killed in the
clashes.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Sep 3, Albert J. Stanley
(65), former Halliburton executive, pleaded guilty in Houston to
orchestrating over $180 million in bribes to senior Nigerian government
officials from 1995-2004 for the construction of liquefied natural gas
facilities. The bribes began when Stanley worked for M.W. Kellogg, a
unit of Dresser Industries that was acquired by Halliburton in 1998,
when Dick Cheney served as CEO. Stanley also pleaded guilty to taking
$10.8 million in kickbacks from a consortium of construction firms
involved in the LNG contracts.
(WSJ, 9/4/08, p.A1)
2008 Sep 5, Nigeria said it has
set up a 40-member technical committee on peace talks to end the crisis
in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
(AFP, 9/5/08)
2008 Sep 9, Militants in Nigeria's
oil-rich Niger Delta hijacked a vessel with five expatriate and eight
Nigerian oil workers on board. Robin Hughes from St Margaret's Bay,
Kent, was among 27 oil workers kidnapped by militants when their vessel
was hijacked. Hughes (59) was freed on April 19, 2009.
(AFP, 9/10/08)(AFP, 4/20/09)
2008 Sep 13, A MEND statement said
the armed forces of Nigeria had begun a full scale aerial and marine
offensive on the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND) positions and neighboring Ijaw communities in Rivers state.
(AFP, 9/13/08)
2008 Sep 14, The Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the main militant group in
Nigeria's southern oil region, declared a state of war after two days
of clashes with government forces, launching reprisal raids and raising
the specter of more conflict in Africa's biggest oil producer.
(AP, 9/14/08)
2008 Sep 15, Nigerian militants
attacked a Shell-operated oil facility, killing two and forcing the
evacuation of nearly 100 staff, in a third day of fighting with
security forces in the Niger Delta. Police in northern Nigeria arrested
a Muslim preacher who claims 86 wives and 107 children, charging him
with breaking Islamic laws governing marriage.
(AP, 9/15/08)(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 16, In Nigeria militants
destroyed the Orubiri flow station operated by the Shell Petroleum
Development Company in Rivers state. The next day MEND said it killed
all the soldiers on guard at the facility and took their weapons.
(AFP, 9/17/08)
2008 Sep 17, Armed Nigerian
militants, who have declared an "oil war" in the restive south of the
country, claimed to have blown up a major pipeline in their latest
attack on oil installations in the region. A spokesman for Nigeria's
state oil company said that militant attacks are now cutting the
country's daily oil production by about 1 million barrels a day, 40
percent of what the country produced before the militant campaign began
three years ago.
(AP, 9/17/08)
2008 Sep 18, MEND militants in
southern Nigeria, as part of their "oil war," claimed to have destroyed
a major oil pipeline belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in the fifth attack
on the company in less than a week.
(AP, 9/19/08)
2008 Sep 19, Nigerian militants
destroyed another major oil pipeline in the Niger Delta after a week of
the most intense attacks against Africa's biggest oil and gas industry
for years.
(Reuters, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 21, In southern Nigeria
MEND declared a ceasefire following a week of attacks on oil industry
targets.
(AFP, 9/21/08)
2008 Oct 5, MEND, the main
militant group in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, said it had
released around 19 Nigerian oil workers kidnapped last month but was
still holding two Britons and a Ukrainian.
(Reuters, 10/5/08)
2008 Oct 6, A Nigerian UN
peacekeeper was killed when up to 60 gunmen ambushed a patrol in
Sudan's war-torn western region of Darfur.
(AFP, 10/7/08)
2008 Oct 15, The Shell Anglo-Dutch
group said a Nigerian court has ordered it to hand over land around its
giant Bonny oil terminal to the local population, a key demand of armed
rebels in the volatile region. Shell said ruling was given some months
ago but we have appealed.
(AFP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 16, Pirates in
southern Nigeria seized eight fishing vessels with a total of 96 crew
and later threatened to seriously harm them if ransom is not paid.
(AFP, 10/18/08)
2008 Oct 21, Amnesty International
criticized major failings in Nigeria's criminal justice system and
called on the government to immediately put in place a moratorium on
capital punishment.
(AP, 10/21/08)
2008 Oct 23, Nigeria's Supreme
Court deferred ruling on challenges to President Umaru Yar'Adua's April
2007 election victory but did not set a date for handing down its final
judgment. Nigerian troops killed two militants in a river clash with
insurgents in the volatile oil-rich Niger Delta. 2 AK 47 rifles and
ammunitions were recovered from the militants.
(Reuters, 10/23/08)(AFP, 10/24/08)
2008 Oct 25, Pirates stormed and
ransacked a French vessel in Nigeria's restive oil-rich south but there
were no casualties.
(AFP, 10/25/08)
2008 Oct 29, Nigerian President
Umaru Yar'Adua dropped 20 government ministers out of a total of 44 in
a cabinet shake-up.
(AFP, 10/30/08)
2008 Nov 5, A Cameroon militia
leader said one of the 10 hostages seized by a local militia off
Cameroon's coast last week was killed in a failed rescue attempt by
Nigerian marines.
(AP, 11/5/08)
2008 Nov 6, In Nigeria at least
six navy personnel were killed in a gun battle between two rival gangs
in southern oil-rich Bayelsa state.
(AFP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 7, In southern Nigeria
armed rebels killed a Nigerian sailor during an overnight attack on US
giant Chevron's oil facility.
(AP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 7, An environmentalist
group and four Nigerians filed suit against Royal Dutch Shell PLC in
the Netherlands, claiming the company was negligent in cleaning up oil
spills in Nigeria.
(AP, 11/7/08)
2008 Nov 11, A Nigerian appeal
court sacked the governor of the southern state of Edo following
complaints of vote irregularities and declared his opponent the winner.
(AFP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 14, In Nigeria 22
Filipinos were arrested by a joint army-navy patrol on the Warri River
with the vessel MT Akuada laden with its cargo of 12,500 metric tons of
crude oil. On Feb 20, 2009, 13 Filipinos were sentenced to five years
each or a fine of one million naira (6,800 dollars) for stealing crude
oil from the Niger delta.
(AFP, 2/21/09)
2008 Nov 16, Officials said
Nigeria's anti-drugs agency had seized 30,000 kilograms of cannabis
contained in 5,923 bags in southern Edo state earlier this week. In
June, the agency seized 80 ton of cannabis in its largest ever single
haul, in the southwestern city of Ibadan.
(AFP, 11/16/08)
2008 Nov 20, US oil group Chevron
suspended export contracts on much of its Nigerian production after a
militant attack on a key pipeline. Chevron said it was declaring "force
majeure" until December 31 following the Nov 14 attack on the pipeline
which carries supplies to its Escravos terminal in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 11/20/08)
2008 Nov 22, In Abuja, Nigeria,
MTV launched its first-ever music award program for Africa, with acts
from across the world's poorest continent nominated for prizes in the
capital.
(AP, 11/22/08)
2008 Nov 25, Nigeria’s state media
said the country has signed a $780 million (605 million euros) loan
agreement with the World Bank to finance three projects.
(AFP, 11/25/08)
2008 Nov 26, Nigeria's food and
drug control agency NAFDAC said 25 children have died in the last
fortnight after taking a teething mixture discovered to contain a
harmful substance. Laboratory tests on the drug found out that it
contains a killer element known as diethylene glycol. The agency shut
down the premises of the Nigerian manufacturer. The death count soon
rose to 34 as more children lost their lives after being given "My
Pikin" teething syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol, blamed for
causing kidney failure.
(AFP, 11/26/08)(Reuters, 12/3/08)
2008 Nov 28, Clashes erupted in
Jos, Nigeria, after a local election dispute, leaving at least three
people dead and prompting the military to send troops into city streets
to restore order. Over the next 3 days at least 300 people were killed
and 7,000 displaced. In southern Nigeria gunmen abducted a Scottish oil
industry worker.
(AP, 11/28/08)(Econ, 12/6/08, p.64)
2008 Nov 29, In Nigeria witnesses
said hundreds of people have been killed in the central city of Jos as
Christians and Muslims clashed over the result of a local election. The
violence began following a rumor that the mostly Muslim All Nigerian
Peoples Party (ANPP) had lost the election to the mainly Christian
federal ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). Over 10,000 people were
displaced from their homes and sought refuge in churches, mosques and
army and police barracks.
(AP, 11/29/08)
2008 Nov 30, In Nigeria residents
delivered more bodies to the main mosque in the central Nigerian city
of Jos, bringing the death toll from two days of clashes between Muslim
and Christian gangs to around 400 people. In July, 2009, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said more than 700 died in clashes in Jos, and urged the
prosecution of members of security forces it accused of "arbitrary
killings."
(AP, 11/30/08)(AFP, 7/20/09)
2008 Dec 1, In Nigeria some two
thousand angry youths stormed a mosque in the riot-torn city of Jos as
a top parliament official appealed for an end to religious troubles
that have left hundreds dead.
(AFP, 12/1/08)
2008 Dec 2, In Nigeria authorities
in central Plateau state announced the arrest of 16 alleged
"mercenaries" from neighbouring Niger. Isa Ibrahim, the Nigerien
Ambassador to Nigeria, said that those arrested had been living in Jos
for several years as water vendors.
(AFP, 12/2/08)
2008 Dec 3, In the southern
Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom one person was killed during an attack on a
convoy of Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), a subsidiary of US oil group
ExxonMobil.
(AFP, 12/4/08)
2008 Dec 4, Pirates attacked an
oil-services vessel before dawn off the coast of Nigeria and kidnapped
two foreign workers.
(AP, 12/4/08)
2008 Dec 12, Nigeria's Pres. Umaru
Yar'Adua vowed to speed up electoral reforms after overcoming a legal
challenge to his election and receiving a report on problems with the
country's electoral laws. The Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to dismiss a suit
by opposition leaders, but conceded that widespread irregularities had
occurred in his 2006 election.
(AFP, 12/12/08)(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.A20)
2008 Dec 13, In southern Nigeria 5
aides of the governor Edo state were killed when their car collided
head-on with an oncoming vehicle on a road.
(AFP, 12/14/08)
2008 Dec 19, In Nigeria's Niger
Delta gunmen in speedboats attacked three oil services ships and
kidnapped at least two Russians in separate incidents. The pair escaped
on foot from a militant camp on Feb 15 and were found by naval
personnel on patrol on Feb 19.
(AP, 12/20/08)(AP, 2/19/09)
2008 It was hoped that natural gas
production would make the burning of natural gas into the atmosphere
obsolete by this time.
(SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A14)
2009 Jan 2, In southern Nigeria an
oil pipeline was blown up with dynamite.
(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 4, Gunmen hijacked a
vessel and 9 crewmen belonging to French oil services group Bourbon off
Nigeria's Niger Delta as it traveled toward a Royal Dutch Shell
offshore oilfield. The 9 crewmen: five Nigerians, two Ghanaians, one
Cameroonian and one Indonesian aboard. were released on Dec 7.
(Reuters, 1/4/09)(AP, 1/6/09)(AP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 6, In southern Nigeria
armed men robbed an offshore oil platform operated by a subsidiary of
US oil giant ExxonMobile although the attack did not disrupt oil
production.
(AFP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 10, In Nigeria leaders of
ECOWAS, West Africa's regional economic body, suspended Guinea's
membership following a military coup in the country.
(AP, 1/11/09)
2009 Jan 11, Two Nigerian soldiers
were killed and one wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen in the
restive oil-rich Niger Delta. Police said the attack might be connected
with the police seizure of a vessel, the Sandra Valleta, which was
carrying stolen crude oil.
(AFP, 1/12/09)
2009 Jan 12, In Nigeria Susanne
Wenger (93), Austrian-born sculptress, died. She had been initiated as
a Yoruba traditional priestess and was responsible for towering works
of art in one of Nigeria's two World Heritage sites.
(AFP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 13, Pirates attacked a
Norwegian cable ship off the coast of Nigeria but failed to seize the
boat despite gunfire, leaving the crew of 52 unhurt.
(AFP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 18, Nigerian militants
attacked a loading vessel, a tanker and a tug boat at a crude oil
platform operated by Shell in Bonny and took 8 crew members hostage.
One person was killed in the attack. Nigerian rebels holding two
British oil workers said they had moved 3 British hostages to another
location after what it claimed was a botched rescue attempt by
government troops.
(AFP, 1/18/09)(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 18, Dubai said it has
reached a deal with Nigeria to invest in the African nation's
conflict-ravaged oil industry and other sectors of the economy.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 21, In Nigeria the
best-known militant group in the Niger Delta said one of its allies
carried out an attack on a tanker in southern Nigeria in which one
Romanian crewman was taken hostage. He was soon released. The MT
Meredith, loaded with 4,000 tons of diesel, was attacked by gunmen in
speedboats and sustained "massive damage" during the attack.
(AFP, 1/21/09)(AFP, 1/22/09)
2009 Jan 26, Halliburton said is
has agreed to pay $559 million to the US to settle charges that one of
its former units bribed Nigerian officials during the construction of a
gas plant.
(WSJ, 1/27/09, p.B3)
2009 Jan 29, In Nigeria gunmen
kidnapped a Nigerian boy (9) in the oil city of Port Harcourt, shooting
dead a domestic worker who was taking him to school.
(AP, 1/29/09)
2009 Jan 30, Nigerian militants
called off a cease-fire after clashing with government forces.
(WSJ, 1/31/09, p.A1)
2009 Feb 5, In Nigeria a private
security official said unidentified gunmen have attacked an
oil-industry vessel off the coast of Nigeria and killed its captain.
(AP, 2/5/09)
2009 Feb 6, Nigeria’s government
reported that 84 infants and children have died after swallowing My
Pikin Baby Teething Mixture, a teething syrup laced with diethylene
glycol. A failed bid to smuggle a bus filled with rice into Nigeria
from Niger left seven people dead including two customs officers set
ablaze with petrol.
(SFC, 2/7/09, p.A2)(AFP, 2/8/09)
2009 Feb 10, Nigerian union
officials said a 2-day-old strike by freight and forwarding agents to
protest high charges was worsening cargo congestion in Lagos, the
country's main seaport.
(AP, 2/10/09)
2009 Feb 13, Oil giant Royal Dutch
Shell said it has declared force majeure on shipments from its main
Nigerian terminal because of increased attacks by insurgents on key
facilities. Force Majeure (French for "superior force") is a common
clause in contracts which essentially frees both parties from liability
or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the
control of the parties.
(AP,
2/13/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure)
2009 Feb 17, In southern Nigeria
gunmen attacked two oil facilities operated by Royal Dutch Shell. A
local militant leader claimed responsibility for the attack in a letter
and threatened further violence. A Nigerian appeal court sacked the
governor of the southwestern state of Ekiti after complaints of vote
irregularities and ordered a fresh poll within three months.
(AP, 2/17/09)(AFP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 18, In Nigeria gunmen in
a midnight raid attacked a compound housing ExxonMobil staff in the
Niger Delta but were repulsed after a fierce battle with Nigerian
troops.
(AFP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 20, Nigeria ordered its
customs service and security and environmental agencies to clamp down
on illegal imports of potentially toxic electronic waste.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 21, In central Nigeria
rioters burned homes, churches and mosques, when violence flared after
Muslims parked their cars in front of a church in Bauchi. The clashes
followed an argument between Christians and Muslims the previous day.
Authorities in northern Nigeria have deployed troops and imposed a
curfew following clashes between Christians and Muslims which left at
least 11 people dead.
(AP, 2/21/09)(AFP, 2/23/09)
2009 Feb 24, In Nigeria 2 days of
clashes between rival gangs in the southern state of Edo left at least
eight people dead.
(AFP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 25, Nigerian teachers in
the country's southwest launched an indefinite strike to press demands
for better pay.
(AFP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 26, In Nigeria a source
close to negotiations said US drug giant Pfizer has agreed to settle a
multi-billion dollar damages case with 200 alleged victims of a drugs
trial in Kano. Pfizer and families of the victims of the drug trial
reportedly reached an out-of-court settlement in principle and agreed
to meet in Rome in March to put the deal in writing.
(AFP, 2/26/09)
2009 Feb 26, The Nigerian military
raided and destroyed a militant camp in the volatile Niger Delta as
part of its drive to end unrest in the oil-producing region.
(AFP, 2/27/09)
2009 Feb 27, The UN Children's
Fund said 53 million children are being targeted by a mass immunization
drive against polio in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger,
Nigeria, and Togo. Some 844 polio cases were reported in the 8
countries in 2008, 95% of them in Nigeria.
(AFP, 2/27/09)
2009 Mar 4, In southern Nigeria
gunmen seized two passengers from a ferry near the Bonny Island gas
terminal. 19 others were released shortly after the ferry was seized.
(AFP, 3/5/09)
2009 Mar 11, US authorities
deported 60 Nigerians accused of theft, credit card scams and
drug-related offences.
(AFP, 3/12/09)
2009 Mar 13, In southern
Nigeria an attack took place on Chevron Nigeria Limited’s 16-inch
Makaraba-Utonana pipeline. The attack forced Chevron cut its crude oil
production by 11,500 barrels per day.
(AFP, 3/17/09)
2009 Mar 21, Nigeria's anti-graft
agency said it was hunting down owners of an Indian business group,
Vaswani Brothers, for allegedly defrauding the country of three billion
naira in unpaid taxes. The brothers were deported from Nigeria in 2003
after a probe into their operations, but were allowed back into the
country in 2007.
(AFP, 3/22/09)
2009 Mar 28, In Nigeria police s
outside Lagos freed a Lebanese hostage after a shoot-out in which six
of his captors were killed. The man was seized March 23 by gunmen from
a waterfront construction site in Lagos' upmarket residential and
business area.
(AFP, 3/29/09)
2009 Apr 3, In Nigeria a source
close to negotiations said Pfizer has agreed to pay $75 million
compensation over a 1996 drug trial that caused the death of 11
children in northern Nigeria. Kano state confirmed the settlement on
May 14.
(AFP, 4/3/09)(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 Apr 5, In southern Nigeria
gunmen killed a policeman as they kidnapped a Scottish oil-services
worker in Port Harcourt. The British worker was released on April 25.
(AP, 4/6/09)(AFP, 4/25/09)
2009 Apr 8, Nigeria President
Umaru Yar'Adua dismissed top managers across the board of the state
Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
(AFP, 4/8/09)
2009 Apr 9, Nigeria's Central Bank
cut its benchmark lending rate to 8% from 9.75% and announced measures
aimed at boosting liquidity in the market.
(AFP, 4/9/09)
2009 Apr 12, In Nigeria fire broke
out on the Trans-Niger Pipeline. All the feeder flowstations outside
Ogoniland (in Rivers State) adjoining it were shut down to allow for
repairs.
(AP, 4/13/09)
2009 Apr 13, In southern Nigeria
gunmen riding in 18 boats attacked a military houseboat outside an oil
facility and commandeered a naval vessel. The clashes left nine
militants and one naval rating dead.
(AP, 4/13/09)(AFP, 4/13/09)
2009 Apr 15, Nigeria set up a
panel to probe a multi-million dollar cash-for-contract scandal
embroiling US giant Halliburton and reportedly implicating three former
presidents.
(AP, 4/16/09)
2009 Apr 16, In northern Nigeria a
Canadian woman was seized in the city of Kaduna where she had been
attending an international conference. Julie Mulligan (45) was freed
unharmed in the northern city of Kaduna on April 29.
(AP, 4/18/09)(Reuters, 4/30/09)
2009 Apr 20, Nigerian pirates
attacked the Aleyna Mercan ship about 50 nautical miles off Onne port,
near the oil city of Port Harcourt. The vessel was delivering equipment
to French oil group Total. On April 22 the kidnappers released the
Turkish captain and the chief engineer.
(AFP, 4/23/09)
2009 Apr 21, In Nigeria officials
said a strike by petrol truck drivers has caused a scarcity of fuel in
the commercial capital Lagos, leading to long queues at petrol
stations. The strike began at the weekend following a dispute between
the tanker drivers and officials of the Lagos state traffic management
authority LASMA. Gunmen in Nigeria attacked an oil tanker off the coast
of the Niger Delta, kidnapping the ship's captain and an engineer. The
Turkish vessel Ilena Mercan, chartered by French oil company Total, was
attacked on its way to Onne port in Nigeria's southeastern Rivers state.
(AFP, 4/21/09)(Reuters, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 22, In Nigeria 7
high-ranking officials from the country's electricity regulatory
commission were charged with "criminal diversion" of state funds. The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accused chairman
Ransome Owan and six of the agency's commissioners of diverting for
their private use about five billion naira ($33 million/26 million
euros).
(AFP, 4/23/09)
2009 Apr 23, In Nigeria unknown
gunmen kidnapped Peter Ademokhai, a retired army general, from his farm
in the southern state of Edo.
(AFP, 4/25/09)
2009 May 8, In Nigeria the
governor of southern oil-rich Rivers state signed a law making life
jail terms mandatory for kidnappers in the area.
(AFP, 5/9/09)
2009 May 13, Nigerian MEND rebels
hijacked an oil industry ship and held 15 Filipino sailors hostage.
They demanded that all oil workers leave the southern Niger Delta by
May 16.
(AP, 5/14/09)
2009 May 15, In Nigeria the rebel
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) declared
"all-out war" in the southern oil-producing region. The Nigerian
military rescued 10 hostages from militants in the southern oil region
and destroyed the camp where the victims were being held.
(AFP, 5/15/09)(AP, 5/16/09)
2009 May 17, Nigeria's main
militant group said it destroyed two oil pipelines in the southern
Niger Delta, the latest attack amid the worst outbreak of violence to
hit the region in months. MEND accused government troops of killing a
second unnamed hostage and said two bodies would be handed over to the
Red Cross. An army spokesman said Nigerian troops have freed three more
Filipinos held hostage by militants in the Niger Delta, bringing the
total number of the Asians rescued in the past two days to nine.
(AP, 5/17/09)(AFP, 5/17/09)
2009 May 18, Nigerian university
teachers decided to go on strike to demand the implementation of a pay
agreement with government. After two-and-a-half years of negotiations,
the government had yet to implement the agreement on pay rises and
upgrading of facilities in the universities.
(AFP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 22, Nigeria's foreign
minister said that the military has rescued 12 hostages, eight
Filipinos and four Ukrainians, from militants being targeted by the
armed forces in the southern oil region. The military said a dozen
troops had gone missing in the region.
(AP, 5/23/09)
2009 May 24, The Nigerian army
said that over the last 2 days it freed a total of six Filipinos held
hostage in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
(AFP, 5/24/09)
2009 May 25, In Nigeria militants
sabotaged major crude pipelines in the chaotic oil region, further
trimming crude production as the military widened an operation to
uproot the fighters. Chevron in Nigeria reported a 100,000
barrel-per-day oil output cut after a militant attack the day before on
one of its pipelines in the southern Delta state. The militants said
they had released three Filipino hostages seized this month.
(AP, 5/25/09)(AFP, 5/25/09)
2009 May 26, The Nigerian army
said it destroyed a militants' camp in the restive Niger Delta as it
kept up operations to stem the violence and kidnappings of soldiers and
foreigners in the oil-rich region.
(AFP, 5/26/09)
2009 May 27, In Nigeria Ken
Niweigha, a gang leader from the restive oil-rich Niger Delta, was
killed in southern state of Bayelsa, a day after being arrested.
Niweigha was accused of being behind the 1999 shooting of several
police officers in Bayelsa that led to the town of Odi being razed by
the security forces in reprisal.
(AFP, 5/27/09)
2009 Jun 1, In Nigeria MEND, main
militant group in southern Nigeria said, it will release Mathew
Maguire, a British hostage it has been holding for the past nine
months. They noted that today was Maguire birthday. The next day MEND
said "Mr Mathew Maguire has declined the gift of a release from
captivity with an argument that he is now an advocate for change in the
region and a honorary member of the Movement for the Emancipation of
the Niger Delta ." Nigeria's navy killed seven militants in a gunbattle
in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 6/1/09)(AFP, 6/2/09)(AFP, 6/3/09)
2009 Jun 4, Nigerian President
Umaru Yar’Adua made a new offer of amnesty to militants in the oil-rich
Niger Delta, after earlier rejection by armed opponents.
(AFP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 6, Somali pirates
released the Yenegoa Ocean, a Nigerian tugboat they hijacked 10 months
ago on Aug 4, 2008. A Dutch navy ship escorted it to a safe harbor.
(AP, 6/7/09)
2009 Jun 9, In Nigeria MEND
(Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) set a pumping
station of US oil giant Chevron on fire. Government troops killed seven
civilians in a waterway at Kangbene community in Delta state according
to a MEND claim on June 12. The military denied the incident.
(AFP, 6/10/09)(AFP, 6/12/09)
2009 Jun 12, In Nigeria MEND
rebels breached Chevron’s Makaraba-Utonana-Abiteye pipeline and started
a fire at the Makaraba Jacket 5 facility in Delta State. MEND also
released a British oil sector worker who had been held for nine months.
(AFP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 15, Armed militants in
Nigeria's Niger Delta claimed more attacks against facilities run by US
oil giant Chevron and warned FIFA against letting the country host the
under-17 World Cup tournament.
(AP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 15, Nigerian Petroleum
Development Company (NPDC) and China's state oil firm SIPEC said they
have discovered crude oil in Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 6/15/09)
2009 Jun 16, Nigerian President
Umaru Yar’Adua made a fresh amnesty offer in Abuja to militants in the
oil-rich Niger Delta and promised that an amnesty centre would be set
up.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun 17, In Nigeria a
Ukrainian plane made an emergency landing due to technical problems in
the northern city of Kano. Eighteen crates of mines and ammunition,
destined for Equatorial Guinea, were found aboard the aircraft. The
crew and a Nigerian collaborator were detained and soon transferred to
Abuja for questioning.
(AFP, 6/22/09)
2009 Jun 17, Royal Dutch Shell
said it had deferred shipments of crude oil from its Nigerian Forcados
exports terminal for two months due to delays in repairing a key
pipeline damaged by vandals.
(AFP, 6/17/09)
2009 Jun 18, Nigeria's main
militant group said it had destroyed a major crude oil pipeline
belonging to Royal Dutch Shell as it fights a campaign against foreign
oil companies.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 19, Nigeria's main
militant group said it had destroyed a major pipeline supplying crude
oil to Italian oil group Agip's Brass exports terminal.
(AFP, 6/19/09)
2009 Jun 21, Nigeria's main
militant group said it had attacked a Shell offshore facility, the
third attack against the Anglo-Dutch company's facilities in Nigeria in
one day. The company denied the incident, saying the alleged incident
was part of the attack on two other Shell oil pipelines in southern
Rivers state earlier in the day.
(AFP, 6/21/09)
2009 Jun 24, The Nigerian
government met with militants from the oil-producing states of the
Delta to make an amnesty offer for fighters who cease hostilities in
the south of the country. President Umaru Yar'Adua ordered the release
of the leader of a militant group from the oil-rich Niger Delta. Alhaji
Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, head of the Niger Delta People's Volunteers Force
(NDPVF), was arrested the previous evening on returning from a medical
exam in Germany.
(AFP, 6/24/09)
2009 Jun 24, Russia’s Pres.
Medvedev arrived in Nigeria to sign gas and nuclear energy pacts,
becoming the first Kremlin leader to visit Africa's most populous and
energy-rich nation.
(AFP, 6/24/09)
2009 Jun 25, Nigerian rebels said
that they carried out a pre-dawn attack against Royal Dutch Shell
facilities in a warning to Russia not to invest in the country's oil
and gas industry. Later in the day the main militant group blew up a
well-head in a Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) oil field in Delta state,
hours after President Umaru Yar'Adua announced an amnesty offer for
gunmen.
(AFP, 6/25/09)(Reuters, 6/26/09)
2009 Jun 26, Four Nigerian
militant factions accepted in principle an amnesty offer from President
Umaru Yar'Adua, giving a boost to his efforts to end years of unrest in
Africa's biggest oil industry. The amnesty will take effect from August
6.
(Reuters, 6/26/09)
2009 Jun 28, In Nigeria at least
eight people were killed in the collapse of a three-story building in
Lagos, the capital.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jun 29, Nigerian rebels
announced a new raid against a Shell oil facility and said they had
killed at least 20 soldiers in a gun battle, a claim denied by the
security forces.
(AFP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 1, Nigeria's President
Umaru Yar'Adua extended an amnesty offer to the jailed rebel leader
Henry Okah, detained on treason charges for over 18 months.
(AP, 7/1/09)
2009 Jul 3, Algeria, Niger and
Nigeria signed an accord to build a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas
pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.
(AFP, 7/3/09)
2009 Jul 4, Nigeria's rebel group
MEND threatened to thwart a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas
pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe. The army vowed to
protect the project. Rebels Sichem Peace oil tanker and its six
crew members. The ship and crew were freed July 21 after spending 18
days in captivity in the Niger Delta.
(AFP, 7/4/09)(AP, 7/22/09)
2009 Jul 5, Nigerian rebels
announced they had launched a fresh attack on an oil facility run by
the Anglo-Dutch group Shell in the restive Niger Delta. The militants
destroyed a Chevron oil pipeline junction in the latest attack on
Nigeria's key money earner since the government offered an amnesty.
(AP, 7/5/09)(AFP, 7/6/09)
2009 Jul 8, Nigerian MEND
militants said they blew up two key oil pipelines as they stepped up
attacks in response to a government amnesty offer.
(AFP, 7/8/09)
2009 Jul 9, In Nigeria Henry Okah,
a key militant in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta detained since
September 2007, accepted President Umaru Yar'Adua recent offer of
unconditional amnesty. Armed robbers killed six police officers as they
fled after a raid on a commercial bank at Idi-Iroko, a Nigerian border
town with Benin.
(AFP, 7/10/09)
2009 Jul 10, Nigerian militants
claimed to have blown up for a second time a recently repaired oil
pipeline operated by US petroleum giant Chevron.
(AP, 7/11/09)
2009 Jul 12, Nigerian rebels took
their battle with the government into the country's main city,
targeting an oil tanker loading facility in Lagos harbor in an
unprecedented attack there.
(AFP, 7/13/09)
2009 Jul 14, Nigeria's main
militant group declared a 60-day truce, effective July 15, in its "oil
war" with the government after the release of its leader Henry Okah
under an amnesty deal.
(AFP, 7/15/09)
2009 Jul 23, In Nigeria Wole
Soyinka, 1986 Nobel laureate in literature, slammed Nigeria's handling
of the crisis in the oil region and urged the government to adopt a
"holistic" approach in tackling it. Excepts of the news conference were
reported the next day on private Channels television.
(AFP, 7/24/09)
2009 Jul 26, In northern Nigeria
Islamist militants attacked a police station in Bauchi. Police killed
over 50 militants and arrested more than 150 others. The
fundamentalists, known as Boko Haram (education is prohibited) in the
local Hausa language, clamored for the prohibition of western education
in Bauchi and Yobe states.
(AP, 7/26/09)(Reuters, 7/26/09)(Econ, 8/1/09, p.44)
2009 Jul 27, In Nigeria Residents
of Gamboru-Ngala in Borno state said heavily armed members of a
Nigerian Taliban sect stormed the town and went on the rampage, burning
a police headquarters, a church and a customs post. Police put the
death toll in weekend religious clashes at 65, including 5 police
officers.
(AP, 7/27/09)
2009 Jul 28, Nigerian authorities
imposed curfews and poured security forces onto the streets of several
northern towns after a two-day wave of Islamic militant attacks against
police killed dozens of people.
(AP, 7/28/09)
2009 Jul 29, In northern Nigeria
troops struggled to crush an Islamist sect as the death toll from four
days of clashes surged past 300. Thousands of people were forced from
their homes. Militants attacked security forces in Yobe state. Police
said that 43 sect members were killed in a shootout near the city of
Potiskum. The government, which blames the Boko Haram sect for
instigating days of violence in the mostly Muslim region, shelled and
stormed the group's mosque and headquarters in Maiduguri. Sect leader
Mohammed Yusuf escaped along with about 300 followers but his deputy
was killed.
(AFP, 7/29/09)(AP, 7/30/09)
2009 Jul 29, Drug maker Pfizer
Inc. confirmed that it has resolved a long-running legal dispute with
the Nigerian government over allegations that children there were
harmed in a 1996 Pfizer study of an experimental antibiotic during a
meningitis outbreak. The settlement reportedly called for a $75 million
payment by Pfizer.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 30, In northern Nigeria
security forces hunted door-to-door for Islamic militants after killing
more than 100 of them by storming the sect's compound. A top rights
group said innocent people were getting executed in the process.
Mohammed Yusuf (39), the leader of the Boko Haram movement, was shot
dead while in police detention.
(AP, 7/30/09)(Reuters, 7/31/09)
2009 Jul 31, Nigeria's national
police claimed victory over a radical Islamist sect after its leader
was killed by security forces. Experts warned revenge attacks could
occur and a leading human rights group demanded a probe into the
killing. At least 300 people were killed in violence that erupted in
several states around northern Nigeria since July 26.
(Reuters, 7/31/09)
2009 Aug 1, In Nigeria robbers
hijacked the bus on Sagamu-Benin expressway in Ogun State and forced
passengers to lie on a road at gunpoint as they ransacked their bus. 20
people were crushed to death as a truck ran into them.
(AFP, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 2, Red Cross and Nigerian
defense officials said more than 700 people were killed during a 5-day
uprising by a radical Islamic sect in the north. Over 700 dead bodies
were given mass burial in Maiduguri town alone, as a search for bodies
continued.
(Reuters, 8/2/09)
2009 Aug 4, The Lithuanian
ministry said that the Lithuanian-flagged refrigerator vessel Saturnas,
with a crew of 14, was attacked by unidentified perpetrators off the
coast of Nigeria. Five crew members were said to have been taken
hostage. The attackers did not seize the vessel itself but left in a
high-speed boat with the hostages. The 5 Lithuanian sailors were
reported freed on Aug 14, ending their 11-day ordeal.
(AFP, 8/4/09)(AFP, 8/14/09)
2009 Aug 6, Nigeria began a 60-day
amnesty for militants fighting in the country's oil-rich Delta region,
a government official said, but the main militant group said it would
not participate. A cache of weapons and ammunitions was uncovered at an
arms depot owned by Niger Delta militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari in
Port Harcourt.
(AP, 8/6/09)(AFP, 8/7/09)
2009 Aug 6, Nigeria's northern
Kano state withdrew a landmark criminal and civil suit against US drug
group Pfizer over a 1996 drug trial that left 11 children dead and 189
others deformed. The withdrawal of the suit followed a 75-million
dollar (52 million euros) out-of-court settlement between the two
parties.
(AFP, 8/6/09)
2009 Aug 7, Nigeria's President
Umaru Yar'Adua formally received the first set of 32 Niger Delta
militants who have surrendered their arms under an amnesty he offered
them in June and commended them for their "patriotism."
(AP, 8/8/09)
2009 Aug 12, In Nigeria US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged the government to take a
firmer line on corruption and offered US help to implement badly needed
electoral reforms in Africa's biggest energy producer.
(Reuters, 8/12/09)
2009 Aug 14, Nigeria’s banking
chief said the government will inject US$2.55 billion into five
troubled banks, in Africa's first major bank rescue program since the
global credit crunch began. Central Bank Chief Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
also announced the sacking of the heads of five major banks for piling
up debts worth billions of dollars and poor management. The heads of
Afribank plc, Intercontinental Bank plc, Union Bank plc, Oceanic Bank
plc and Finbank plc were removed by Sanusi. The Nigerian anti-graft
agency soon froze the accounts of the sacked directors for running the
institutions into insolvency.
(AP, 8/14/09)(AFP, 8/22/09)
2009 Aug 14, In Nigeria the number
of polio cases caused by the vaccine was reported to have doubled so
far this year with 124 children paralyzed, compared to 62 in 2008, out
of about 42 million children vaccinated. For every case of paralysis,
hundreds of other children don't develop symptoms, but pass on the
disease.
(AP, 8/14/09)
2009 Aug 15, Nigeria's anti-graft
agency said it had recovered more than 50 billion naira ($320.5 million
/ €224.2 million) in looted funds and secured 70 convictions in the
past year. Police in the western Nigerian state of Niger raided the
Darul Islam community and detained hundreds of its members, weeks after
an uprising by a radical sect killed almost 800 in the remote
northeast. Sect leader Amrul Bashir Abdullahi said: "We decided to
create a camp for ourselves outside the community because of the
problems in the larger society. These are problems of corruption,
drunkenness, prostitution and so on which Allah forbids."
(AFP, 8/15/09)(Reuters, 8/16/09)
2009 Aug 22, In Nigeria a top
militant commander and nearly 1,000 of his followers surrendered to the
government, handing over rocket launchers, gunboats, guns and bullets
in the biggest move since a government amnesty began two weeks ago.
Ebikabowei "Boyloaf" Victor Ben, state commander for the region's
biggest armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta (MEND), and 25 commanders under his leadership delivered weapons
to police overnight.
(AP, 8/22/09)
2009 Aug 24, Nigeria's anti-graft
agency EFCC declared two sacked bank directors wanted over alleged
frauds and running their institutions into insolvency.
(AFP, 8/24/09)
2009 Aug 26, Nigerian authorities
arrested two dozen people wanted over massive debts owed to troubled
banks in a scandal that has rocked the country's financial industry.
(AFP, 8/26/09)
2009 Aug 31, The Nigerian
anti-graft agency filed charges against 16 bank chiefs arrested for
incurring billions of dollars in bad loans for five ailing banks.
(AFP, 8/31/09)
2009 Sep 5, Gani Fawehinmi (71)
prominent Nigerian lawyer and rights activist died in Lagos after a
prolonged battle with cancer. Fawehinmi, holder of Nigeria's highest
legal title, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was an author,
publisher, philanthropist, social critic, human and civil rights lawyer
and politician.
(AFP, 9/5/09)
2009 Sep 16, Nigerian militants
(MEND) announced they will extend a cease-fire that expired overnight
by one month, holding off on attacks on oil installations and
kidnapping foreigners, but warned that the government must address the
group's grievances.
(AP, 9/16/09)
2009 Sep 19, Nigeria’s Information
Minister Dora Akunyili said she's asked movie houses to stop screening
"District 9" because the South Africa-based sci-fi movie about aliens
and discrimination makes Nigerians look bad. Akunyili said she has
asked Sony for an apology and wants them to edit out the Nigerian
antagonists and the name of the main Nigerian gangster Obesandjo, whose
name closely resembles that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The
film brought in some US$37 million (euro25.16 million) during its US
debut weekend in August.
(AP, 9/19/09)
2009 Sep 20, In Nigeria Bayo Ohu
(45), assistant news editor at the influential Guardian newspaper, was
shot dead by unidentified gunmen as he answered a knock at the front
door of his house in a northern suburb of Lagos.
(AFP, 9/22/09)
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