The Nigerian army has had some success subduing Islamist group Boko Haram, but Christians are still being killed in Nigeria. Many of the killings are carried out by nomadic Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, a largely Muslim ethnic group that frequently targets the more settled Christian farming communities of central Nigeria. Meanwhile, 12 of Nigeria’s northern states employ Sharia (Islamic law), and Christians in these states face discrimination and restrictions in accessing community resources, such as clean water, health clinics, and higher education.
42 Chibok girls graduate from secondary school
From the 57 Chibok girls who escaped Boko Haram captivity in Nigeria shortly after their kidnapping in 2014, 42 of them graduated from secondary school last Tuesday (26 July). The girls were sponsored to study at private schools by the Borno state government and the non-profit organisation Girl Child Concern, […]
Almost 500 Nigerian community leaders meet to resolve conflict, but Kaduna attacks continue
The largest meeting so far on the long-running conflict in Southern Kaduna, Nigeria has seen about 480 people, including Christian and Muslim community leaders, try to map out ways of ending the violent attacks in the so-called ‘Middle Belt’ state. Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam, who organized the one-day meeting in Kafanchan, […]
Nigerian woman wins UN award for work re-integrating Boko Haram victims
A Nigerian aid worker who works with victims of Boko Haram’s insurgency in the north-east has won the 2017 UN Sergio Vieira de Mello Award. Dr Rebecca Dali, Executive Director of the Centre for Caring, Empowerment, and Peace Initiatives (CCEPI), won it because her centre is “at its best” in […]
Four Chibok girls to start university in US in August
It’s many thousands of miles from the Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno, Nigeria, to university in the United States. But, following their kidnapping on 14 April 2014, it’s a journey that a handful of young girls from remote, rural north-eastern Nigeria have now made. (Their fellow escapees remain in Nigeria, […]
Nigerian President’s ongoing medical treatment raises fears of yet more sectarian power struggles
In Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has not been seen in public for more than two months, raising fears of a power struggle over who might succeed him, which could lead to sectarian violence in Africa’s most populous country. Because Nigeria is divided between a mostly Muslim north and a predominantly […]
Food aid starts to reach 5m Boko Haram victims, now at risk of famine
It’s been called the “greatest crisis on the African continent“. The UN’s World Food Programme in mid-June warned that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians could starve to death in the famine-threatened northeast due to lack of aid funds to feed them. It needs $172 million to help. Now the militants […]
Church leader seriously injured in Fulani attack in Nigeria’s Nasarawa state
When Ibrahim Maisaje, a pastor of an ECWA (Evangelical Church Winning All) church in Panwasa Mada village, went to his farm with his family on 26 June, he was full of joy and expectation. It was mid-season, the crops had grown well and the harvest season was looking promising. But […]
Thousands of Nigerian refugees forced back home to looming famine
Thousands of Nigerians who fled Boko Haram’s insurgency, and sought refuge in neighbouring Cameroon, have been forced back home, the UN said on 29 June, as Reuters reports. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), some 887 Nigerians, most of them children, were repatriated against their will on 27 June alone. The […]
New trauma centre to help northern Nigeria’s 2.7m conflict-affected children
Twelve years after his death, Martina has finally ‘buried’ her father. Not in the real sense – he is in a mass grave somewhere unknown – but by saying goodbye in her own way, thanks to help from trauma counsellors helping women and children in northern Nigeria. UNICEF estimates more […]
Boko Haram’s boy soldiers: a ‘stolen and forgotten generation’
The estimated 10,000 boy soldiers taken by Islamist militant group Boko Haram since the start of their insurgency in Nigeria in 2009 have lived through experiences many cannot imagine – nor would they want to – including ritualistic infant slaughter and bathing of hands in blood. But unlike the abduction […]