Farmers and forecasts

WEST AFRICA: Giant anti-polio drive threatened by insecurity

DAKAR, 23 March 2012 (IRIN) - Health volunteers, aid agency and health authority staff are trying to immunize 111.1 million children under five across 20 countries in West and Central Africa against polio. The four-day campaign started today, but instability in some of the target countries could hamper the effort. full report

NIGERIA: Gas flares still a burning issue in the Niger Delta

DAKAR/PORT HARCOURT, 8 March 2012 (IRIN) - Despite longstanding laws against gas flaring - the burning of natural gas during oil extraction - in Nigeria, and shifting deadlines to end the practice, the activity continues, with serious health consequences for people living nearby. full report

NIGERIA-CHAD: Migrants fleeing Boko Haram violence await aid

BOL (CHAD), 6 March 2012 (IRIN) - Some 1,000 Chadian migrants - most of them children separated from their families - are waiting for aid in the village of N’Gbouboua in the Lac region of western Chad having fled Boko Haram-related violence in Nigeria, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). full report

NIGERIA: Calls for more action on child lead poisoning

DAKAR, 20 February 2012 (IRIN) - The Nigerian government has stood back and watched while hundreds of children in the northwestern state of Zamfara have died of lead poisoning, and hundreds more been affected by it over the past two years, say rights groups and the local authorities. full report

NIGERIA: Bayelsa State to speed up aid for oil-spill victims

WARRI, 10 February 2012 (IRIN) - Nigeria’s Bayelsa State government said yesterday it would speed up the release of money over the next two weeks to help hundreds of thousands of villagers affected by a Chevron off-shore oil spill in January. full report

SAHEL: Donors learning funding lessons - slowly

DAKAR, 6 February 2012 (IRIN) - This year donors are stepping up more quickly to meet Sahel’s humanitarian needs compared to 2010, when they were slow to respond. However, they are still at fault for taking a quick-fix approach rather than addressing long-term disaster prevention and resilience needs, say aid groups. full report

NIGERIA: Never so divided, never so united

LAGOS, 3 February 2012 (IRIN) - A month after an angry public launched protests across Nigeria over skyrocketing fuel prices due to the removal of a government subsidy, a measure of calm has returned and people seem to have settled into accepting a compromise. full report

NIGERIA: Timeline of Boko Haram attacks and related violence

DAKAR, 20 January 2012 (IRIN) - Bombings and shootings by the militant Islamic group Boko Haram - also known as Jama’atu Ahlus Sunnah Lid Da’awati Wal Jihad - have increased sharply in recent months, leaving many worried that wide-scale sectarian violence could break out. Some 80 people have been killed in Boko Haram (BH) attacks in recent weeks, while 500 are reported to have been killed over the past year. Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been forced to flee their homes. full report

WEST AFRICA: The downside of foreign land acquisitions

DAKAR, 19 January 2012 (IRIN) - Population growth and rising consumption by a minority of people around the world are fuelling global land acquisitions and Africa is a “prime target”, says the International Land Coalition. full report