At a glance: Nigeria
Newsline
Equal access to sanitation for those living with disabilities in Nigeria
BUNGUDU, Nigeria, 15 July 2008 – Nafisa Salisu, 16, whose legs were deformed by polio, manoeuvred her wheelchair into the specially designed Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine for physically challenged pupils at Bungudu Primary School.
Japan donates more than $8 million for child survival programmes in Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria, 23 June 2008 – On Friday, 20 June, the Government of Japan donated $8.04 million to UNICEF for child survival programmes in Nigeria. The grant is for polio eradication, routine immunization and malaria prevention.
First Lady of Nigeria launches the country’s Girls’ Education Initiative
ABUJA, Nigeria, 21 April, 2008 – Last month, the First Lady of Nigeria, Turai Yar'Adua, launched the Girl’s Education Initiative in the state of Bauchi, where she made a full commitment to supporting girls’ education.
A new strategy to improve primary health care in Garaku, Nigeria
GARAKU, Nigeria, 12 February 2008 – It is an overcast Wednesday afternoon in the town of Garaku in north-central Nigeria. Rita Jiriko, 23, dressed in a colourful blouse, patiently waits her turn on the veranda of the Garaku Primary Health Care Clinic. As she gently rocks the younger of her two children to sleep, she recalls an earlier visit to the health centre.
Digital Diary: Nigerian street children tell their stories of life without security
NEW YORK, USA, 26 December 2007 – Isaiah has spent 5 of his 15 years living on the streets of Lagos, Nigeria, the second largest city in Africa. He spends his days and nights in this sprawling metropolis trying to fend for himself.
Community dialogue sessions advance bird flu education in Nigeria
OGUN, Nigeria, 26 October 2007 – Adefolu Olusoji is a retired civil servant and a poultry farmer in the sprawling slum community of Mowe. He was also among over 30 community members who participated in a recent open dialogue on avian influenza held at the Palace of Baale in southwest Nigeria.
‘Idols West Africa’ join the global AIDS campaign
ABUJA, Nigeria, 31 May 2007 – Timi and Omawumi, the two ‘Idols West Africa’ finalists of the current season, are not smiling. Their faces are serious and even sad, symbolizing the gravity of what they are doing – filming a special public service announcement about the effects of HIV/AIDS on children in the region.
Polio immunization drive reaches children in Koranic schools of northern Nigeria
ZARIA, Nigeria, 23 April 2007 – Every Saturday, Asiya, 5, helps her mother with household chores. After sweeping floors and washing clothes, she leaves home to attend Koranic school in her neighbourhood.
Girls’ Education Project focuses on getting students back to school in Nigeria
BAKORI, Nigeria, 11 April 2007 – Full of energy, pupils run in circles on the playground of Nadabo Primary School in the small town of Bakori, northern Nigeria. They are having fun in gymnastics class, where the female teacher has them exercising.
Awareness campaign protects women and children against bird flu in Nigeria
LAGOS, Nigeria, 30 March 2007 – After walking through the narrow paths – among stalls of vegetables, fish and meat, and dazed by the loud noise of a pepper-grinding machine – customers come to the poultry section of the bustling Ikotun market in Lagos.
Literacy empowers women and girls in Northern Nigeria
BABBAN KUFAI, Nigeria, 20 March 2007 – It’s a quiet Sunday in the Muslim community of Katsina, a northern state in Nigeria. While students at the local primary school enjoy their day off, more than 80 women are crammed inside one classroom, busy learning how to read and write, many for the first time in their lives.
UNICEF Nigeria helps local radio producers raise bird flu awareness
BENIN, Nigeria, 12 March 2007 – Local radio has become the latest weapon in the battle against the spread of avian influenza in Nigeria.
Children take the lead in northern Nigeria’s immunization drive
KATSINA STATE, Nigeria, 5 March 2007 – Heading to school last week in northern Katsina State, Imrana Musa, 10, had no idea what a special mission he was going to be sent on.
Fight against polio in Nigeria focuses on community involvement
ILELA, Nigeria, 26 February 2007 – Though wrinkled and bent with age, Kabo Galdi has hands that are surprisingly steady as she drops oral polio vaccine into the mouths of children. The grandmother of six was one of the roving vaccinators mobilized for Nigeria’s ‘Immunization Plus Days’ last month.
Global Task Force aims to provide all children with safe water and sanitation
NEW YORK, USA, 22 January 2007 – Cherie Blair met youth delegates from India and Nigeria at UNICEF headquarters today to help start a global initiative to ensure that children everywhere have access to safe water and sanitation.
Lagos corporate football teams help fight AIDS
LAGOS, Nigeria, 12 December 2006 – The hot sun beat down on the sandy pitch at Lekki British International School in Lagos as 10 football players struggled for the ball.
Pre-school classes boost girls’ enrolment in northern Nigeria
KAZAURE, Nigeria, 24 November 2006 – Enrolment of girls in early childhood development (ECD) classes is booming in areas of northern Nigeria, where local government authorities, assisted by UNICEF, are using multiple strategies to get more girls into pre-school.
Measles immunization campaign targets 29 million Nigerian children
EKEREMOR, Nigeria, 18 October 2006 – Nigeria has launched a massive immunization campaign to protect 29 million children against measles, a highly contagious virus that kills more Nigerian children than any other preventable disease.
Japan donates $16 million to help prevent childhood diseases in four African nations
NEW YORK, USA, 4 August 2006 – The Government of Japan has announced a nearly $16 million donation to UNICEF, to help reduce child mortality and achieve Millennium Development Goals in four African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sudan.
West and Central African nations join forces to end child trafficking
ABUJA, Nigeria, 7 July 2006 – A multilateral accord against the trafficking of women and children was signed here yesterday, as UNICEF and its partners spearheaded a joint ministerial conference of 26 West and Central African countries, representatives of European governments, the International Labour Organization and the UN Office against Drugs and Crime.
AIDS issues at the forefront of National Children’s Day in Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria, 31 May 2006 – The global campaign against child AIDS received a huge boost in Nigeria last week as the country celebrated National Children’s Day and its theme, ‘Children and HIV/AIDS: Addressing the Challenges’.
By land and sea, vaccinators reach 40 million in Nigerian polio immunization drive
LAGOS, Nigeria, 21 March, 2006 – Nigeria is the last polio-endemic country in Africa, with the world’s highest number of reported cases in 2005. Now the National Programme on Immunization (NPI), supported by UNICEF, the World Health Organization and other partners, aims to immunize every child in Nigeria against polio.
Nigeria completes Africa’s largest-ever measles campaign
NEW YORK, USA, 14 December 2005 – The Government of Nigeria has just completed Africa’s largest-ever measles campaign in an effort to reduce measles deaths and morbidity.
Calling attention to the impact of HIV/AIDS on the African family at the 14th ICASA Conference
ABUJA, Nigeria, 8 December 2005 – “We are living daily with death staring us in our eyes.” With these words Elisha Cliff Ishaku, who has been living with HIV for six years, brought a chilling twist of reality to ICASA, the 14th International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa – and Africa’s leading forum for discussion about HIV/AIDS issues.
Mother-to-child HIV transmission can be reduced by over 90 per cent
ABUJA, Nigeria, 5 December 2005 – UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah joined a panel of representatives from governments, civil society and other UN agencies in Abuja ahead of this week’s 14th International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA). The group called for programmes which help prevent transmission of HIV between mother and child to be made more accessible.
New EU donation will help provide safe water for 2.1 million people
ABUJA, Nigeria, 9 September 2005 – A new donation of €33.3 million (about $41.4 million) from the European Commission for a UNICEF water and sanitation project will help provide safe drinking water for 2.1 million people across 1,400 rural communities in Nigeria.
Football star Nwankwo Kanu appointed UNICEF Nigeria Goodwill Ambassador
ABUJA, Nigeria, 5 July 2005 - Nigerian football superstar Nwankwo Kanu was recently appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Nigeria. At a ceremony held in Abuja, the capital, Mr. Kanu met the press and signed a two-year contract with UNICEF.
Nigeria’s polio immunisation campaign takes off
LAGOS, Nigeria, 18 April 2005 – Nigeria has just completed the second round of its Polio National Immunisation Days for 2005. For the first time ever, vaccination teams were dispatched to the Lagos Murtala Muhammed International and Domestic airports in an effort to immunise children under five against polio. Nigeria hopes to reach 40 million children in this latest vaccination campaign.
Nigerian officials rescue more than 100 children from child traffickers
LAGOS, Nigeria, 9 March 2005 - Law enforcement officials in Nigeria are fighting back against child traffickers, as new laws and a more aggressive awareness campaign take effect.
Polio drive seeks to vaccinate 100 million children in Africa
As part of a massive polio immunization drive across Africa, more than a million health workers will be travelling, by land, sea and air, house to house through 22 countries, to vaccinate roughly 100 million children.
The driving forces behind Nigeria’s fight against polio
KANO, 20 November 2004 - Hauwa Abubakar is 25 years old and a mother of three children. She lives with her family in Kano, Northern Nigeria. On a Saturday Hauwa leaves her home early in the morning. Her destination today is the Bamali Nuhu Medical Center and Hospital.
Vital second round of anti-polio immunizations begins in Africa’s largest ever health campaign
NEW YORK, 18 November 2004 – A massive cross-border campaign to immunize children against polio is starting this week in Africa. From 20 to 23 November, thousands of volunteers and health workers will go door-to-door in 24 African countries to administer a second round of vaccinations in Africa’s largest ever public health initiative.
Kano’s 4.2 million children protected from polio
KANO, 3 August 2004 – The skies are clear and the morning sun is shining as the UNICEF team prepares for the long-awaited re-launch of polio immunization in Kano, Nigeria’s most populous state. After a one-year ban on immunization, the first drops of the vital polio vaccine will be administered to a child during a launch ceremony in Takai, 80 km from Kano city.
