Wednesday 21 September – UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova welcomed the reopening of the lyceums in the State of Borno, in northeast Nigeria, an area suffering from attacks by violent extremist armed groups. “Education and especially girls’ education is a human right, a transformative force and ...

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Wednesday 9/21/2016 - 17:41 GMT by Aminu ABUBAKAR Students from a school in northeast Nigeria, from where more than 200 girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, will resume lessons next month, more than two years after the mass abduction, the state government has announced. ...

As the Nigerian government continues to open up areas formerly controlled by Boko Haram and to facilitate the return of thousands of people to their home areas in the north-east, the scale of the damage is becoming more and more apparent and new humanitarian challenges are emerging. The governmen...

Local support for the so-called West Africa Province of the Islamic State (more commonly referred to as Boko Haram) has always been a nebulous subject. Often measured in terms of recruitment, local support for the organisation has been erratic over time and shaped by various factors. Nonetheless,...

Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, is prepared to swap Boko Haram prisoners for the Chibok schoolgirls, a minister has said. Last year the government almost secured the release of the girls whose kidnapping triggered global outrage, but three times the negotiations collapsed. On the first occ...

Nigeria's president has called for the UN to mediate with militant Islamist group Boko Haram to secure the release of schoolgirls it is holding captive. Muhammadu Buhari said he was prepared to swap militants who are in custody for the girls. The more than 200 girls were seized during a raid o...

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — The crisis spawned by Boko Haram has drawn hundreds of thousands of people to a relatively little-known city in Nigeria that has finally become safe enough for them to wait out an end to the awful, deadly war. With villagers from the countryside pouring in, it is almost as th...

Maiduguri, Nigeria - A few dozen women sit on mats in the shadow of a neem tree. Their giggles rise with the hot dusty air as they sketch elaborate designs on their hands with henna. Some of the women wear abayas; others wear short-sleeved blouses with long skirts and hijabs. They talk about thei...

The conflict in Borno State started in 2009 when Boko Haram launched attacks in Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Kano. By 2014, Boko Haram controlled large swathes of territory in Borno State. In 2015, Nigeria elected a new President who vowed to take back control of territory from Boko Haram and also sta...

Diffa, Niger - As Nigerian forces have progressed against Boko Haram, the cornered terror group has been carrying out more attacks in neighbouring countries. In Niger's Diffa region on the northeastern border of Nigeria, more than 280,000 people have been displaced. Most of the displaced, do not...