01 Oct 2010 14:38:04 GMT

* Eight dead in independence day car bomb blasts

* Explosions near national day parade

* Niger Delta rebels had issued bomb threat

* President vows to bring perpetrators to justice

(Updates with govt condemnation, analyst)

By Kingsley Igwe

ABUJA, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Car bomb explosions killed eight people and injured three near a parade in Nigeria's capital on Friday marking the 50th anniversary of independence, police said.

Two blasts, which also destroyed three cars, came an hour after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger

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The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General condemns the car bombing today near the venue of the National Day parade in Abuja, which reportedly resulted in a number of deaths and destruction. The attack was particularly sad, coming on the day on which Nigerians were celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their nation's independence. The Secretary-General expresses his sincere sympathy and condolences to the Government and people of Nigeria and the bereaved families.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by weeks of flooding in three northern Nigerian States, said to MISNA Seyi Soremekun, spokesman for Nigeria's Red Cross. The worst-hit is the Sokoto state, along the border with Benin, where torrential rains and floods left 20 dead and affected some 332,000 on different levels. Just in the state's Goronyo district the flooding displaced 50,000. Also the nearby state of Kebbi, on the southern border with Niger, and the more eastern Jigawa state are also facing above average rainfall for the season.

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria is a country of overlapping regional, religious, and ethnic divisions. Rifts between the North and the South of the country, ethnic groups, and Islam and Christianity often coincide and have sometimes resulted in sectarian violence. This has been the case particularly in its geographical center and in the Niger Delta region. In the Middle Belt, as the former is called, bouts of retributive bloodshed between Christian farmers and Muslim pastoralists erupt with some frequency. In the Niger Delta, an insurrection against the Abuja government has been

By Aminu Abubakar (AFP)

SABONGARIN DOLE, Nigeria - Thousands of people from more than 30 flooded villages in northwestern Nigeria faced shortages of food and shelter on Wednesday, with fears building of disease outbreaks.

Officials in Sokoto state said more than 130,000 people had been displaced by flooding three weeks ago when a spillway from the Goronyo dam burst from heavy rains, sweeping through the villages.

Dozens of displaced camps have sprung up in the Goronyo district, where most schools have been turned into shelters

LAGOS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Gunman have hijacked a school bus in Nigeria's Abia state, on the fringes of the oil-producing Niger Delta, and kidnapped 15 youngsters, police said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred early on Monday while the nursery and primary students were being driven to the Abayi International School in the southern state's commercial capital, Abia state police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbonna told Reuters.

"The 15 students were being conveyed to school by the driver and the teacher that normally accompanies them when they were abducted," Ogbonna said.

Sep 28, 2010, 18:30

President Jonathan has approved the release of N1 billion and N750 million as Federal Government grants to Sokoto and Kebbi State Governments, respectively, as part of Government's assistance to alleviate the sufferings of victims of the flood disaster that ravaged the two states.

The grants are to be expended on reconstruction of damaged , culverts and bridges; scour inspection and survey of piers and abutments of the severely eroded bridge across the Sokoto River; and urgent after-flood protection study of the affected areas.

LAGOS - About two million people, or about half the population of Nigeria's Jigawa state, have been displaced after authorities had to open flood gates on two rivers, a government official said on Friday.

"We have about two million people affected," Umar Kyari spokesman of Jigawa state told AFP. Jigawa has a population of about 4.3 million people.

He said the flooding was caused after authorities opened flood gates of the Challawa and Tiga dams in neighbouring Kano state to avoid overflowing following heavy rains.

"When the rains became too much

This week's UN Millennium Development Goals summit highlighted the importance of reaching the world's most disadvantaged children in order to achieve the MDGs with equity by 2015. Here is a related story.

By Greg Marinovich

CALABAR, Nigeria, 23 September 2010 - Esther Etowa's lively face is quick to break into an engaging smile. Her deep voice can change from a comforting murmur into a boom that can be heard across the width and breadth of a village - a useful quality in Ms. Etowa's work.

VIDEO: