Video - Nigerian army freed hundreds from Boko Haram

Hundreds of Boko Haram prisoners have been freed during an army offensive in northern Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari says Boko Haram has been defeated in its war for an Islamic state.

Fighters have fled their last remaining stronghold in Sambisa Forest.

Al Jazeera is the only media organisation that has entered the forest since its recapture by the army.

Video - Niger Delta militants express readiness to dialogue with government

Niger delta militants are have been attacking oil pipelines in Nigeria have formally agreed to hold talks with the government. President Muhammadu Buhari's earlier this year appealed to the militants to come to enter into negotiations the government. The militants now say the decision to embrace dialogue was reached after a meeting held under the auspices of the Coalition of Niger Delta Group.

Video - Sunday Oliseh cautions Gabon on Aubameyang's overdependence

Former Nigerian coach Sunday oliseh has cautioned Gabon against solely relying on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the African cup of nations. The former super eagles player also says Nigeria will overcome the crisis engulfing the football sector.

Video - Nigeria to turn Sambisa forest into training ground for its troops

Nigeria's military is set to turn the Sambisa forest, a former bastion of militant Islamist group Boko Haram, into a training centre for its troops. The new base will also be used as ground for testing acquired equipment before putting them into operation. The move is to prevent the militants from rebuilding a presence in the area. Last Friday, Nigeria's military overran the militants' last camp in the forest. Sambisa had become their main base after they lost control of urban strongholds in north-eastern Borno state in 2015.

MTN issues first payment to Nigeria for $254 million fine

Telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria has paid $254 million of the $1 billion fine imposed on it for failing to deactivate more than five million unregistered sim cards in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu said the company paid the sum as the first installment out of the three years given for the completion of the payment.

MTN was initially fined $5.2 billion but the fine was later reduced to $1 billion after negotiating the fine with the Nigerian government.

The fine, according to the law is $636 for each unregistered sim cards and in this instance, MTN’s violation was to the tune of five million lines.

Shittu said MTN accepted that they were in default, apologised for it, made a commitment never to allow such a thing to happen again and asked for remission.

Should the company had paid the initial sum of over $5 billion dollars, the minister said the mobile operator would have folded up hence the need to reconsider the fine.

EWN