Video - Nigeria gets loan to modernize rail network and link Lagos to Kano

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking parliament's approval for a proposal to borrow $5.85 billion from China to modernize its rail network. Buhari urged parliament in a letter to approve the railway borrowing because China has a limit on funds available from its China Africa Fund. The president wants to sign loan agreements as soon as China approves the project. Buhari also asked lawmakers to also approve a $1.075 billion loan to help rebuild the northeast, which has been ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency, and to expand support to the poor in Nigeria.

Death toll in meningitis outbreak in Nigeria reaches 813

A meningitis outbreak in Nigeria has killed 813 people so far this year, the country’s health minister said, as Africa’s most populous country and aid organisations attempt to tackle the surge in infections.

The government on Wednesday approved a house-to-house search in northern Nigeria to identify those afflicted with meningitis for vaccination and treatment, Isaac Adewole told reporters after a cabinet meeting under vice president Yemi Osinbajo.

The West African nation in April launched a mass vaccination campaign as part of its emergency response to the outbreak in its northwestern states, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said.

The NCDC said the infection killed 33 people in 2016.

More than 2,000 people died from an outbreak of the disease in Nigeria in 2009, with basic healthcare limited in rural parts of the country, where most people live on less than $2 a day, despite the country’s huge oil resources.

Meningitis is the inflammation of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord which can be caused by viral or bacterial infections. It spreads mainly through kisses, sneezes, coughs and in close living quarters.

The NCDC is working with the World Health Organisation, the UN’s Children’s Fund and Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, to try to control the outbreak.

Eyewitness

Video - Abuja residents learn martial arts for personal security

The rising crime rate is driving residents to learn martial arts in an effort to protect themselves in Nigeria. Although no official statistics exist, armed robberies, burglaries, car-jackings, rape and kidnappings are common.

Video - Nigerian entrepreneur revives local market for hand-made chocolates

Nigeria is the world's fourth-largest producer of cocoa. But most of its beans are exported for processing abroad. This means chocolates and sweets are almost always imported. Nigeria's oldest cocoa community is slowly trying to change that by producing hand-made chocolate straight from their farms.

Video - Nigerian Air Force shows off new weapons to fight Boko Haram

Nigeria's air force has shown off new assets it says will be used to combat the Boko Haram insurgency in its north and oil militants in its south.

The West African nation's air force over the weekend demonstrated a new attack helicopter during 53rd anniversary celebrations.

The chief of defense staff, Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin, says the military now can "deliver appropriate firepower at the right time and at the right place."

The military also expects that the Trump administration will move forward with the sale of high-tech aircraft to Nigeria for its campaign against Boko Haram despite concerns over abuses committed by the African nation's security forces.

"We are highly impressed and knowing that this air force is now on the rise again," says retired air vice marshal O.C. Obierika.

ABC