The country’s main militant group declared a unilateral cease-fire in the southern oil region on Sunday. If it holds, it will end the worst spate of militant attacks to afflict the region in years.

The hit is the latest in a streak of attacks that have badly damaged the country’s largest oil producer, Royal Dutch Shell.

The most prominent of the insurgent groups in the region, known as MEND, has threatened to pursue an “oil war” with continuing attacks.

Two security officials in the oil industry said that more than 100 people might have been killed by the fighting, which has spread to at least seven villages.

Militants in Nigeria?s oil heartland said Saturday they had used missiles, grenades and speedboats in a deadly offensive against army positions.

President Umaru Yar?Adua has replaced his chief of defense staff and named new heads of the army, navy and air force in his first major military shake-up.

After years of debate and periodic violence, the Nigerian government officially handed over the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon on Thursday.

After years of debate and periodic violence, the Nigerian government officially handed over the potentially oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon on Thursday.

Bill T. Jones, the political lion of modern dance, is the director and choreographer of ?Fela!,? a new musical about the Nigerian bandleader and political gadfly Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Five people were killed and several wounded in shooting between Nigerian security forces and gunmen who attacked their boat in the oil-producing Niger Delta, an army spokesman said.