Oil giant Shell suffered another major spillage at the weekend in the eastern division of the Niger Delta, 'The Guardian' reported on Tuesday. The leak, at Ogbodu village in the Ikwerre Council area, spread through the Choba River to the Calabar Creek because of the fast flow of the river, the Lagos-based newspaper said. Dead fish could be seen floating on the surface of the water, it added.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has written to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo expressing its concern over the recent arrest of the editor of a weekly magazine on charges of criminal defamation.

Ethnic clashes that began two weeks ago in central Nigeria's Nassarawa State have spread to Lafia, the state capital, where more than 25 people have been killed, Radio Nigeria reported on Tuesday.

It is fortuitous that a seemingly innocent request for data by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Professor Jerry Gana, may yet unravel the deep-rooted scam in the yearly federal budget.