nigeria

There have been long queues at some banks as Nigerians have struggled to meet the original deadline of Tuesday.

People now have until 10 February to do the swap.

The redesign of the higher denomination naira notes has been heavily criticised with analysts saying six weeks was not enough time for Africa's most-populous country to phase out the old currency.

It is happening a few weeks before the country goes to the polls in presidential and parliamentary elections.

Hundreds of people who had turned up to receive food at the church early on Saturday broke through a gate, causing the stampede, Grace Iringe-Koko, police spokesperson for Rivers state said.

"People were there earlier and some got impatient and started rushing, which led to stampeding. The police are on the ground monitoring the situation while the investigation is ongoing," said Iringe-Koko.

President Muhammadu Buhari described the incident in Imo state, southern Nigeria, as a "catastrophe and a national disaster".

Many victims were burnt beyond recognition.

The police are now looking for the owner of the illegal refinery.

The damage to fishing and farming caused by the oil industry over the decades and the failure to share the oil wealth has led some to find other ways to make money.

Illegal refining is attractive as in parts of the oil-rich Niger Delta it is seen as being relatively easy to pull off, despite efforts to halt the practice.

This will come as a big surprise to many Nigerians, who had assumed that the Nigerian government had backed down following months of negotiations, says the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo in Abuja.

Nigeria suspended the social media firm last June after it deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhari.

It accused Twitter of siding with secessionists.

Before ending the ban, the Nigerian government insisted that Twitter:

Register in Nigeria

Appoint a designated country representative

Comply with tax obligations in Nigeria

Many of the victims are children, and the bacterial disease continues to spread - with more than 31,000 cases since January, but most of those being recorded in the last month.

The outbreak has affected at least 22 out of Nigeria’s 36 states, including the capital, Abuja.

According to the NCDC, the north of the country is being worst affected.

Nigeria's weak healthcare system has been struggling to cope - doctors in public hospitals are on strike and Covid-19 cases are increasing.

Devastating floods in some areas have also made things worse.

At least eight people were also abducted from the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre in Zaria early on Sunday morning.

Two nurses and a 12-month-old child were among those seized, said a hospital worker.

There has been a recent spate of abductions from schools and universities for ransom.

On Monday, reports emerged of another mass kidnapping from a school near Kaduna city, about 80km (50 miles) south-west of Zaria.

Three teachers are also missing following the attack on the school in the town of Tegina in the western state of Niger.

Abubakar Alhassan said he had spoken with the kidnappers who told him that the children were being fed and kept in a good condition.

He said the school had conducted a head count to ascertain the number of missing students.

Abductions carried out for ransom are widespread across Nigeria.

Earlier, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari ordered security agencies to speed up their rescue efforts.

Authorities said only 20 people were rescued when the ferry travelling between Niger state and Kebbi state in the north-west broke in two.

Yusuf Birma, head of the National Inland Waterways Authority (Niwa) in Kebbi state told the BBC that 30 bodies have so far been recovered.

"There's no hope of finding any survivors at this moment," he said.

The true death toll may never be known. Some reports said the boat had been carrying up to 200 people, mostly women and children.

A spokesman for the governor of Katsina state said 344 had been freed and were all in a good condition.

However, other reports suggest some remain in the hands of their captors.

The attack was claimed by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which hours earlier released a video apparently showing some of the boys.

In his statement, the spokesman, Abdul Labaran, said the boys were being taken to the regional capital Katsina City, and would soon be reunited with their families.

The attackers arrived on motorbikes and started shooting in to the air, causing people to flee, witnesses said.

They targeted the Government Science Secondary School - where more than 800 students are said to reside - in Katsina state on Friday evening.

More than 200 students have been rescued, while the army and air force have joined the search for the missing.

Residents living near the all-boys boarding school in the Kankara area told the BBC they heard gunfire at about 11pm on Friday (local time), and that the attack lasted for more than an hour.