One of the world’s top crude producers is showing no signs of cutting back output despite low oil prices.
The victims were all under the age of five, health officials said. Young children are especially susceptible to lead poisoning.
The Nigerian army repelled the Boko Haram attack Wednesday night but have imposed a 24-hour curfew on the besieged Borno state capital.
The U.S. secretary of state traveled to Turkey, where NATO ministers also were to discuss instability in Syria and Iraq.
Boko Haram has destroyed 350 churches and murdered 5,000 Catholics in its six-year insurgency in northeast Nigeria.
Nigeria breathed a sigh of relief this month after nearly 700 women and girls were freed from Boko Haram militants, but the road to recovery has only just begun.
The South African press has dubbed Mmusi Maimane, the new leader of the main opposition party, as the “Obama of Soweto.”
A Nigerian governor said he feared the women and girls impregnated by Boko Haram militants could be giving birth to future terrorists.
The latest Amnesty International report finds that the country's worsening situation has helped "people smugglers" step up their trade.
Barack Obama congratulated the West African nation on “the strength of Nigeria’s commitment to democratic principles.”
The Nigerian army also destroyed seven additional terrorist camps in Sambisa Forest on Tuesday, where they seized and destroyed weapons.
Iraqi civilians suffered the worst displacement in 2014, as at least 2.2 million people fled their homes.
Reports from women released by Boko Haram show the group may be weakening, but experts say this isn't the end.
The Save the Children group has claimed that nearly 40 migrants have died in the sea between Libya and Sicily.
Unofficial reports said 214 of the 234 women and girls recently rescued from the Sambisa Forest were visibly pregnant.
The country's army has been accused of avenging the deaths of its soldiers by killing civilians.
"Boko Haram came and told us they were moving out and said that we should run away with them. But we said no."
"If you needed the toilet, they followed you. We were kept in one place. We were under bondage."
Vandalism of gas pipelines is cited as a major reason why Abuja, Lagos and other areas are experiencing a sharp drop in power.
Boko Haram reportedly used its victims as human shields against the Nigerian military operation in Sambisa Forest this week.
The xenophobic attacks in South Africa have targeted foreigners living in the country. Three South Africans were among the dead.
The rescued girls and women are reportedly not the Chibok schoolgirls, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram last year.
