LAGOS - Nigeria's Information Minister has dismissed a UN High Commission for Refugees report that about 1,000 people have fled repression in the Ogoniland region to take refuge in neighbouring Benin, the national news agency said yesterday.
"There is no situation of unrest or civil disturbance in Ogoniland today to justify such an alleged upsurge of refugees. .. Alleged Ogoni refugees in Benin republic are economic refugees," the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Mr Walter Ofanogoro as saying on a visit to the south eastern town of Owerri.