Nigeria's parliament has postponed voting on the 2016 budget from 25 February after a dispute between ministers and senior civil servants over spending plans.

President Muhammadu Buhari presented a record $30bn (£20bn) budget in December but asked for it to be withdrawn in January to make changes after a further fall in oil prices.

MPs said they have witnessed disagreements between various ministers and top civil servants.

"We don't want to pass a budget that will be returned to us. We need to remove all ambiguities and paddings," said Danjuma Goje, the chairman of the budget committee in the Senate, Reuters news agency reports.

Image source, Getty Images

On Monday, Health Minister Isaac Adewole accused some civil servants of changing his ministry's allocation.

Nigeria, Africa's biggest largest economy and oil producer, has held talks with the World Bank and African Development Bank and China Exim Bank with the hope of raising some money to fund the budget deficit.

Abdussalam Ibrahim Ahmed
BBC Africa, Enugu, Nigeria

Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress have gone on strike in the south-eastern state of Imo to demand the reinstatement of 500 workers allegedly sacked by the local governor. 

One of the union leaders says they will shut down all government and business activities in the state until their demands are met. 

Medical staff are among the civil servants who are on strike. 

The state government denies that the workers have been sacked. It says they have only been suspended after 19 government agencies were handed over to a private firm for restructuring.

A delegation from the governing All Progressive Congress has arrived in the state capital, Owerri, in an effort to mediate an end to the dispute. 

Online sports gambling is increasing in popularity in Kenya. The BBC's Emmanuel Igunza examines its impact in this video he sent from the capital, Nairobi: 

A South African scheme which offers female students scholarships if they can prove they are virgins has been widely condemned.

The mayor of a rural town in KwaZulu-Natal province has awarded 16 grants to teenage girls to study at university.

The mayor says the bursaries will help tackle high rates of teenage pregnancy and HIV.

Recipients of the scholarships will have to undergo regular virginity tests to keep the scholarship.

But human rights groups say the scheme is discriminatory and are calling for it to be scrapped.

The BBC has spoken to the mayor, as well as a virginity tester and students who were awarded the scholarships: 

Abdinoor Maalim
BBC Africa, Nairobi

The mood among delegates at the meeting of the Kenyan Football Federation suggested that Sam Nyamweya will lose in his bid to be re-elected football chief. 

He was the last of the presidential candidates to arrive, and there was no usual excitement. 

He said he would not seek re-election following advise from his family.  

Two other candidates have also withdrawn, turning it into a two-horse race between Nicholas Mwendwa and Ambrose Rachier.

Mr Mwendwa, the chairman of a lower league side, Kariobangi Sharks, is now the favourite to win.

Many of you have been commenting on BBC Africa Facebook , external after some South African traditional leaders expressed shock at the reported conversion to Islam by Nelson Mandela's grandson, Chief Mandla Mandela (see our 09:00 post).

Rita Iorbo, external: "Let the South African leaders stay calm and know that Mandla Mandela is exercising his freedom of association."

Jon Mubanga, external: "Will his subjects bow down to the religious traditions of his wife, like he has done? I am sure a lot of Xhosa traditions are not Halaal. I think he should stand down".

Nwabueze Chukwu, external: He has his choice to make. And any reason is his and not ours to judge. For good or for bad, for pleasure or for suffering - he lives with it.  

Christian Samba, external: "Did he become a Shia or a Sunni Muslim?"

Image source, AFP

Kenyan Football Federation President Sam Nyamweya has withdrawn from leadership elections, saying he wants new people to run the sport, reports the BBC's Robert Kiptoo from the capital, Nairobi. 

Mr Nyamweya also said he was stepping down on the advise of his family.    

Elections to choose his successor are due to take place later today. 

At least six people have been killed and more than 30 injured when two female suicide bombers blew themselves up during a funeral wake in northern Cameroon's Nguetchewe village, security sources have said, AFP news agency reports. 

Several children, including a boy aged six and a 15-year-old, were among the victims, a local officer told AFP.

Northern Cameroon, which borders Nigeria, has been hit by deadly suicide bombings blamed on militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam has been sacked as the coach of Zamalek for a second time after just 37 days in charge of the Egyptian champions.

His dismissal follows a 2-0 loss to their arch-rivals Al Ahly on Tuesday.

Mohamed Salah takes over as interim coach while the club looks to recruit a foreign coach.  

Read the full BBC Sport story here

A Nigerian-based company aims to capture the spirit of Afrocentric expression in a new line of emojis using a lexicon of expressions in African English slang. 

Some of the emojis include "abeg no make me laugh" which means "please don't make me laugh" and "Oya, shake body" which means "do something relevant". 

This new app features men and women dressed in an array of colourful African attire and has captions in pidgin English. 

The app developer Ayoola Daramola spoke to the BBC's Newsday programme:

Abdullahi Abdi
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Six people are vying for the presidency of the Kenyan Football Federation in a long-awaited election scheduled to take place later today in the capital, Nairobi.

The football body has been tainted by allegations of corruption, and mismanagement.     

Sam Nyamweya, who is being investigated alongside two other officials for "conspiracy to defraud", is hoping to win a second term as president. He has denied the fraud allegations.  

The polls had been postponed on three occasions, and there were fears that today’s exercise would follow the same course.

Analysts say the crisis rocking the football body is affecting the performance of the national team, the Harambee Stars.

Image source, AFP

Chad's President Idriss Deby, who has been in power since 1990, says he will run for a fifth term in elections due in April. 

He said he would restore term-limits if he was re-elected, Reuters news agency reports. 

Mr Deby took power in a coup in 1990, and later introduced elections. His most recent victory was in the 2011 poll.

His critics accuse him of being a repressive ruler, and say polls are not free and fair in Chad. 

Mr Deby, a key ally of France, has played a prominent role in the military campaign against militant Islamists in the region.

Read: The arrogance of power

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Image source, AFP

Liberia's Senate voted yesterday to jail the respected finance minister following his move to slash their budget by about $1.2m (£800,000), which could result in them losing some of their perks.

However, Amara Konneh won a reprieve when the Supreme Court ordered a halt to his imprisonment "until further notice". 

Senators had argued that Mr Konneh - who was chosen two years ago as Finance Minister of the Year by the influential Banker magazine - acted beyond his powers by proposing a $1.2m cut to their budget. 

His deputy James Kollie is quoted in the UK-based Telegraph newspaper, external as saying that the Senate is angry about Mr Konneh's proposal because it will "mean they will lose out on things like vehicle allowances, home allowances, and other things. 

"This is all about their personal perks. It is an abuse of power, and a means to try to intimidate him so that they cannot be cut," Mr Kollie added, the newspaper reports. 

Image source, AFP

Traditional leaders in South Africa's Eastern Cape province are seeking answers from Nelson Mandela's grandson following reports that he converted to Islam and married a Muslim woman, Rabia Clarke, the respected News24 website reports, external.

Mandla Mandela - a chief in Mvezo, the birthplace of the anti-apartheid icon who died in 2013 - married Ms Clarke at a mosque in Cape Town on Saturday, in what was his fourth marriage, 

"We reacted with shock on the news of his conversion. We were also very concerned. What we know is that the woman converts, not the man. That is our custom,”said Chief Mwelo Nonkonyane, the chairman of the influential Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa in Eastern Cape, News24 reports.  

Chief Nonkonyane added that traditional leaders were troubled that Mr Mandela, 42, married without the presence of any of them at the ceremony, News24 reports.

“Traditional leaders don’t marry secretly. He should have been represented by the traditional council of Mvezo. He is the leader of [the] people of Mvezo. We are still trying to locate him to get answers,” it quotes him as saying. 

On Monday, a senior Muslim cleric said that Mr Mandela converted to Islam before his wedding, local media reported. He has not commented on the reports of his conversion.  

Our African proverb of the day: 

Click here to send your African proverbs. 

Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page where we will bring you up-to-date news from around the continent throughout the day.