Some of Nigeria's most prominent politicians have been publishing details of what they earn, local media are reporting.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara has released his recent payslips which show that earns 402,500 naira ($1,300, £1,000) a month, the Premium Times reports, external.

He was prompted to release the information by Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai who has published his own salary details showing that he earns around 470,000 naira ($1,500) a month.

Neither of the figures suggest that the two men could afford a life of luxury.

But there are doubts that this money reveals the full picture of how much these men earn, BBC Abuja editor Naziru Mikailu says.

The full extent of their allowances has not been revealed, and that is where they can earn the most money.

This move has however begun a debate about the value of transparency among the elite, our colleague adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Egypt's Coptic Church has announced it will cut back Easter celebrations over security concerns and in solidarity with the victims of the weekend bombings in which 45 worshippers died. 

A church official told AFP that the customary decorations of the churches and meetings to exchange festival greetings have been cancelled. 

The traditional handing out of sweets to children by Coptic Pope Tawadros II before the start of Easter mass on Sunday will also be cancelled.   

So-called Islamic State claimed the Palm Sunday attacks on two churches. 

Image source, AFP

Twenty-eight people died at the Mar Girgis church in Tanta, north of Cairo, and 17 people died at Saint Mark's church in Alexandria, after a suicide bomber was prevented from entering the building. 

The militants have warned of more attacks. 

The violence comes ahead of Catholic Pope Francis's first visit to Egypt, which a Vatican official said will go ahead as planned on April 28 and 29 despite the attacks. 

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi imposed a three-month state of the emergency after the bombings. 

Robert Misigaro
BBC Africa

A Rwandan-British woman who was detained and charged in Rwanda on allegations of undermining Rwandan security has been reunited with her family in the UK.

Violette Uwamahoro who lives in the English northern city of Leeds was arrested two months ago while in Rwanda for her father’s funeral.

Her husband is an active member of RNC, a Rwandan opposition party based in exile.

She was released on bail without condition two weeks ago.

Image source, Violette Uwamahoro

Zambia's opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema is being formally charged at the moment over an incident where his convoy got in the way of the president's motorcade, his lawyer has told BBC Africa Live.

He was picked up late on Monday night after the police raided his house in the capital, Lusaka. He could be charged with treason.

Meanwhile, his wife Mutinta has been speaking about the police raid.

She told Zambian channel Muvi TV that the police "wanted to kill my husband".

"They beat up all the workers and arrested them," she added.

You can read more of her comments in the Lusaka Times, external.

Somali security forces have rescued at least eight sailors who were kidnapped from their Indian-registered cargo ship and taken ashore by pirates.     

They were freed without fighting, the AFP news agency reports, quoting Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, deputy commander of the maritime force in Somalia's Galmudug state.

The security forces overwhelmingly besieged them and the pirates tried to flee, but three of them were captured," he said.

The Al Kausar was one of three vessels in recent weeks to be hijacked after a five-year lull.

On Sunday sailors from the Indian, Pakistani and Chinese navies freed the crew of a Tuvalu-registered vessel which had been boarded by pirates.

Piracy in the waters off Somalia and Yemen peaked in 2011, with more than 200 attacks.

But it has dropped significantly in recent years, in part because of extensive international military patrols as well as support for local fishing communities.

Anthony Irungu
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Living on the streets is no laughing matter, particularly when you are a child.

Many however live to tell stories of hope and despair in equal measure.

But it's that life on the streets of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, that is behind the rise of a new comedy star, MCA Tricky.

The comedian, whose first name is Frank, is now using stand-up comedy to get his message across.

He began sleeping rough in 2004 just after finishing his primary school education.

Frank discovered he had a gift for making people laugh when he joined an acting troupe in the capital while still living on the streets.

He then accompanied a friend for an audition to the popular stand-up comedy show called The Churchill Show.

The judges liked his unique style inspired by his real life experiences of being homeless. He has since become a headliner on the popular show.

He makes people laugh while also offering hope and inspiration to other street children.  

As the world marks International Day for Street Children, he says: 

Frank talks of a day when no children will be sleeping and living on the streets of Nairobi. 

A long road lies ahead, but Frank believes that humour is one way to at least to raise awareness of the problem.

Zambians are sharing dramatic pictures of a train that appears to have hit an ambulance stuck on the rails.

It's not clear if anyone was hurt.

A Zambian DJ has made a joke comparing the incident with the controversy over the convoy of opposition leader Hakiande Hichilema refusing to give way to President Edgar Lungu's motorcade.

Mr Hichilema has been arrested and is facing treason charges.

Opponents of South Africa's President Jacob Zuma are holding further demonstrations in the capital, Pretoria, as he marks his 75th birthday. 

The protesters are demanding his resignation and will march to the main government buildings, following rallies last week across the country. 

The BBC reporter at the scene has been tweeting pictures and videos:

Mr Zuma has described his opponents as racists. 

South Africa's constitutional court is considering an opposition call for a planned parliamentary vote of no confidence in the president to be conducted by secret ballot. 

Criticism of him has intensified since he sacked Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan last month.

Mr Gordhan is also marking his birthday.

BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe

South Africans are mourning the passing of Ontlametse Phalatse, an 18-year-old girl who was living with Progeria, a rare genetic disorder that causes rapid ageing. 

Last month she celebrated her birthday with President Jacob Zuma. The South African government has led the condolence messages using a picture of that meeting.

She died yesterday at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa‚ outside Pretoria.

Phalatse was one of two South African girls living with Progeria. 

She described herself as 'the first lady' after she became the first black child in South Africa to be diagnosed with Progeria and was regarded as an inspiring figure and a miracle child after outliving doctors’ predictions by four years.

Local broadcaster Enca calls her South Africa's champion of positivity, external.

Mr Zuma has conveyed his condolences to the family of  "the special child of South Africa":

Her name is trending on Twitter in South Africa as people pay tribute:

Martin Patience
BBC News, Nigeria correspondent

A new report, external from the UN's children's agency, Unicef, is warning of a surge in the use of children as suicide bombers by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

In the first three months of this year, 27 suicide attacks were carried out in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, all countries affected by the conflict. 

Unicef says already this year there has been almost as many attacks by child suicide bombers compared to the whole of 2016.

Most of the bombers were girls targeting military checkpoints or public places. 

Calling the children victims and not perpetrators, Unicef condemned the deception and force used by the militants to get them to carry out such horrific acts. 

Under intense military pressure, the Islamist insurgents have switched tactics in recent years from holding territory to guerrilla style tactics. 

Unicef says the militants have used more than 100 children as suicide bombers in the past three years. 

The report describes how a 16-year-old girl called Amina was first drugged and then with three other girls sent to bomb a busy market. 

In the end she didn't detonate her own explosives. But Amina lost both her legs after two of the other girls blew themselves up. 

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria's former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied allegations that he received  $200m ( £160m) from the $1.3bn payments made by international oil companies for access to a prime oil block off the coast of the Niger Delta, Punch newspaper reports, external

His media adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, said in a statement that the allegations are "fake news" meant to "tarnish his rising profile in the international community".

Mr Jonathan said he did not know Dan Etete, a former oil minister and the architect of the controversial deal, who received a huge chunk of the payments from oil giant Shell for the lucrative oil block, which he owned:

Shell has denied any wrongdoing.

Nigeria's government passed on $1.1bn of the money paid by Shell and the Italian firm ENI to a company called Malabu, which was controlled by Mr Etete, according to Italian prosecutors.

Documents filed by the Italian prosecutors claim that $466m of that sum was then laundered through bureaux de change and passed on to then President Goodluck Jonathan, and members of his government.

Mr Jonathan's spokesman says the oil deal predated his administration:

Read:Shell admits dealing with money launderer

South Africa's best-known satirical cartoonist Zapiro has courted controversy once again with his latest offering:

The cartoon shows the country - represented by a woman in a South African flag - about to be raped by someone who appears to be a member of the Gupta family with President Jacob Zuma standing by saying "she's all yours boss!".

The picture alludes to the alleged close relationship between Mr Zuma and the wealthy Guptas, who have been accused of exercising influence on the government.

The family has dismissed the allegations.

The use of rape in a satirical cartoon has angered many in South Africa.

Journalist Laila Majiet in a post for Jacaranda FM, external calls it: 

And that response is typical of the torrent of comments on Twitter.

Zapiro - or to use his real name Jonathan Shapiro - has defended the use of the metaphor, which he has used once before in 2008.

He said: "I use rape as metaphor because it shocks", Times Live, external is reporting.

He added that he was "desperate to find ways to make a strong statement" about the current situation in the country, the website says.

Today’s African proverb: 

Image source, Evans

Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs. 

Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page where we'll be keeping you up-to-date with news stories on the continent.