Nickel doesn't use the GNU autotools.  Installing is as simple as running make
and (with root privileges) make install from the src directory:

   cd src
   make
   make install

Tweak the command line(s) and/or the Makefile itself as you see fit.


The full installation documentation is available on the web:
   http://www.chaoslizard.org/devel/bohr/wiki/Docs/Ni
