The price of Petrol has increased to about N617 per litre in Abuja the nation’s capital.

A visit to an NNPC filling station in the Central area of Abuja on Tuesday morning confirmed that the fuel price has been adjusted from N539 to N617 per litre.

A customer who confirmed this development said “It is true, I just bought at N617 per liter,”

The immediate reason could not be ascertained but it is not unconnected to the recent projections by oil marketers that fuel price will hit N700 per litre soon.

However, the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NDMPRA) is yet to comment on the issue as at the time of filling this report.

Enugu Police command said it has arrested one of the suspects involved in the murder of the Councilor representing Eha-Ulo Ehalumona Council Ward in Nsukka Local Government Area Legislative Council, Hon. Duhu Nelson Sylvester Nnacheta.

Nnacheta was killed by gunmen on Sunday night at his residence in Eha-Alumona.

The Enugu State Police Command public relations officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe said one of the members of the gang that assassinated the lawmaker is currently in custody.

The Victim, Hon. Duhu Nelson Sylvester Nnacheta

“Police Operatives of the Command have arrested one (1) male suspect and a member of the criminal gang, alleged to have attacked and murdered one Duhu Nelson Sylvester Nnacheta (a.k.a ‘Ofunwa’) ‘m’, identified as the Councilor representing Eha-Ulo Ehalumona Council Ward, on 16/07/2023 at about 11.30pm, at Umualoji Village in Ehalumona community of Nsukka LGA.

“Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police has ordered intense discreet investigation and manhunt of the assailants.

The Oyo State Government has said the over 1.5 million out-of-school children that have been absorbed into various public schools, under the 2017 to 2022 Better Education Service Delivery for All, will be mopped up and brought back to the classrooms under the BESDA-Additional Funding-Transforming Education System at state level programme.

This was made known on Monday by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Adeniyi Olusanjo, during the opening of a two-day training programme on community-driven development approach at the Lagelu Grammar School Hall in Ibadan, the state capital.

A statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Rotimi Babalola, said, “The programme was targeting mopping up the remaining 1.5 million out-of-school children after those that have been successfully returned to classrooms under the BESDA within 2017 and 2022.”

He said the state enjoyed the privilege of being selected by the Federal Government and donor agencies like the World Bank and GPE because of the success achieved by the state under the BESDA programme.

Olusanjo added that the 1.5 million figure covered students from far and neighbouring states and countries that have come to the state to enjoy the state’s free education policy.

“Having noticed the success of BESDA between 2017 to 2022 in the state, the World Bank, Federal Government and Global Partnership for Education decided to pick the state, Adamawa and Katsina for the new project, which is to deliver the needed equitable access to out-of-school children in this state,” Olusanjo said.

Also speaking, the state Coordinator of BESDA-AF-TESS, Bamidele Odekunle, said the roles of the school-based management committee were very germane to the success of the new project.

The Abia State Government says it has discovered 2,300 ghosts in its payroll system and weeded them out, thus saving over N220m on monthly wage bill.

The state said the ghost workers were detected following ongoing verification of civil servants in the state.

The Abia State Accountant General, Deaconess Njum Onyemenam, stated this in Umuahia, the state capital, on Monday.

Onyemenam, who spoke after a meeting with the state Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, said that the verification exercise was still ongoing.

“So far, we have been able to save N220m from the ongoing verification of workers in the state, local governments and pensioners.

“Not less than 2,300 ghost workers have been weeded out from the payroll, using the unified payment system and we hope to still identify more as we continue with the exercise,” the accountant general said.

She confirmed reiterated the governor’s directive last week that workers would be paid the arrears of April salaries left behind by the immediate-past administration as well as June pensions to retirees.

She also disclosed that local government workers, who did not get June salaries due to their failure to submit their verified payment schedule, will receive their salaries this week.

The Chairman of the Project Verification Committee in Kaduna State, Sabi’u Sani, has said that no contractor collected money from the state government and abandon projects under the last administration of former governor Nasir El-Rufai.

Sani’s reaction in a statement titled: ‘clarification on the statement credited to me regarding ongoing projects in Kaduna State’, noted that there was no iota of truth in the report credited to him

Sani was reacting to a report that claimed he said that the state may go after some contractors who collected money and abandoned projects in the last administration.

But the chairman in the statement released to newsmen on Sunday, said the primary mandate of the committee was to determine the status of ongoing projects and those in the pipeline to ensure the speedy completion of all priority projects in the state.

He said, “The committee visited some project sites on Friday, 14th July 2023. At the end of the visits, I addressed the media on the Committee’s mandate, our findings so far, and the next steps.

“I shared with the media information on the extent of work on some of the projects and what the contractors informed us are required to speedily complete the projects.

“The primary mandate of the committee is to determine the status of ongoing projects and those in the pipeline, in order to ensure the speedy completion of all priority projects in the state.

“The statement credited to me that some contractors collected payments and abandoned their projects is incorrect and merely a product of the fertile imagination of the reporters.”

Troops of the 192 Battalion operating in the 81 Division have intercepted a truckload of smuggled ammunition being transported into Anambra State by a syndicate.

The syndicate was busted by troops on a stop-and-search operation on Saturday along Ajilete-Owode Road in Yewa North LGA of Ogun State.

Spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu, told journalists in Abuja on Monday that the troops uncovered the illegal ammunition in a truck with registration no: ENU 697 XY, loaded with 720 packets of Red Star Cartridges of 12 calibre.

He said there were 25 cartridges per packet, totalling 18,000 cartridges and additional 250 packets of live (black) cartridges containing 10 packets each, totalling 2,500 cartridges of the same calibre were immediately seized.

Nwachukwu also disclosed that the suspects, identified as Mr Eric Seworvor, a Ghanaian, and the driver, Mr Lukman Sani, have been taken into custody, adding that they were helping with ongoing investigations.

“Information gathered during preliminary investigation revealed that the ammunition, which were surreptitiously concealed in a supposed empty truck were imported from Mali via Idiroko International Border where the criminals had successfully beaten several other checkpoints en-route to their final destination in Onitsha, Anambra State, where they intended to deliver the illegal ammunition.

“Timely intervention by the vigilant troops, however, thwarted the chaos that such a volume of ammunition would have been unleashed on innocent members of the public, if the criminals had succeeded,” Nwachukwu said.

He appealed to Nigerians to continue to support the troops and other security agencies with credible information.