Speaking during the inauguration of the reconstructed Arab/Gbazango road in Kubwa, Wike said 221 kilometres of roads have been completed out of 317 kilometres awarded across satellite towns in the FCT since Tinubu assumed office in May 2023.

The minister directed his remarks at those he described as detractors of the administration’s urban renewal programme.

Wike said:

The people of the satellite towns have felt the impact of governance. It has never happened in the history of the administration of this country.

If there is anybody who has a contrary view, let him come out and challenge us that all these you are saying is not correct, I will resign as the minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

The identities of the attackers and the circumstances surrounding the reported deaths could not be independently verified as of press time.

Animashaun Salman

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A 25-year-old worker, Bakeru Iwal, has died after a section of an old building he was helping to demolish collapsed on him in Otolo-Nnewi, Nnewi North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The incident occurred on Tuesday when the building, which was being demolished, suddenly caved in, trapping Iwal under the debris.
Eyewitnesses and residents near the scene said the deceased was one of the workers involved in the demolition when the section of the structure collapsed.
Confirming the incident on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said operatives attached to the Otolo Divisional Headquarters responded promptly to the scene and commenced preliminary investigations.
Ikenga said the area was cordoned off and the scene documented, while the deceased’s body was evacuated to the mortuary pending autopsy and other necessary examinations.See more Punch stories on Google.Add Punch on Google
He said, “The Anambra State Police Command has commenced an investigation into an incident involving the demolition of an old building at Otolo-Nnewi, Nnewi North Local Government Area, where one person reportedly died following the collapse of part of the structure. First Niger Bridge set to reopen soon – Federal controller Buried by failure: Families paying the price of building collapses First Niger Bridge demarcation not demolished, FG dismisses rumour
“Upon receiving the report, police operatives attached to the Otolo Divisional Headquarters promptly responded to the scene, cordoned off the area and commenced preliminary investigations.
“The scene was also documented, while the deceased, later identified as Bakeru Iwal, a 25-year-old male, was evacuated to the mortuary for preservation, pending autopsy and other necessary examinations.
“Preliminary information indicates that the building was being demolished when a section of the structure suddenly collapsed, trapping one of the workers.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Command, CP Nnanna Ama, directed that the investigation be conducted professionally and thoroughly to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident and determine whether any person bears responsibility.
The CP ordered that appropriate action be taken based on the outcome of the investigation.
“The command urges members of the public to remain calm and allow the investigation to proceed, while further updates will be provided as necessary,” the statement added.

Ikenna Obianeri
Ikenna Obianeri is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with over 10 years of experience in reporting and storytelling. He conducts incisive interviews, covers crime and environmental issues, and produces engaging feature stories tailored for digital audiences. Ikenna’s work reflects strong newsroom experience, editorial insight, and a commitment to impactful, audience-focused journalism

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“The State Ministry of Transportation made it clear that truckers should not expect to resolve traffic violations or operational breaches through payments or informal interventions. The message from the state government was unequivocal: truckers’ money is not needed, and fines are not the objective. Compliance and sanity are,” he added.
Zangalo urged all truck owners, drivers, terminal operators, and other stakeholders to see the current measures as part of a collective effort to make Lagos roads safer, improve port efficiency, and protect lives and businesses.
He said that a properly coordinated system involving government agencies, port authorities, terminal operators, truckers, and other stakeholders remains essential to achieving sustainable improvement in Lagos maritime transportation.
Zangalo stressed that the meeting was informed that more personnel and equipment would be deployed to strengthen traffic management and improve the effectiveness of operations along the affected corridors.
It was also made clear at the meeting that the state government is not interested in making money from truckers through fines or other interventions. Rather, the emphasis is on compliance, orderliness, and the prevention of avoidable incidents that could result in loss of lives and property.
The meeting also noted that stakeholder intervention may not always be appropriate when the state government has already established a clear enforcement and compliance framework.
The objective is to ensure that truck operators comply with established procedures instead of relying on financial intervention whenever an offence or traffic obstruction occurs.

Anozie Egole
Anozie is a Chief Correspondent at Punch Newspapers with over 13 years of experience covering entertainment, maritime, and transport sectors. He specializes in producing insightful, engaging stories that provide clarity and depth across his beats. Anozie’s work reflects substantial newsroom experience and a strong commitment to accurate and compelling journalism.

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Residents of several communities in Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State have remained cut off from schools, hospitals, markets and other essential services for over three years following the collapse of the only bridge linking them.

According to a report by a civic technology organisation, MonITNG, in a report on the ‘State of Roads in Nigeria,’ the collapsed bridge links Gwanje, near the College of Education, to Angwan Ruwa, Ngazu, Ndoh, Kola, Nganche, Angre, Vereh and Numan Gona communities, leaving residents to grapple with worsening access to essential services while connecting roads have also deteriorated.

The report noted that the prolonged collapse of the bridge has severely disrupted the movement of residents and restricted their access to essential services.

“Dear Governor Abdullahi A. Sule, the only bridge connecting communities in Akwanga LGA, Nasarawa State has been cut off for over 3 years,” MonITNG stated in the report.

The report revealed that the situation has affected residents’ ability to access healthcare facilities, schools, markets and other essential services.

“Today, its collapse is affecting how residents access healthcare facilities, schools, markets and other essential services,” the report added.

MonITNG expressed concern over the condition of roads connecting the affected communities, saying the roads have deteriorated to the point where residents are “almost completely cut off from each other.”

The organisation called on the Nasarawa State Government and the Nigerian authorities responsible for roads to intervene urgently.

The development highlights concerns over the impact of prolonged infrastructure failures on rural communities, particularly where damaged bridges and roads serve as the primary routes to schools, healthcare centres, markets and other basic services.

Residents of the affected communities are now facing prolonged difficulties moving between neighbouring settlements, while the poor condition of the connecting roads compounds the effect of the collapsed bridge.

MonITNG’s report comes amid continuing concerns over the condition of roads and bridges across Nigeria, with poor transportation infrastructure frequently disrupting economic activities and access to essential public services in rural communities.

The condition of the communities comes against the backdrop of significant government spending and commitments to road infrastructure across Nigeria.

The Nigerian government records show that ₦784.60 billion was released for road-related projects in 2024, including ₦383.74 billion for road construction, ₦384.49 billion for rehabilitation and repair, and ₦16.37 billion for road and bridge maintenance.

In 2025, another ₦670.68 billion was released for road construction and rehabilitation, comprising ₦269.75 billion for construction and ₦400.94 billion for rehabilitation and repair.

The Nigerian government also announced in December 2024 that it was partnering with the World Bank under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), with $600 million earmarked to rehabilitate 200,000 kilometres of rural roads.

Of the fund, $500 million was to come from the World Bank, while $100 million was to be provided as counterpart funding by the federal and state governments.

In Nasarawa State, Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration has also repeatedly highlighted spending on rural connectivity.

In May 2024, the state announced that it inaugurated a 15-kilometre Garaku-Gurku-Dari Road in Kokona Local Government Area, a project the government said cost ₦3.67 billion.

The governor said the administration was constructing rural roads to improve interconnectivity among communities and stimulate economic activities.

The Nasarawa State Government also said it had used ₦13.6 billion received under a federal intervention programme to construct 227 kilometres of rural roads across the state’s 13 local government areas, alongside other projects including boreholes and solar installations.

Governor Sule said in November 2025 that his administration had constructed about 639 kilometres of roads across Nasarawa State, while announcing further rural-road projects in Wamba, Akwanga and Nasarawa-Eggon local government areas.

Yet, despite these reported expenditures, MonITNG’s report has revealed how the only bridge connecting several communities in Akwanga Local Government Area has remained cut off for more than three years, raising questions about the reach and effectiveness of infrastructure spending at the community level in the state.

A Nigerian woman who dared to demand her right to inherit family property was assaulted, abducted, falsely imprisoned, and forcibly medicated at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Enugu, the Women’s Aid Collective (WACOL) revealed at a press conference on Wednesday.

Miss Oge, from Umungwuotowo Village in Obe Agbor, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, was subjected to the ordeal over her demand for inheritance. She later escaped the psychiatric hospital to tell her story, WACOL said.

“Over inheritance rights demand, she was assaulted by Obe-Agbor Community Task Force, abducted, falsely imprisoned, and forced into medication at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Enugu,” said Bethel Izugwu, Senior Communication Officer of WACOL. “She boldly escaped that hospital to tell her story.”

Her crime, according to WACOL, was seeking what is legally hers. The organisation said her case is not an isolated incident but part of what it described as an epidemic of women disinheritance across Nigeria, a coordinated attack on the economic survival of Nigerian women.

At the press conference, held under the theme “66 Years After Independence, Nigerian Women Still Fight for Land, Home, and Inheritance,” WACOL presented testimonies and video evidence of women who have been stripped of their homes, land, and livelihoods by relatives hiding behind custom and tradition.

Among them was Mrs. Ekwutosi Ezeonyekwere, a widow from Umuchu in Anambra State, who was locked out of her late husband’s shops, had his land sold without her consent, and was subjected to a “post-humous divorce”, a traditional rite performed in her father’s house asking her to leave her husband’s home despite having a son with him.

According to the organisation, a widow, Mrs. Nebo from Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State was locked out of her family home by her stepson, had her husband’s ATM seized, and was issued a fake divorce letter on behalf of her deceased husband warning her not to attend his burial. WACOL secured a court injunction that reversed the situation.

Also, Mrs. Odo was disinherited by her own second son, a pattern WACOL said is becoming common, where sons sell off family land and economic crops without regard for their mothers’ welfare or opinion. The woman, who hails from Ehamufu in Enugu State, and attended the press conference, had her father’s house, which she reportedly built, targeted for demolition by her uncles, who seized her land because she is female and married.

“These are not isolated incidents. Women disinheritance is an epidemic,” Izugwu said. “They are a coordinated attack on the economic survival of Nigerian women.”

Prof. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo (OON, SAN), WACOL’s Founding Executive Director, who joined the press conference via Zoom from the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said the South East remains the worst region for women’s inheritance rights in Nigeria.

“If you look at inheritance and succession rights issues in Nigeria, you will find that the South East is worst off in terms of lack of ability of women, whether as wife or as daughter, to inherit from the estate of their deceased father or the estate of their deceased husband,” Ezeilo said.

“This contributes to violence, and not just violence, to extreme poverty of women and children deprived of inheritance that could be a lifeline to their getting the education of their choice, to their getting the kind of capital they need to create wealth.”

She noted that while the Supreme Court of Nigeria has decisively ruled against discriminatory inheritance practices, there remains a disconnect between the law on the books and the law in action.

“Even when they are aware of the judgment, they are so reluctant, and they are holding tenaciously to customs and practices, our customary laws. And that’s what has put women and girls at a disadvantage.”

WACOL laid out the legal framework that makes these acts illegal. Section 42(1) of the 1999 Constitution explicitly prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that any customary law that conflicts with the Constitution is null and void.

In Ukeje v. Ukeje (2014), the Supreme Court annulled the Igbo customary law that disentitled female children from inheriting their father’s estate.

In Anekwe v. Nweke (2014), the Court described customs that disinherit daughters or widows as “punitive, uncivilised and only intended to protect the selfish perpetration of male dominance.”

Similarly, in Mojekwu v. Mojekwu (1997), the Court of Appeal held that the Oli-ekpe custom, which excluded women from inheritance, was repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience.

“What is happening to these women is illegal,” WACOL said. “The concept of a ‘post-humous divorce’ is a legal fiction and a gross violation of human rights. The forced institutionalisation of women to steal their property is not a family dispute, it is a violent crime.”

As Nigeria turns 66, WACOL issued a series of demands to duty bearers.

It called on community leaders and Igwe (traditional rulership) cabinets to actively and publicly abolish discriminatory cultural practices in their domains, saying “tradition should elevate a community, not enslave its daughters.”

It urged law enforcement agencies to stop dismissing disinheritance, forceful eviction, and associated physical violence as “family matters” and to arrest, investigate, and prosecute perpetrators.

It also demanded that the judiciary and government urgently expedite gender-based violence and inheritance cases, and that the National Assembly enact a formal law on inheritance rights.

It called on state governments to follow the example of Anambra State, which recently announced it would prosecute cases of disinheritance. WACOL further urged the Nigerian government to ratify the African Union Convention on Violence Against Women, which protects women’s inheritance rights.

Prof. Ezeilo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and law professor, reiterated her personal commitment to pro bono human rights cases and to ensuring free legal aid for women, vulnerable children, and persons with disability.

“At 66, Nigerian women should walk high, their shoulders high, and have equal rights to equal inheritance, to land, to housing, to everything that is due to them as full citizens of Nigeria in a democratic state,” she said. “Progress for women is progress for Nigerian men.”

WACOL said it has recorded over 3,000 cases of women disinheritance, with more than 120 cases in 2026 alone. Until every Nigerian woman is economically secure and legally protected in her own home, the organisation said, its fight continues.

The Nigerian government has begun discussions with electricity distribution companies on the creation of Energy Zones to provide 24-hour electricity supply to homes, businesses and industries in major demand centres across the country.

The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, held a closed-door meeting with the management of selected electricity distribution companies to discuss the proposed initiative.

The zones are planned for the Lagos axis, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano corridor and Enugu-Port Harcourt corridor.

The meeting was disclosed in a statement issued on Wednesday by the minister’s media aide, Adeola Adelabu.

According to the statement, the initiative is aimed at improving the reliability of electricity supply in areas with high commercial and industrial demand.

The proposed Energy Zones are also expected to address challenges in the distribution of electricity by ensuring that power generated and transmitted through the national grid can be taken up and delivered to consumers more effectively.

Tegbe said the challenges in the power sector were not limited to generation and transmission, but also included the ability of distribution companies to receive and deliver available electricity to consumers.

“The constraint on the sector is not limited to generation and transmission but includes how much power is taken up and delivered at the distribution end,” the minister said.

He said the proposed zones would help address the gap at the distribution end, while increasing commercial and industrial electricity demand and improving the revenue and collection performance of distribution companies.

Tegbe also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to expanding electricity infrastructure in areas with high demand.

He said electricity supply capacity must increase in line with the needs of Nigeria’s growing economy.

The proposed zones would focus on areas where reliable electricity supply is considered important to businesses, manufacturing and other productive activities.

However, the government has not announced a timeline for the implementation of the initiative.

It also did not disclose the expected electricity capacity of the zones or the specific infrastructure investments required to achieve 24-hour supply.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, Ikeja Electric, Eko Power, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company and Sahara Energy Group.

The proposed Energy Zones are being considered amid continued concerns over the reliability of electricity supply and the capacity of distribution companies to deliver available power to consumers.

The initiative is also part of the Nigerian government’s broader plan to address challenges in the electricity sector and improve power supply for economic and industrial activities.

The announcement was made on Wednesday in a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.

According to the statement, Tinubu’s Independence Day address will be broadcast nationwide, with television and radio stations and other electronic media outlets directed to join the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).