The federal government has promoted 48 senior officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to their next ranks.

The approval was given by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Gorge Akume, who is the supervising authority of the FRSC.

Those affected are 21 Corps Commanders (CC) who are promoted to the rank of Assistant Corps Marshal (ACM), 11 Deputy Corps Commanders to Corps Commanders, and 17 Assistant Corps Commander to Deputy Corps Commander.

A statement by the spokesman of the FRSC, Corps Commander Olusegun Ogungbemide, on Saturday, said three Assistant Corps Marshals have been directed to proceed on immediate retirement. Those affected by this development are Assistant Corps Marshal (ACM) D. I. Okuobeya, ACM A. S. Ochi and ACM Adekanye.

According to the statement, the officers promoted to the rank of Assistant Corps Marshals (ACM) are: the Corps Secretary, ACM L. D. Shehu, Corps Legal Adviser, ACM K. D. Gonji, Corps Public Education Officer, ACM Olusegun Ogungbemide, Corps Intelligence Officer, ACM G. Ntukidem, the Corps Provost, ACM A. T. Hassan, the Corps Budget Officer, ACM M. R. Sabiya, and the Corps Transport Standardisation Office, ACM K. A. Ibrahim.

Others, according to the statement, are: Sector Commander Bayelsa, ACM C. M. Onukwubiri, ACM T. A. Mohammed, ACM in charge of Command Administration and Strategy, ACM S. U. Galadanchi, Acting Zonal Commanding Officer RS3HQ Yola, ACM Y. A. Haruna, Acting Zonal Commanding Officer RS1HQ Kaduna, ACM A. Umar, ACM in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation, ACM E. F. Akinlade, Acting Zonal Commanding Officer RS4HQ Jos, ACM A. A. Irelewuyi, the Head of Session, Personnel, Administration and Human Resources Department, ACM Y. D. Dio, fsi, ACM in charge of Federal Operations, ACM S. T. Agure, Commandant Road Marshal Assistant Training School, Shendam, ACM M. Yakubu, and Acting Zonal Commanding Officer RS11HQ Osogbo, ACM H. A. Godwin.

Abia State government has announced the distribution of palliatives to inmates of the state correctional facility in Umuahia, the state capital.

The state government also shared the palliatives to civil servants, persons with disability, Abia Correctional Center, Amaudo Itumbauzo Center for Mentally ill Destitute, orphanages, widows, and among others.

This is even as the government said it had been fair and transparent in the distribution of the four tranches of the federal government palliatives to the citizens.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Policies and Intervention, Rev. Fr. Christian Anokwuru stated this while briefing the journalists on the distributions of the federal government palliatives across the State.

He said that the state government received a total of 16,800 bags of 50kg rice and 13,260 bags of 50kg maize, converted the maize to rice by selling the maize to buy rice, as well as adding more 4,800 bags of 50kg rice to it, and making it a total of 30,800 bags of 50kg rice which was distributed across the state in the first batch.

Heads of ECOWAS member states met yesterday to finalise and approve the design of the Lagos-Abidjan Corridor Highway Development Project preparatory to initiating the procurement process at its next meeting.

The meeting which was held in Lagos, was chaired by Nigeria’s Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, discussed the project which is expected to cost 15 billion dollars and deepen regional economic integration.

The project is currently at its study phase, an indication that detailed research, planning, and design are still ongoing.

Highlighting the history and progress of the Lagos-Abidjan Highway Development Project, Umahi mentioned that the project, initiated in 2013, had received significant funding support from the African Development Bank.

He noted that the current meeting aimed to finalise and approve the design of the project, as it was nearing a crucial stage where concrete steps towards implementation could be taken.

He noted that the heads of member states of ECOWAS have met to agree on the project and that various stages of development, including design, environmental impact assessment, and funding mechanisms, had been ongoing for the past 11 years.

“The design of the project, ESIA design, conceptualisation, funding mechanisms have been on in the past 11 years.

“As of today, we are going to listen to the committee of experts in terms of the design and so we believe that we will finalise and approve the design today, and then we set the goal for procurement, probably in our next meeting,” he said.

On his part, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Ghana, Mr Francis Boakye, emphasised the importance of infrastructure, particularly roads, in driving socio-economic development.

He highlighted how highways could facilitate trade, tourism, and economic activities, and cited the example of the United States’ economic boom as evidence of this correlation.

Boakye emphasised the significance of the Lagos-Abidjan highway project in promoting economic integration within West Africa.

He also noted that the depth of Ghana’s involvement in the project demonstrated its commitment to regional economic integration.

Dr Amede Kouakou, Minister of Equipment and Road Maintenance of Cote d’Ivoire, said he, along with the other ministers involved in the Lagos-Abidjan highway development project, were committed to making accelerated progress with the project.

He specifically spoke of his intention to take deliberate steps to ensure that the project became a reality for the citizens of Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

The Lagos-Abidjan Corridor Highway, scheduled to begin in 2025, is part of the greater Dakar-Lagos Corridor and one of the flagship priority development programmes of ECOWAS.

The about 1068 kilometers project will cover five ECOWAS member countries , namely – Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, and Nigeria, and will traverse eight border towns (four country-pair land borders) beginning from Eric Moore and ending in Abidjan.

The project is financed by the African Development Bank.