Several vehicles went up in flames as a tanker exploded on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Tuesday morning.

It was gathered that the fire incident happened around 6.20 am at the Romona trailer park in the Ogere area of Ogun State.

Ahmed Umar, the Ogun State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, confirmed the incident to our correspondent, said the state Fire Service was attending to the fire at the moment.

Umar said, “The command got a report about a burning tanker around Romona trailer park Ogere. The fire is serious and as such, the number of vehicles involved cannot be ascertained yet.

“The Ogun State Fire Service was contacted and FRSC operatives are on the ground managing the traffic situation. The firefighters have arrived at the scene.”

Morning downpour on Tuesday led to the leaking of the National Assembly roof with water splashing to the lobby of the federal parliament.

The leaking roof also spread to the Press Centre in the Senate wing of the nation’s apex legislative institution.

The leadership of the National Assembly had in 2020 approved N37bn for the renovation of the edifice, built about 27 years ago.

Cleaners had a hectic time scooping water from the floor while the development delayed the sitting of the senators who resumed on Tuesday after a one-week break to mark the end of their second legislative year.

The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN) to facilitate the payment of a whooping 951 million dollars (about N390.79bn) to the Bayelsa State Government on behalf of the federal government.

The amount is the 13 percent derivative sum due as arrears of revenue and payable to the Bayelsa government.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, who delivered the judgment, held that the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the sole defendant in the case, failed to enter his defense in the suit.

Justice Ekwo ruled that the development made the court declare the plaintiff’s case “unchanged.”

Ken Njemanze, SAN, filed the suit on behalf of the Bayelsa government.

The plaintiff, in the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/175/2012 and filed on Feb. 12, urged the court to compel the AGF to pay five percent of $50 billion recovered as additional revenue that accrued to the Nigerian government.

The judge noted that where a person issues s letter of demand on another person upon outstanding facts, the person for whom the demand notice was issued must take steps to react to same.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Mrs. Hajia Sadiya Farouq, has disclosed that the Federal Government has spent over $5billion (N4 trillion) to combat poverty in the country.

The minister noted the total sum of $5bn (N4trn) was spent from the period of 2016 to 2020.

According to the official exchange rate of Monday, the money spent might be equivalent to N4 trillion.

Speaking further, she disclosed that the fund was spent as part of the promises of President Muhammadu Buhari to lift 100 million Nigerians from poverty.

Recall that Buhari during his democracy speech on June 12 had said his administration has been able to pull 10 million Nigerians out of poverty, while assuring that the target is to lift 100 million Nigerians through various poverty alleviation schemes.

In her explanation, the minister stated that the Federal Government has been committing $1bn to the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), as part of the fight to reduce poverty and inequality.

The National Coordinator of NSIP, Dr Umar Bindir, who represented the minister, made this known during a presentation of letters of engagement and electronic tablets to 248 monitors of the NSIP programme in Adamawa.

Lagos has become the top African start-up ecosystem after ranking 122nd on the Global Start-up Ecosystem Index.

Reports say that the state overtook Nairobi, the Kenyan capital which became 136th.

The Global Start-up Ecosystem Index by StartupBlink is a ranking of 1.000 cities and 100 countries.

Globally, Nigeria ranked 63rd, which is the highest-ranking country in West Africa and the third in Africa while Lagos gained five spots from last year’s ranking to climb to 122nd.

Lagos is in the global top 50 cities for e-commerce and retail technology and in the global top 100 for transportation technology and education technology.

Ibadan jumped 601 spots to 353rd globally and second in Nigeria, overtaking Abuja.

The index report said, “Nigerian start-ups face some major challenges, such as a lack of financing options and even a lack of broadband Internet infrastructure. Government entrepreneurship programmes are present but need to be developed as does legislation and public sector support.”

Abuja fell 12 spots to 466th, while Port Harcourt decreased by six spots to 906th globally. Enugu ranked 978th globally and fifth nationally. Benin City was 979th, while Kano jumped 14 spots to 981st.

Altogether, Nigeria has seven cities in the global top 1,000 and continues to have the highest number of ranked cities in Africa.

According to the report, Nigeria has a massive consumer market and more than 500 active start-ups and is one of the largest start-up ecosystems in Africa.

Report has it that e-commerce and remote work were growing at unprecedented speed as a result of the pandemic, accelerating the world towards a future where digital presence is more dominant than physical presence

South Africa is ranked number one in Africa and is the first African to reach the global top 50 since the rankings began in 2017. Cape Town is the third highest-ranked city in Africa. The Johannesburg’s fintech industry is ranked fourth regionally.

Kenya is the second highest-ranked nation in Africa. The report described the country as one of the most advanced economies in Africa, saying the launch of Konzo Techno City by the government in 2013 had attracted global tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Samsung, and Intel to the country.

Protesting youths have stormed the Umaru Yar’Adua Way leading to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

According to correspondents the youths, under the aegis of #RevolutionNow, blocked the road on Monday morning.

Protesters got motorists plying route stranded as they made bonfires on the ever-busy road.

Worst hit are workers who live in Lugbe, Kuje, and other areas along the Airport road making their way to the city centre to resume work after the weekend.