lagos—The Minister for Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, yesterday, assured Nigerians that the proposed Lagos-Ibadan segment of Lagos-Kano rail line project will be ready and operational within the next two and half years. Also to be ready within the projected period, Amachi said is the Port Harcourt-Calabar rail line. Both rail lines will, daily, move thousands of passengers across the affected cities.

ABUJA—Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, yesterday disclosed that the commission has received 32 fresh applications from groups wishing to be registered as political parties. INEC, in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday said: “The commission has been receiving applications from various associations for registration as political parties.

Ekiti State chapter of the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools, ANCOPSS, has appealed to the striking workers in the state to sheath their swords and return to the negotiating table.

THE Senate yesterday condemned last week’s killing of a woman,Mrs Bridget Agbahime, in Kano State by some Islamic fundamentalists and charged the federal government to ensure diligent prosecution of those involved.

THE International Labour Organisation, ILO, has said not less than $10 trillion will be needed between now and 2030 to eradicate poverty in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Ogheye/Ugbege coastline communities in Delta State, have called on the Federal Government and relevant governmental organisations to stop the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, from dredging a canal to link other neighbouring communities with theirs, without recourse to Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA.

AS the strike action embarked upon by workers in Ondo state entered its eighth day today, governor Olusegun Mimiko yesterday appealed to the workers to bear with the state government and resume work.

GENEVA—The Federal Government, yesterday, expressed shock that employers in the financial sector, especially banks, were breaching its directives to stop further retrenchment, threatening to withdraw the operating licence of any bank or telecommunication company in breach.

AWKA — FOR years, road users have been having ugly experience plying the Enugu -Onitsha expressway due to its dilapidated nature. From administration to administration, there had been promises of the preparedness of the federal government to rehabilitate the road. Such promises usually heightened when elections drew near and no sooner would a new government come in than the promise was forgotten.

Widowhood practices, which, to some people, violate the fundamental human rights of women through culturally prescribed seclusion, exist in most parts of Igbo land. In Nimbo, in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, wives of kings mourned their husbands for seven years before they were buried and another one year after their interment.