The recent statement by the Minister of Sports and Youth Development that officials of the national U-23 football team are engaged in human trafficking because he was not briefed before the team set out on the trip to the United States has drawn the ire of some football stakeholders.

SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday, accused the Federal Government of not taking steps to address agitations of oil producing communities in the country.

BENIN—A cooking gas explosion in Benin, Edo State capital, in the early hours of yesterday left three persons dead, with 12 others lying critically ill at a medical facility in the state.

SUSPECTED militants in a twin attack, yesterday, bombed two oil installations belonging to an oil exploration company, near Batan community in Delta State.

ABUJA—President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, expressed worry over the delay tactics adopted by judicial officers and lawyers to stall progress in the dispensation of justice, especially in the ongoing fight against trials of corruption suspects.

BAKASSI- THE Bakassi Strike Force, BSF, a militant group reported to have taken over Bakassi and Akpabuyo Local Government Areas in Cross- River State have denied the allegation, saying that the Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, was being misled by his aides. Leader of the militant group, also known as Humble Marine Force, comprising agitators from Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, self-styled Gen Simply Benjamin, told Niger Delta Voice at their den in the creeks of the state: “It is unfortunate that Governor Ben Ayade is accusing us falsely.

A NEW non-invasive treatment approach that is suitable for drug addiction, chronic depression, migraine, schizophrenia, sleep problems, anxiety and series of mental health illnesses is now available in Nigeria and West Africa. It is estimated that globally 121 million people suffer from clinical depression. Out of these, 48 million are Nigerians. But despite extensive psychotherapeutic and pharmacological medical care approaches, many patients of mental illnesses continue to suffer while the burden on the health care system increases.

Global oil markets are heading towards a long-awaited equilibrium, according to updated supply and demand data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

LAGOS—FOLLOWING the reopening of investigation into the murder of the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige and ex-Deputy National Chairman (South-South) of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Aminasoari Dikibo, police authorities have commenced moves to re-arrest some of the principal suspects in the unresolved murders.

WARRI—SEVEN Gbaramatu-Ijaw host communities to Chevron Nigeria Limited, in Delta State, yesterday, gave the oil company a 72-hour ultimatum to ensure the release of five pipeline surveillance workers, arrested by the military last Friday, on the allegation that they were members of the militant group, Niger Delta Avengers, NDA,which has resumed attack on oil installations in the region.

ENERGY firms, comprising oil, gas and power companies, got a total of N3.799 trillion credits from banks as at March 31, 2016, according to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

German police shot dead a 17-year-old Afghan refugee late Monday after he attacked train passengers with an axe and a knife, seriously wounding three people in what one official said was a “probable” Islamist attack.

Delta State Government has commenced the opening of surface drains and tunnels in some designated points in Asaba and its environs, warning residents against building on natural water channels.

Nigerians have been warned against the danger of consuming expired rice and alcoholic drinks smuggled into the area through the land borders.

Despite the growing pipeline bombings by militants in the Niger Delta region of the country, Business Monitor International, BMI, sees a positive increase in the country’s oil production by 2.52 million barrels per day, b/d, in 2018, up from 2. 31 million, b/d, in 2016. The report attributed the rebound to what it called ‘sanctioned projects’ initiated in the industry.