By James Ogunnaike

ABEOKUTA—Two persons, yesterday, lost their lives, while three others were injured in an accident that occurred at 8 am around Isara Remo, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

The lone crash, which was blamed on excessive speed, involved a Toyota car with a number plate, TTD985AA.

Spokesperson of the Ogun State Sector Command of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Florence Okpe, who disclosed this in Abeokuta, said the injured victims were taken to Victory Hospital, Ogere while the corpses were deposited at Isara General Hospital morgue.

She said: “The crash occurred at about 0800hrs on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. A total of five persons were involved, which comprised three male children, one male adult and one female adult. Three persons were injured (a female adult, a male adult and a male child). Two people were killed (male children), and a vehicle was involved with number plate, TTD985AA, a Toyota car.”

Oil market: Bonny Light price drops further to $78.19 per barrel

By Mariam Eko

THE price of Nigeria’s Bonny Light, yesterday, dropped further to $78.19 per barrel, from more than $80 per barrel, in the global market.

The current price showed an excess of only $0.23 per barrel when juxtaposed against the $77.96, benchmark for the 2024 budget, which was based on 1.69 million barrels per day, bpd.

Oil had risen more than 2% on Monday as attacks by the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militant group on ships in the Red Sea disrupted maritime trade and pushed up costs of supply.

According to Reuters, a Norwegian-owned vessel was attacked in the Red Sea on Monday and oil major BP said it had temporarily paused all transits through the water. Other shipping firms said over the weekend that they would avoid the route.

It maintained that Brent crude futures were up $1.91, or 2.5%, to $78.46 a barrel by 1:35 p.m. ET (18:35 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.73, or 2.4%, to $73.16.

Both crude benchmarks posted small gains last week, following seven weeks of decline, after a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting raised hopes that the U.S. central bank’s interest rate hikes are over and cuts are on the way.

“There are now the increased supply costs to consider as a growing number of oil tankers are halting all sails through the Red Sea strait,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at Stone.