At least five people were killed on Saturday following a deadly explosion at a residential building used for the illegal storage of petroleum products in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State. The tragic incident has once again highlighted the severe risks associated with illegal refining activities.

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) confirmed the explosion and subsequent fire at the site, where illegally refined petroleum products, including condensate, were being stored for resale. The blast occurred late in the morning around 11:00 AM, engulfing the building in flames and killing four women and one man, all burnt beyond.

Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has stated that the problem of Nigeria is political parties.

Her outburst comes following the incessant defection from other parties to the All Progressive Congress, APC.

Ezekwesili emphasized that Nigeria has a faulty foundation and defecting from one political party to another which she described as ‘acronymn’ won’t solve the problem.

Her words,”Can I tell you that political parties has been part of the problems of our elite failures because we really havent had political parties in Nigeria.

We have political platforms, God bless the spirit of someone who used exactly that name for me. They are platforms where individual interest are negotiated.

“We are yet to control the ideology of having real political parties driven by the sense of nation building.

“And then if I ask you again and you say your common identity is APC, I can well tell what will happen because what would happen is that a new set of operators wants to control.

“We have a faulty foundation. When you have a structural problem, you have to find structural solutions.

“Just merely changing acronyms and doing the migratory dance that happens between one set of acronyms and another set of acronyms does not solve the problem of the 50 something years of failure since our independence.”

King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah set a new record by handling over 5.3 million passengers during the five-week peak Umrah season, from March 1 to April 5 (Ramadan 1 to Shawwal 7).

According to Eng. Mazen Johar, CEO of Jeddah Airports Company, the airport successfully executed detailed operational plans that helped streamline Umrah procedures and significantly cut waiting times, accommodating the surge in pilgrim arrivals.

During this period, the airport managed 31,500 flights and processed approximately 6.4 million bags, marking a major achievement in its operational performance.