The Ebonyi Government has released the sum of N1.5 billion to settle arrears of pension and gratuities owed state and local government retirees from 2006 to 2017, a top government official has said.

Mr Samuel Okoronkwo, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abakaliki.

Okoronkwo said that government accorded the welfare of retired workers of the state top priority and as such, would ensure that retirees’ benefits were paid regularly as a way of enhancing their living standard.

The Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu, has been named “Outstanding Citizen of the World Year 2017” by Enugu City Centre Rotary District 9142.

According the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the District’s President, Mr Okezie Nwanjoku, who made this known in Enugu on Tuesday, said the award would be conferred on Ekweremadu on December 2.

Nwanjoku said that deputy senate president was adopted after a vigorous screening of 150 people shortlisted from across the world.

According to him, the award is given by a credible committee and not influenced by wealth or other primordial consideration.

“If one of the members of the committee vetoed the choice, then there will be no award. The committee was unanimous in its decision,” Nwanjoku said.

He pointed out that Chief Arthur Eze won the award in 2015 while the candidates nominated for 2016 were vetoed by members of the committee.

The district president also said that the club would also unveil its over N50 million service projects for 2017/2018.

Nwanjoku said that the service projects would tackle its aims and objectives of economic and social empowerment of the people.

“Our empowerment is not to give people fish, but to teach them on how to catch fishes,” Nwanjoku, a legal practitioner, said.

FCT Minister Malam Bello Muhammad has revealed that residents of the Federal Capital Territory may begin to pay for infrastructure as tremendous amounts of money is needed for same which the government could no longer sustain.

Muhammad said this on Tuesday while on an inspection tour of ongoing road projects by the FCT, being executed by Gilmort Engineering Ltd in Abuja.

He said, tremendous amounts are needed for the provision of infrastructure in many of the districts of the FCT.

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the payment of N164,763,759 for the tuition fees of 106 Chibok girls that have regained freedom from the Boko Haram terrorists.

This was contained in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu.

According to the statement, the money is meant for the second semester school fees of the Chibok girls at the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

Igbinedion University, Okada, headquarters of Ovia North-East Local Government Area, Edo state on Saturday announced that it is awarding automatic employment to graduates sponsored by the Presidential Amnesty Programme and also those who made second class upper degrees in the 2016/2017 academic session.

The Niger Delta Amnesty Programme was initiated by the Umaru Yar’Adua administration in 2009, as part of efforts to disarm restive youths in the oil region.

The Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) has expressed concern over the resurgence of strikes at vulnerable targets by Boko Haram in the North East.

NLC President Ayuba Wabba, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, described the killings as reprehensible.

“The Nigeria Labour Congress wishes to commiserate with the government and people of Adamawa State over the killing of 50 worshippers in Mubi by a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber.