The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Thursday, affirmed a judgment barring the Directorate of Road Traffic Services and Vehicle Inspection Officers from stopping motorists, confiscating vehicles, or imposing fines on road users.

In a unanimous decision, a three-member panel held that there was no basis to overturn the Federal High Court’s ruling of October 16, 2024, which prohibited VIO officials from harassing motorists.

The appeal filed by the VIO was dismissed for lacking merit in the lead judgment delivered by Justice Oyejoju Oyewumi.

Justice Nkeonye Maha of the Federal High Court had earlier ruled that no law empowered VIO officials to stop, impound, confiscate, seize, or impose fines on motorists.

The ruling followed a fundamental rights suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1695/2023, filed by public interest lawyer Abubakar Marshal.

Marshal told the court that VIO operatives forcefully stopped him at Jabi District on December 12, 2023, and confiscated his vehicle without lawful justification.

He asked the court to declare their actions wrongful, oppressive, unlawful, and a gross violation of his fundamental rights.

In granting the reliefs sought, Justice Maha restrained the DRTS, its agents, and assigns from impounding or confiscating vehicles or imposing fines on motorists, describing such actions as oppressive and unlawful.

The court also issued a perpetual injunction preventing further violations of Nigerians’ rights to freedom of movement, presumption of innocence, and the right to own property.

The judge held that only a court of competent jurisdiction could impose sanctions or fines on motorists.

She further ruled that the respondents had violated the applicant’s constitutional right to own property under section 42 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The court held that the respondents lacked statutory powers to impound vehicles or impose fines, stressing that doing so breached motorists’ rights to fair hearing, freedom of movement, and presumption of innocence under Sections 6(6)(b), 36(1), 36(8), 36(12), 41 and 42 of the Constitution, as well as Articles 2, 7(3), 12 and 14 of the African Charter.

Marshal, represented by a legal team led by Femi Falana (SAN), had sought N500 million in general and aggravated damages and an apology in three national newspapers.

The court instead awarded N2.5 million in damages.

The respondents included the DRTS, its Director, the Abuja Area Commander, identified as Mr. Leo, the team leader, Solomon Onoja, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, they lodged an appeal, which the Court of Appeal dismissed on Thursday, thereby affirming the lower court’s decision.

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed that two persons lost their lives in a multiple accident involving 11 vehicles along the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway on Wednesday.

The Sector Commander of FRSC, Enugu State Command, Franklin Agbakoba, confirmed the incident to newsmen in Enugu shortly after rescue operations by operatives of the corps.

Agbakoba said that no fewer than nine males got injured as a result of the multiple accident, which involved 30 people comprising 26 males and four females.

He said that the multiple accident happened at about 11:45a.m within the Port Harcourt bound axis of the expressway and precisely within the New Garki axis of the road in Enugu State.

The sector commander said that the multiple accident involved four trucks, two trailers, one sienna, one tipper, one Hiace bus, one Mini-Bus and one Jeep.

According to him, within 10 minutes of the unfortunate incident, officers and men of the FRSC Ozalla Unit Command stationed along the road and started the rescue operations.

“The injured victims were taken to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu and the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ozalla by the FRSC Zebra 32 Ambulance team stationed along the expressway.

“Also, the obstructions were cleared by the FRSC and the Enugu State Traffic Management Authority (ESTMA) towed the trucks.

“The FRSC Unit Commander, Ozalla; the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Ozalla and military men coordinated the rescue operation,” he said.

The sector commander said that causative factors that led to the multiple accident included speed and route violations and loss of control.

A Nutrition Specialist with UNICEF Nigeria’s Bauchi Field Office, Philomena Irene, said 106,248 children in Gombe State have received UNICEF’s Small-Quantity Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements (SQ-LNS) between 2023 and 2025.

Irene stated this on Wednesday during a virtual meeting with journalists in Gombe.

The meeting followed journalists’ field visits to Kwami and Kaltungo Local Government Areas to interact with beneficiaries of the Progressing Action on Resilient Systems for Nutrition through Innovation and Partnership (PARSNIP) project.

The project, implemented by the Gombe State Government and UNICEF with support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, aims to prevent malnutrition among children under five.

Irene said no fewer than 20,347 caregivers had been counselled and trained under the PARSNIP project on the effective use of Mid-Upper Arm Circumference tapes and proper Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) practices.

She added that the training was designed to strengthen caregivers’ ability to monitor children’s growth, detect malnutrition early and adopt optimal feeding practices to improve child nutrition and health outcomes.

“The specific objectives of the PARSNIP project are to improve IYCF practices for better prevention, enhance early detection and referral of malnutrition through routine screening, and strengthen treatment services at community and facility levels.

“The project also builds government-led nutrition systems, promotes multisectoral collaboration across health, WASH and agriculture, and supports innovative, resilient approaches that ensure nutrition services continue effectively even during shocks,” she said.

The State Nutrition Officer, Muhammad Bawa, described the project as a huge success considering the number of children whose health had been improved and strengthened with essential nutrients.

Bawa said the partnership between the state government and UNICEF had contributed significantly to addressing malnutrition in many communities while also reducing mortality rates.

He added that although the project was currently implemented in three LGAs, Dukku, Kwami and Kaltungo, plans were underway to scale it up to more LGAs as part of the state’s sustainability strategy.

Bawa also commended the Gombe State Government for recently paying N500 million as counterpart funding to strengthen the fight against malnutrition.

Some beneficiaries of the PARSNIP project in the Malam-Sidi community in Kwami LGA said that the intervention had saved their children from malnutrition.

Hussaina Bappayo, a mother of two, described the supplement as “a wonder supplement” that every child should receive to support healthy growth.

She said her child’s health had improved tremendously since she began using the supplement, a sentiment shared by Asmau Tella, another mother in the community.

Tella said her daughter was frequently ill and suffered recurrent diarrhoea before she introduced SQ-LNS into her meals. “All that stopped when I started giving her the supplement,” she said.

According to the mothers, many women in the community began rushing to the health centre for the supplement after witnessing improvements in their children.

They added that they had saved significant amounts previously spent on medications for recurrent childhood illnesses.

They appealed to the state government, UNICEF and other partners to replenish the supply at their health centre, noting that “demand is now very high and we are currently out of stock.”

SQ-LNS are nutrient-dense food pastes designed to prevent malnutrition in young children (6–23 months) by providing 24 essential micronutrients and macronutrients.

The supplements can be consumed directly from a sachet or mixed with food, supplying vitamins, minerals, energy, protein and essential fatty acids.