Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has lost his father.

Pa Suleimon Atanda Obasa, a businessman, passed on at the early hours of Tuesday at the age of 83.

Baba Obasa, a loving family man and community leader in his lifetime, was a successful businessman in the oil and gas and in the transportation sectors owning filling stations.

He was also reputed for his success in farming, through which many citizens have always been empowered.

A devoted Muslim, Pa Obasa dedicated his life to the service of Allah and mankind taking care of the needy and the less privileged.

He is survived by his wives, children and grandchildren among whom is the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

His remains would be interred at 4pm in the Agege (Old Abeokuta Motor Road) area of Lagos State, according to Islamic rites.

The Nigerian high commission in London, United Kingdom (UK), has accumulated £8.4 million as unpaid congestion charges.

According to a datasheet released by Transport for London (TfL), the sum is related to unpaid fines and fees that diplomats racked up between the beginning of the congestion charge in 2003 and the end of the previous year.

The TfL is in charge of managing the city’s transport network, which includes the tube, buses, trams, cars, bikes and river services.

A daily fee of £15 is imposed for driving within a designated area of central London between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays and noon and 6 p.m. on weekends and bank holidays.

There are discounts and exemptions for various groups of people and vehicles, such as residents, taxis, and fully electric cars.

TfL insisted that the payment is a service charge, despite diplomats’ claims that the congestion charge is a tax and they are therefore exempt from paying it under the Vienna Convention.

“This means that diplomats are not exempt from paying it,” the body said in the datasheet.

“The majority of embassies in London do pay the charge, but there remains a stubborn minority who refuse to do so, despite our representations through diplomatic channels.”

According to TfL, the envoys representing different countries owed over £143.53 million in congestion charge payments.

The embassies of the US and Japan are the worst offenders, with debts of £14.6 million and £10.1 million, respectively.

India is in third place with £8.5 million, while Nigeria stands in fourth.

Other countries on the list include Russia, China, Poland, Ghana, Kenya, and France.

The five-page document listed Togo as the country with the least charges at £40.

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) managing director, Akintunde Sawyerr, states that federal tertiary institution students will be given priority when the programme is implemented.

The student loan re-enactment measure was signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on April 3, several months after the initial enactment was condemned for its onerous criteria.

May 24 is the day that the student loan portal is expected to be operational.

Students from federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education whose data has been uploaded by their institutions can start applying on May 24, according to Sawyerr, who made this announcement on Monday at a news conference in Abuja.

“This student loan scheme is available to students who are in government institutions at the tertiary level,” he said.

“It’s generally for those who are attending or have placements at universities, polytechnics, technical colleges, and colleges of education that belong to the government.

“To begin with, we’re going to start with federal institutions because it’s a programme that we have to roll out in phases.

“It will eventually be rolled out to state-owned institutions, and as you will discover, we will also begin a programme on loan provision for those who want to acquire vocational skills of vocational qualifications.”

Sawyerr noted that the fees being paid through the loan would be sent directly to the institution and not the student.

He added that it would be paid per session and not all at once.

“We’ll pay a session at a time because people drop out of institutions, they change institutions, and they change their minds about the courses they want to do. So we will limit our risk by just paying for that one session,” he said.

“We will also make a monthly payment to the individual who’s studying because there’s a recognition that just paying the fee alone may not be sufficient.

“That figure for this will be capped, and we will look very closely at each application and then make a decision based on a number of factors.”