All shops and markets at Obollo-Afor, Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State were shut yesterday, as traders staged a peaceful protest against alleged selective collection of a N25,000 haulage levy in the market.

The traders, who locked their shops and took to the streets in large numbers, carried placards with various inscriptions, alleging that the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS) had singled out Obollo-Afor Market for the collection of N25,000 haulage fee on every truckload of goods loaded or offloaded in the market.

However, Chairman of ESIRS, Emmanuel Nnamani, in a letter to the traders, said the haulage levy was not paid by traders buying or selling goods in the markets, but was applicable strictly to truck drivers plying interstate routes.

Addressing officials of the Udenu Local Government Council at the council secretariat, where the protesters marched to present their grievances, Chairman, Obollo-Afor Market Traders Association, Charles Eze, lamented that truck operators bringing foodstuffs, building materials, and other commodities to the market had stopped coming because of the levy.

The Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) data has shown Nigeria’s average daily oil production fell by four percent in July, 2026.

According to the NUPRC, Nigeria produced 1.505 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and 0.17 million bpd of condensate, bringing the combined daily production to 1.67 million bpd.

The commission said the country met and exceeded its Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quota of 1.5 million bpd for the third consecutive month.

“In the month under review, the daily peak production of crude oil and condensate was 1.78mbpd, while the lowest daily production was 1.57mbpd.”

The Federal Government has approved tax waivers for almost 4,000 electric vehicles imported into Nigeria in the first half of 2026.

Government data reviewed by Reuters in a report on Wednesday showed that the approvals represented the first batch processed under a new government initiative designed to encourage the adoption of cleaner vehicles through tax incentives and local vehicle assembly programmes.

The move signals an intensification of Nigeria’s efforts to shift part of its transport system away from petrol and diesel vehicles, even though the country’s electricity supply remains far below the level required to support large-scale electric vehicle adoption.

Nigeria’s 2022 Energy Transition Plan targets electric vehicles accounting for 60 per cent of the country’s vehicle fleet by 2050. However, the country is still at the early stages of the transition.

Official data on the current number of electric vehicles on Nigerian roads is unavailable, but dealers cited by Reuters estimated that EVs account for less than one per cent of the country’s vehicle fleet, translating to only tens of thousands of vehicles.