NEWS
Wike Meets Daewoo Chair, Canvasses Investment in Tourism
By Laide Akinboade, Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Nyesom Wike, has urged the Chairman, Daewoo Engineering and Construction, Jung Won-ju, to invest in the tourism and development of the territory, by constructing a five-star hotel in the city, to compete with other luxury hotels.
Wike made the appeal when the Chairman paid a courtesy visit to the office of the Minister on Thursday, in company of the Managing Director, Daewoo E&C Nigeria, Taewon Jung.
The Minister who noted the relationship between the Republic of South Korea and Nigeria, said his interest as Minister, was to ensure the development of Abuja, and to make it an attractive tourist centre, adding that it was important to concretize discussions on development.
“We are talking about FCT. One of the best things you can do is tourism. And in that case, the only star hotel we can talk about here is Transcorp Hilton. So, there is no competition, nothing. Like I said, it is important that we discuss, and people know that something will come out of that discussion. For me as the FCT Minister, my interest is to develop Abuja, to make it more attractive as a tourist centre.
So, if you say that ‘okay, we want to invest in tourism, we want to build a five-star hotel, what role can you play’? We can say look, to assure you we are ready, we are not going to give you land to sell or whatever, we will give you land. What expanse of land do you need? And then we will ask you, how many years do you think you will be able to develop this five-star hotel? So, these are the things we like to do”.
Wike added that he would liaise with the Korean Ambassador, to schedule a visit to the country and the construction company, to finalise details and “fine-tune” the project for immediate action, while assuring the Chairman that there would be no impediments to the project.
“All those will be taken care of by us. Everything internal; the land, the approvals, everything, you can be sure the moment we sign the memorandum of understanding, and we agree, we will hand it over to you. Any impediment is from you; no impediment will come from us.
We are also going to write to you so that we can concretize. We will make sure that before the end of the year, we should be able to visit Korea, particularly Daewoo. So, we will write to the Ambassador of Korea to let him know, and then write to you as the Managing Director, so we will be able to finetune it. That’s the way I will be happy that there is something we can take home.”
Responding, the Chairman, Won-Ju thanked the Minister for the warm reception, adding that he would ensure that challenges between both countries are promptly addressed, to expedite actions on the partnership between Daewoo and the FCT.
“Even though there will be a lot of challenges for doing business between you and us, somehow, we are ready to overcome every challenge, and our MD of Nigeria here, will fully support the procedure to be realised as soon as possible. We are willing to comply with your demands and your guidance”.
The Police Command in Anambra says gunmen have burnt its station in Umunze, Orumba South Local Government Area, killing two officers.SP Tochukwu Ikenga, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, announced this in a statement issued in Awka on Monday.He said that the gunmen attacked the police facility with improvised explosives, shooting sporadically, which caused a fire to burn part of the station.
He said further that during the attack, two police operatives on duty were killed when they attempted to resist the gunmen. Ikenga stated that the bodies of the deceased policemen had been recovered and taken to the morgue.He also noted that joint security forces, including the police, army and navy, among others, had recovered five unexploded improvised explosives.Ikenga noted that the Commissioner of Police in Anambra, CP Nnaghe Itam, had visited the scene for assessment.He said that Itam called on anyone with information that could assist in the investigation to come forward, assuring then that such information would be treated confidential.(NAN)
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) has reiterated the Federal Government’s determination to maintain and operate a secure and efficient personnel and payroll system.In a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr Bawa Mokwa on Monday, the OAGF maintained that the Integrated Personal and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) database has not been compromised, assuring that employees personal data on the IPPIS database is safe and secured.
The OAGF, which manages the IPPIS and other financial management initiatives of the Federal Government, said it is already implementing its ICT Security Policy that aims to ensure that its digital assets are secured in line with global best practices. The Office explained that no data is saved on its website, adding that the IPPIS uses the website to only share information and not for any transaction. “The IPPIS is not using the OAGF website for any transaction. The website is actually the medium to share information. Neither payroll nor payment is made through the website, therefore, no data is contained in the website”, it said. The OAGF stated that the IPPIS validation portal that was recently developed for updates of employees information was deployed for a period and after the exercise was over, the data were pulled out and the site shut down permanently.According to the statement, “the IPPIS Validation Portal was deployed on a secure platform. A secured database and application were purchased from the popular HELIX-FONS.”The Office acknowledged that the IPPIS is of utmost importance to Nigerian workers, thus it became imperative to assuage the fears of any loss or breach of employees personal data in the IPPIS database. The OAGF noted that the IPPIS has put in place necessary mechanism to resolve any problem that may arise in its operations and advised workers that observe anomalies in their salaries to follow the official procedures inorder to get such issues resolved.
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Nigeria’s headline inflation dropped to 32.15 percent in August, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report
The report released on Monday said the inflation eased the second time in 2024 after a 19 month increase that peaked at 34.19 percent in June.
“Looking at the movement, the August 2024 headline inflation
rate showed a decrease of 1.
It however, said on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.35 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (25.80%).
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in August 2024 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.
e, August 2023).Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.22%, which was 0.06% lower than the rate recorded in August 2024 (2.28%).
” This means that in August 2024, the rate of increase in the average price level is lower than the rate of increase in the
average price level in July 2024.”
The report added that food inflation rate in August 2024 was 37.52 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 8.18% points higher compared to the rate recorded in August 2023 (29.34%).
It said the rise in food inflation
on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of; “Bread, Maize Grains, Guinea Corn, etc (Bread and Cereals Class), Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, etc (Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers Class), Palm Oil, Vegetable, etc (Oil & Fats Class) and
Ovaltine, Milo, Lipton, etc (Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Class).”
But on a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in August 2024 was 2.37 percent, a 0.10% decrease compared to the rate recorded in July 2024 (2.47 percent).
“The fall can be attributed to the decline in the rate of increase in the average prices of Tobacco, Tea, Coco, Coffee, Groundnut Oil, Milk, Yam, Irish Potatoes, Water Yam, Cassava Tuber, Palm Oil, Vegetable etc.”
It added that the average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending August 2024 over the previous twelve-month average was 36.99 percent, which was 11.98 percent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in August 2023 (25.01 percent).
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