NEWS
Borno ‘ll not Participate in Nationwide Protest – Stakeholders
Borno citizens on Wednesday resolved that people of the state would not participate in the planned August 1, nationwide protest over hardship.
Report says that they made their position known during a stakeholders’ meeting held in Maiduguri.
They resolved that the state had suffered over a decade of insurgency and would not allow its people to be drawn into any protest.
Speaking at the meeting, Gov.
Babagana Zulum said the state had gone through a lot to attain relative peace and should not allow anything that could be hijacked by enemies of the state to promote another round of violence in the state.He noted that during the height of Boko Haram insurgency, over 200,000 persons were killed with the same number still unaccounted for, but nobody protested.
“We gradually overcome the challenges through the help of God Almighty as well as the Federal Government and the resilience of our people,” he said.
Zulum urged the people of Borno in particular and Nigeria in general to appreciate the measures being taken by the government like the removal of tariff and distribution of palliatives as part of many commitments in the pipeline to address the hardship.
He noted that the hardship was not peculiar to Nigeria, warning that taking rash actions like protest would not bring better results.
“Our youth as the backbone of the society need to be guided by their conscience through constructive engagement,” Zulum said.
In his contribution on behalf of traditional and religious leaders, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garbai-El-Kanemi, said: “Borno is now one of the peaceful states in Nigeria and should maintain that status.”
Garbai-El-Kanemi said traditional rulers would continue to mobilise their subjects towards lasting peace in Borno.
The Speaker of Borno House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdulkarim Lawan, who spoke on behalf of lawmakers in the State and the National Assembly, said lawmakers from the state were against any protest.
“To us in Borno, any protest now is a distraction from our rebuilding process.”
In his remarks on behalf of Christians, the Borno branch Chairman of Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop John Bakeni, advocated for dialogue, pointing out that “what dialogue didn’t achieve, violence can’t achieve it.”
Bakeni, however, advised leaders to do everything possible to ensure justice in the course of leadership for the needed peace to regn in the society.
Contributing on behalf of the Military, the Theatre Commander, Operations Hadin Kai, Maj.-Gen. Waidi Shuiabu, recalled that many lives were lost to insurgency and appealed to all to work towards consolidating the relative peace in the region.
He said the military and other security agencies were committed to providing security for more people to engage in farming activities across the state.
Speaking on behalf of the Police and other paramilitary organisations, the Borno Commissioner of Police, Mr Yusuf Mohammed, said the police had identified about five groups sponsoring the protest nationwide.
He said the command in Borno had arrested one of the suspects deployed to Borno to mobilise protesters.
NAN reports representatives of other groups who spoke at the meeting and called for dialogue include; Borno Elders Forum, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Students’ Union, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
Others are; National Council of Women Society (NCWS), National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Borno Chambers of Commerce. (NAN)
NEWS
Gunmen Attack Police Station, Kill 2 in Anambra
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)NEWS
IPPIS Data Base not Compromised, OAGF Assures Employees
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.NEWS
Again, Inflation Drops to 32.15% in August
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).