NEWS
Enugu Govt. Approves N183bn for Construction of 161 Roads
The Enugu State Government has approved N183 billion for the construction of additional 141 roads across Enugu metropolis and 20 rural roads in the three Senatorial Districts.The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, disclosed this while briefing newsmen at the end of the State Executive Council meeting held at the Government House, Enugu on Sunday.
Onyia further disclosed that the council also approved the award of 133 Smart Green Schools, in addition to the ongoing 127 smart schools, bringing the number to 260. He said that the projects were in furtherance to Gov. PeterMbah’s determination to grow the state’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.According to him, the measure will lead to achieving a zero per cent poverty headcount index and also place the state as the premier destination for business, investment, tourism, and for living in four to eight years.“Recall that before now, the state’s total budget hovered around N100 billion and N120 billion with capital expenditure of about N30 billion or capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 25 to 35 per cent.“However, in keeping with Mbah’s promise to de-risk investments, boost production, and run a lean and prudent government, the governor proposed an unprecedented N521.5 billion in the 2024 budget with a capital expenditure of over N400 billion.“This is an equivalent of capital expenditure to budget ratio of about 80 per cent and recurrent expenditure ratio of about 20 per cent.“If you recall, we started with 71 urban roads and 10 rural roads last year.“Now, the governor and the Executive Council have also approved 141 urban roads and 20 rural roads,” he said.The SSG said that the proposed road projects were part of the strategies to improve the quality of life in the rural communities and importantly de-risk investments in agriculture.“Outside security, which we are effectively dealing with, the big elephant in the room is to scale up the production and movement of produce from farmlands to the market.“We also understand the need for processing, hence the heavy investments in road infrastructure,” Onyia said.Giving a breakdown of the roads, the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr Gerald Otiji, said the roads covered in the phase included the dualisation of the 41.3km Abakpa Nike-Opi-Nsukka Road with bridges and dualisation of Penocks Junction-Nike Lake road to T-Junction Flyover.Others are Nomeh-Mburubu-Nara Road with two bridges, Umabi-Ehuhe Achi with a spur to Agbudu-Ihe-Owelli-Ogugu by Enugu-Port Harcourt Old Road, Nomeh-Oduma Road, Mburubu-Nkereffi Road, and Amodu-Akpugo Road.The rest are Iheaka-Ibagwa Road, Ibagwa-Itchi-Unadu-Alor Agu-Ibeje Road, Amagunze-Ihuokpara-Ugbawka Road with a bridge, Obeleagu Umana (Nkwo Ezeagu)-Omughu Umana-Aguobu-Umumba and Nara-Nkerefi Road with a bridge, among many others.Otiji further said that in selecting the roads for construction and reconstruction, the government was deliberate in ensuri
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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