NEWS
We’re Strongly Committed to Providing Affordable Housing in Nigeria — FHA MD
The Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority(FHA), Mr Oyetunde Ojo, has expressed the firm resolve of the agency to provide affordable housing for Nigerians.
Ojo made this known on Tuesday when he paid Gov. Alex Otti of Abia a visit in Nvosi, Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area.
He described the shelter as “extremely key” in the lives of people, because after the day’s work everyone must retire to a place for the night.
According to him, provision of affordable housing remains the key mandate of the agency.
He said that research had shown a serious deficiency in the availability of affordable housing for the citizens and the Federal Government was making efforts to address it.
Ojo said that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government provided for the operation of a housing initiative.
He said that the initiative would be used to address the affordable housing deficiency in the country.
Ojo said that executing housing schemes without participatory involvement of the people would not adequately solve the problem.
He added that it was essential to build houses that would adequately meet the peculiar and cultural needs of the people.
Ojo said that under his watch, state governments would be actively involved in the execution of federal housing schemes in their states.
“We don’t just want to take land from you, rather we want to sit down with you and redesign together on the kind of housing that will be in line with their needs and preferences of the people of Abia,” Ojo said.
He said that provision of infrastructure and affordable housing were effective strategies for enhancing deflation.
Ojo said that the housing sector held a lot of potential in creating jobs and the President had deemed it fit to pump in money into this sector to tackle inflation.
He said that the housing project would be handled by local contractors in the state to ensure that the project did not fail.
Ojo also said that the agency was focused on building something called ”a City in a City” basically meant to make affordable housing available for people in diaspora.
“We want to synergise with Diaspora Commission, Tourism and Abia Government to execute this project, so that people outside could buy this property.
“We are going on digitalisation whereby Abia people abroad buy a property in their state from their phone,” Ojo said.
Responding, Gov. Otti thanked the Federal Government for the decision to ensure that Nigerians have shelter.
The governor said that plans were underway to commence a housing scheme aimed at providing affordable housing for the people of Abia, especially people in the diaspora.
He also said that the government had already gotten the location for a housing project tagged ‘Diaspora Village’.
“Our agenda for evolving the ‘Diaspora Village’ project and provision of affordable housing aligns perfectly with the agency’s vision,”Otti said.
He commended the agency for its efforts to ensure active involvement of the government and people of Abia.
Otti further commended the agency for opting to use local contractors for the execution of the project, because in the past it was used for political settlement.
“We are very much open to partnering with the federal government on increasing affordable housing for the citizens,” he added.(NAN
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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