News
Kopek vows not to compromise quality, as Moniya-Iseyin road project reaches 40% completion
Kopek Construction Company, handling the reconstruction of Moniya-Iseyin road, on Wednesday reassured that it will not compromise quality and standard to get the job done.
Kopek, also confirmed that work on the 65-kilometre Moniya/Ijaiye/Iseyin road in Oyo state, has reached 40 per cent completion.
It will be recalled that the immediate past government of Senator Abiola Ajimobi had in February 2018 awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of the road at the cost of N7 billion, out of which N2 billion was paid to the contractor who could not deliver on the terms.
Governor Seyi Makinde had to revoke the contract after lamenting the slow pace of work and shoddy job being done.
According to the state government, through its Commissioner for Works and Transport, Prof. Raphael Afonja, the reviewed road reconstruction work would cost N9.9 billion, noting that several key components in the road project had been upgraded for it to be qualitative, long-lasting and fitted to serve the state better.
Addressing journalists during an inspection tour of the road project on Wednesday, the Project Manager, Engr. Paul Chamoun assured that despite COVID-19 impacts and the unfavorable weather due to rains, work is progressing at the project site. He maintained that the project which was awarded in January, 2020 is billed for completion in twelve months without compromising its quality.
Reacting to the impacts of COVID-19 on the ongoing road project, Chamoun lamented, “‘truly, COVID-19 deadly pandemic has disturbed our planning for sure just like everybody in all the world. 4-5 weeks that we stopped, the problem was that it was in the dry season, so if you want to count it per day (5weeks), we say its only like 40 days. But, 40 days or 30 days in dry season, its not like the 40 days in the rainy season; because what we can achieve in 40 days that we stopped, you can consider it as 2 months during the rainy season.
“You know we cannot work everyday with the same pace of work that will be achieved on a daily basis as planned because of the rain. And, as everybody knows, we are concern with the quality, we are not going to compromise with the quality. So, if there is rain and there are some jobs or activities that cannot be done because it will affect the quality, we will not do it.
“Before COVID-19, my target was to finish as planned, based on that, we have mobilised. With this our plan, we will finish in twelve months. You know that the job is 65km, it is not a small job at all. COVID-19 came, it was unplanned and unexpected, we have lost more than one month and after that, the rainy season, who knows later on what will happen? Now, I have doubled my efforts to compensate the days that were lost”.
He continued, “you know the percentage can be varied. If you want to take it as money or you want to take it as completion of works because there are some items that will take too much time like the concretes. It is less in money than the asphalt.
“The asphalt is very fast and the money is more. We are working on items that will take time and the other one will be more easy for us. Now, we are at 38% of completion of works and by God’s grace, we will reach 40% next week (July Ending)”.
The Project Manager, however informed that Kopek will be responsible for the maintenance of the road, at least for twelve months, after commissioning.
“God forbid, if something happens, it will show on the road, during this one year of maintenance, and we will fix it. Almost 6 months of rainy season, 6 months of dry season, all the possible cars and transport will pass on this road. As everybody knows, Kopek will not compromise with the quality. At the end of the day, we are taking care of the maintenance for one year, so its not nice to compromise now and repeat the job again”, he explained.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has made headlines by announcing a further reduction in the price of diesel, dropping it from ₦1200 to ₦1000 naira per litre.
The refinery’s decision comes on the heels of its recent supply at a significantly reduced price of ₦1200 per litre, which was introduced three weeks ago, signifying a remarkable 30 per cent decrease from the previous market price of approximately ₦1600 per litre.
This substantial reduction in diesel prices at Dangote Petroleum Refinery is expected to reiterate positively throughout various sectors of the economy, potentially serving as a catalyst in alleviating the persistently high inflation rate in the country.
In a statement last week, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest individual and the owner of the refinery, expressed his optimism regarding the potential impact of the price reduction on inflation in Nigeria.
“I believe that we are on the right track. I believe Nigerians have been patient, and I also believe that a lot of goodies will now come through. There’s quite a lot of improvement because if you look at it, one of the major issues that we’ve had was the naira devaluation that has gone very aggressively up to about ₦1900,” he remarked.
As anticipation builds around the implications of this move by Dangote Petroleum Refinery, stakeholders and consumers alike remain hopeful for the positive effects it could bring to the Nigerian economy in the coming months.
More than 50,000 Russian military personnel have died during the Ukraine conflict, the BBC reported Wednesday, citing its own reporters, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers.
They found that more than 27,300 Russian soldiers died during the second year of the war, a 25-percent increase on the first year.
BBC Russian, Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022, using open-source information from official reports and the media, as well as using satellite images of Russian cemeteries to estimate the number of new graves.
The figure of more than 50,000 is eight times higher than the official toll acknowledged by Moscow in September 2022. It does not include deaths of militia in Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine said in February that it had lost 31,000 soldiers, but that figure is also likely to be significantly lower than the true toll.
Russian losses spiked in January 2023 as it launched a large-scale offensive in Donetsk and again months later last year during the battle for the city of Bakhmut.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” at dawn on February 24, 2022, which has since turned into a bloody and attritional war, isolating Russia from the Western world.
Responding to the report, the Kremlin said it did not disclose any information on military deaths and casualties, which falls under the remit of the defence ministry.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added official secrets laws and those covering what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine meant it was “absolutely understandable” that the ministry did not release the figures.
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has disclosed that 95 million Nigerians need to enroll for the National Identification Number (NIN) to meet its target of 200 million enrollments by 2025.
Kayode Adegoke, Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, emphasised the importance of this enrollment during an interview on X over the weekend.
He stated, “For NIMC to meet the 200 million target by 2025, 95 million Nigerians need to register for the NIN.”
Adegoke revealed that over 105 million NINs have been issued to Nigerians and legal residents so far.
He assured Nigerians of the commission’s commitment, saying, “We want to assure Nigerians that within the next one or two years, we will reach our target of enrolling all Nigerians.”
“The NIN serves as a unique identifier for each citizen and has become increasingly important for various government initiatives aimed at improving security, governance, and service delivery.”
Adegoke highlighted the efforts to streamline the modification and enrollment processes under the leadership of Abisoye Coker, the director-general of NIMC. He announced the development of a self-service platform, allowing Nigerians to make necessary modifications such as changing names, dates of birth, email addresses, and phone numbers from anywhere, using different devices.
Emphasising the convenience of the self-service modification portal, Adegoke encouraged Nigerians to utilize this innovative solution.
He noted the evolution of the process, citing the past requirement for applicants to visit NIMC offices for data corrections.
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