Headline
JUST IN: FG Orders Installation Of CCTV On Nine Highways
Published
4 months agoon
By
EditorThe Minister of Works, David Umahi, has directed the installation of closed-circuit television cameras, solar lighting, and security on nine highways franchised to private investors under the Highway Development and Management Initiative.
He also inaugurated three committees to fast-track the implementation of the initiative, according to a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media Orji Uchenna, on Tuesday.
The PUNCH reports that in May 2023, the government reached an agreement to leverage private-sector investment to improve facilities and operations on selected routes and revenue generation of over N11.54 trillion in the 25-year concession period.
The programme, which is a Public Private Partnership arrangement in the construction, operations, and maintenance of highways, is designed in such a way that the concessionaires will recoup their investments through toll and non-toll revenues as may be negotiated.
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However, eight months after the approval was given, the contractors have yet to proceed to the site, infuriating the minister at a meeting with directors last week.
He said, “This issue has lingered for four years and six months now but this January, we must conclude everything about the successful companies this month. Those companies who are jokers will be taken out. if we have one or two serious contractors, we engage them to take over the project site.”
But speaking during the event held at the ministry headquarters in Abuja, Umahi harped on the need for the committees to work effectively and concertedly bearing in mind the expectations of Nigerians, in terms of transparency, standard, and efficiency in contract negotiations.
He also directed a review of the scope of work and cost implications to accommodate current economic dynamics and the new policy direction of the present administration and charged the concessionaires to abide by the criteria set and the timeline for the projects.
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He said, “We own the design, you will own the cost of the project while we carry out verification on the cost of the projects; the idea is to scope the projects. We want to have a standard road infrastructure to toll.
“Our business is to ensure that your design conforms with the ministry’s standard of design, that is why we are making the Director of Roads and Bridges of the ministry the Chairman of the Committee on Scoping and Design. We don’t want to do just a patch on the road and give it to the public for you to toll. The public will resist. We want to have a standard road to toll.
“We have to provide an alternative road because by law you cannot toll road if there is no alternative route to it. Every one of the projects must have alternative routes. The number of toll gates and toll stations will be determined by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
“We also have to put CCTV Camera, Solar Light and Security on our roads. Whatever that will make our roads safer is very important to us. All these must be considered part of the business.”
According to the statement, the three committees set up by the minister for the actualisation of the HDMI programme are, “Scoping and design, financial and the due diligence and agreement review committee.”
While constituting the Due Diligence Committee, the minister said, “We must have a figure to begin to work with under the Due Diligence Committee, we want to hand over all these sites to people who are serious by the end of March 2024. Enough of these meetings, enough of the bureaucracy.“
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Headline
Google To Offer AI-generated Answers In Search Results
Published
35 mins agoon
May 14, 2024By
EditorGoogle has announced it would introduce AI-generated answers to online queries made by users in the United States, in one of the biggest updates to its search engine in 25 years.
“I’m excited to announce that we will begin launching this fully revamped experience, ‘AI overviews,’ to everyone in the US this week,” Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said at an event in California on Tuesday, May 14.
Google’s search results will feature an AI summary at the top of the page before the more typical unfurling of links.
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The AI answers generated by Google’s Gemini technology will offer succinct summaries of what it found on the internet with links to the online sources that supplied the information.
“You can ask whatever’s on your mind or whatever you need to get done – from researching to planning to brainstorming – and Google will take care of the legwork,” said Google Search team boss Liz Reid.
The change comes as Google feels growing pressure from AI-powered search engines like Perplexity, and from the rumors that OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is building its own AI search tool.
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Searches through AI chats have also appeared on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with users able to get information from the web without Google.
The change will soon spread to other countries, Pichai added, making it accessible to more than a billion people.
Headline
College Volleyball Player Killed In US Nightclub Shooting
Published
42 mins agoon
May 14, 2024By
EditorAlbany State University volleyball player Mariam Creighton has been tragically killed in a nightclub shooting in Atlanta.
Atlanta Police Department said on Tuesday, May 14, that the incident happened around 2:28 AM on Sunday, May 14, when officers responded to shots fired at the Elleven45 establishment.
Six people were shot, two of whom were pronounced dead at the scene, Creighton and 20-year-old Nakyris Ridley.
The police department said in a statement;
READ ALSO: Nigerian Burnt To Death In Bangkok Car Crash
“Preliminary investigation indicates the shooting occurred during a physical dispute at the location that escalated to gunfire.”
Creighton was a member of the ASU Golden Rams volleyball team, and was one semester from graduating from the HBCU with a biology degree.
Her family said she was at the club on Sunday celebrating her niece’s birthday. “It’s just senseless,” Creighton’s sister, Tiffany, said. “My sister was just out having a good time, and now our lives are just altered forever.”
A 35-year-old Nigerian man identified as Daniel was burnt to death in a car accident in Bangkok, Thailand.
Bangkok’s Prawet Police Station, confirmed the identity of the Nigerian national in a statement on Tuesday, May 14, 2024,
Daniel, whose Thai wife came to confirm his identity with the police, died on Saturday, May 11, when his car crashed into a road median and caught fire.
This serious road accident occurred at 5:30 a.m. on a three-lane road near Soi Phatthanakan 53/1, Suan Luang Subdistrict and District, Bangkok.
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When officials received the report and arrived at the scene, they found a gray Toyota Vios with Samut Prakan province license plates overturned and engulfed in flames, blocking the middle of the road.
The officers spent about 10 minutes spraying water to extinguish the fire, but the car was completely damaged by the flames.
At that time, rescuers had to use cutting and prying equipment to remove the driver’s body from the wreckage and send it to the Police Hospital for an autopsy. They found a document with a front-facing photo of a foreign man.
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Eyewitnesses stated that they saw the car driving at high speed in the far right lane before losing control and crashing into the road median.
The car spun and hit a palm tree with such force that it flipped over and ended up on its roof in the middle of the road.
At that moment, good Samaritans tried to pry open the door to help the unconscious driver, but before they could pull him out, sparks ignited, and the car quickly caught fire.
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