FEC Approves N30bn Roads To Niger Republic, Accident Bureau Refurbishment
Contracts for the construction of two roads totalling N30 billion to ease trade and business activities between Nigeria and the Niger Republic were Wednesday approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Fashola said the rehabilitation of the roads is to enable business activities across borders adding that “ It will improve trading and this will be a huge boost for businesses between the two countries” The second contract is for the 50-kilometer road from Kunya in Jigawa State to the Niger Republic border, and it will be constructed by Mothercat civil engineering firm at a cost of N19.76 billion.
The contracts were part of strategies to implement the administration’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), to boost trade and economy, especially given the international commercial activities in those areas and also in preparation for the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) recently signed by Nigeria to promote trade among African countries.
The Council also on Wednesday approved the extension of contract services for Kontagora irrigation project in Nigeria State by three years at a cost of N734.5 million. The project was started in 1987 but abandoned until resuscitated recently, according to the Ministry of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who briefed the press on the approval.
“The Ministry presented one memo to the Council. This memo was seeking an extension to the consultancy services related to Kontagora/Auna Dam and Irrigation Project.
“This a legacy project that we revived in 2017/2018 and since, revised it for an extension of time.
“Accordingly, the Council approved the extension of the services of the consultants by three years in the total sum of N734.5 million. That was our presentation today. Kontagora/Auna is in Niger State.
FEC also approved the refurbishment of the new headquarters of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) in Abuja at the cost of N591.8 million according to Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who also disclosed that his Ministry gpt approval for contract for the construction and equipping the AIB’s training school, also in Abuja for N645.4 million.
The Minister disclosed that the AIB headquarters which hitherto had been located in Lagos has been moved to Abuja after upgrading the Abuja office to the status of the national headquarters.
“We had one memo today at the Council and it has to do with the refurbishment of the Accident Investigation Bureau’s Office, here in Abuja and the establishment of the training school for accident investigation, also here in Abuja.
“Accident Investigation, of course, they are like the pathologists of Aviation. Their job is to investigate accidents and incidents and review preventing its happening again.
“The contract sum for the construction of the school is N645, 453,627.80. For the refurbishment of the office, it is N591,857,050.39. It was taken and approved.
“The sum is inclusive of the equipment in the laboratory, it has laboratory components and these equipment are from their manufacturers, through the representatives of those manufacturers.
“They will be certified by International Civil Aviation Organization and the NCAA, which is the regulator of the industry in Nigeria.
The Minister of Mines and Steel, Olamilekan Adegbite, presented to FEC a report card of his Ministry and parastatals for the first 100 days; while his counterpart in the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, did the same. This has been the practice for Ministries created in the second term of the Buhari presidency.
Adegbite said the Ministry’s core mandate include to drive industrialization, stop the exportation of raw iron ore, adding that “ We are trying to encourage downstream policy to create jobs by adding values to our natural resources.
The Minister who announced that the Ministry generated N5b in 2019 as against N3b in 2018, revealed that community agreement is now necessary to do mining in Nigeria.
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