The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved memoranda for N26.06 billion contracts to execute projects in the Federal Ministries of Works and Housing, Aviation, and Justice.
The ministers in charge of the affected ministries announced this while addressing State House Correspondents after the 14th virtual Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The ministers, who were led to the post-meeting briefing by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, highlighted the contents and values of the memoranda they presented to the Council.
Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola said: “The Ministry of Works and Housing presented a memorandum to Council for the Gadan Zaima-Zuru-Gamji Road in Kebbi State for two approvals.
“The first was to ratify the emergency works that were undertaken over seven kilometers in 2019 at N1.145 billion, and then to approve the award by the same contractor to now complete the balance of 55 kilometers, which was approved also at N10.589 billion.
“So, just by way of emphasis, we did an emergency seven kilometers out of 62 kilometers. Because it was an emergency, we need to come for ratification, which was given. We now got approval to award the remaining 55 kilometers so that we can complete the road which was also given.”
Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika said he got an approval for the upgrade and refurbishment of the safe tower equipment in four airports: Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
“This is just to increase the efficiency of the airports and reduce the workload in the control tower and to automate what was hitherto an analogue system to digital. The total contract sum is N13.122,230,999.17. This is in two parts.
“The first component, which is a foreign component, is €28,489,565m; the naira component is N3.491,504,488.31. Of course, there will be 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT). It will be completed in 12 months,” he said.
Attorney General and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, said his office got an approval for a memorandum to buy accommodation for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
According to him, the property is located at Plot 1123-1129, Cadastral Zone 0607, at Aviation Village, Airport Road, Abuja, and it will cost N1.20 billion.
“The council eventually considered the memo and gave approval for the agency to acquire the property for a consideration of N1,196,000,000, inclusive of 7.5 per cent VAT, with a delivery period of four weeks,” he said.
Also, the FEC ratified a $3.1 billion anticipatory approval by President Buhari for the modernisation of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, announced this on Wednesday while addressing State House Correspondents after the FEC meeting.
The minister said the project was awarded to E. Customs HC Projects Nigeria Limited for a concessionary period of 20 years.
“The main objective of this project is to completely automate every aspect of the Customs business and to institutionalise the use of smart and emerging technologies that will enhance the statutory function of the NCS in revenue generation as well as trade facilitation and enhancement of security,” she said.
Ahmed added: “The Bionica Technologies West Africa Limited, Bargain Securities and Supplies Nigeria Limited are lead sponsor and co-sponsor. We also have The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as the lead financier and Huawei Technology as a technical service provider.
Communications and Digital Economy Minister, Isa Ali Pantami, said the FEC had directed that all ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) should use Galaxy Backbone for upgrade and digitisation of ICT facilities.
Giving details of the memo he presented, the minister said: “What the memo speaks about is the need to upgrade and be more alive to digital transformation in our activities.
“We have seen how COVID-19 pandemic brought about the need to be conducting activities virtually and today we have attended the 14 virtual executive council meeting and this is unprecedented. We have been pushed by necessities to virtual activities.
“So, most importantly our presentation here is about upgrading our ICT infrastructure and secondly directing institutions to patronize Galaxy and thirdly to show to us the commitment of the federal government towards promotion of our government digital services and this is in summary of what the memo is all about.”
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