By Abdullahi Muhammed, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N292 million for the purchase of 21 operational vehicles for the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said the memo seeking the approval was presented to the council by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha on behalf of President Buhari.
“The SGF on behalf of Mr. President also presented a memo which was approved seeking Council’s approval for the purchase of 21 operational vehicles for the Federal Road Safety Corps in favour of Messrs Pan Nigeria Ltd in total sum of N292.615 million.
“The purpose of the memo is to enhance the operational capability and capacity of the Corps so that we can stop the carnage on our roads and also secure our roads better.“The unique thing about this memo is that these vehicles are being sourced from one of our local assemble plants, Peugeot Nigeria Ltd in Kaduna,” he said.
The minister said N654 million naira was approved for the rehabilitation of screening machines used at various airports across the country.“The Minister of Aviation also presented a memo seeking approval for the rehabilitation of the various screening machines nationwide at the cost of N654 million.
“You would notice that with the incident of COVID-19 pandemic, a new protocol sanctioned by IATA and other Aviation authorities has now come into our airports which entails more of social distancing. So, you need more points to screen passengers and their luggage.So, this is what has necessitated for the rehabilitation of those screening machines that have broken down.”The minister said the council also approved an augmentation of N788 million for the completion of Abeokuta-Ibadan road, linking Ogun and Oya States, South-West Nigeria.“Also, on behalf of the Minister of Works and Housing, I want to report that his memo for the completion of the rehabilitation of the Abeokuta-Ibadan road, a distance of 72 kilometres was approved today.
“It was a memo asking for augmentation by N788 million to bring the project cost to N4.78 billion plus six months extension time for construction. So, we hope that by 2021, this road will be completed. You need to note also that this was a contract that was awarded in 2010 but due to paucity of funds and other constraints, we have to take it over,” he said.
Furthermore, Mohammed disclosed that one hundred and eighty-three million naira was approved for the completion of engineering designs for the construction of Kabusa District housing scheme, Phase III, Abuja.“I will say this on behalf of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration whose memo for the award and contract of the final design of engineering infrastructure and production of tendered documents for Kabusa district phase three of the FCT, Abuja an area of about 850 hectares which will be mixed use of both private and government, residential and offices. It was approved for the sum of N183, 709, 480, 50k to Messrs Techno Engineering and Consult Limited,” he said.