The Federal Executive Council (FEC) led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday approved the sum of N33.8bn for the installation of baggage handling systems, Disabled Aircraft Recovery System and total radar coverage modernisation for the Lagos, Abuja airports and the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, respectively.
This was part of the total of N47bn approved by the FEC for various contracts to be awarded by the Ministries of Aviation, Ministry of Works and Housing and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who spoke with State House Correspondents at the close of the FEC meeting, said the Ministry of Aviation had submitted three memos to the Council which were approved.
He said, “Today, the Council received three memoranda for civil aviation and they were all approved. Memo number one is for approval of a contract for the supply and installation of baggage handling system at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos and the total contract sum is N3,615,265,710.69, inclusive of the 7.5 per cent VAT, with the completion period of 12 months.
“The contractor is Messrs Gulf of Africa International Limited, who are exclusive representatives of the original equipment manufacturer. The OEM is Messrs UVS Systems Company, a company that is located in Istanbul, Turkey. The funding was found and appropriated and Council consequently approved.
“The second memo from us in Aviation is approval for the award of contract for the manufacture, supply, installation and operating training of Disabled Aircraft Recovery System at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.”
According to Sirika, the DARS is to be applied in the event that there is an aircraft “occupying the runway or any other area of operations, so the special equipment will be used to remove that aircraft from that place and free it for our own operations.”
He said the contract sum is N2.21bn, inclusive of 7.5 per cent VAT. This was awarded to Messrs. Globsley Project Limited. The Original Equipment Manufacturer representatives are Messrs AMS Aircraft Recovery Limited.
“The third memo is approval for the award of contract for direct procurement, installation and commissioning of the total radar coverage modernisation for the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency and this contract is in two parts and the total is €14,428,218.17, which is equivalent to N28,039,080,799.40.
“The contractors are Messrs. Talas, who had been on the project and supported by Intelligent Transportation Systems Limited and Messrs. Softnet Systems Nigeria Limited. The OEMs are Messrs Talas Systems of France and Messrs. HM Global of Germany,” the minister explained.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, who spoke on the memos approved for other ministries, revealed that FEC approved a contract for the construction and furnishing of a new Senate Building and 1,000 capacity conference centre at the University of Abuja.
The contract approved for award to Messrs Hilkam Engineering Consultancy Limited is at the cost of N2,354,247,466.76.
The approval for a new 1,000 capacity conference centre at the University of Abuja came on the heels of the recent abduction of six persons by armed men at the school’s staff quarters in the early hours of Tuesday.
Adesina added, “There was also the approval of another memo presented by the Minister of Power for the award of 400kw PV power plant at Federal Medical Center, Jabi, Abuja at the cost of N768,906,174.71 to Stallion Trading and Construction Company Limited.
“There was also an approval for the Minister of Works and Housing for the award of contract for the rehabilitation of Sokoto – Ilela (Nigeria) Birnin Konin (Niger Republic) Road in Sokoto State at the sum of N8,450,829,974.95 to Messrs Amirco Universal Concept Limited.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, revealed that the Council approved N1.55bn for the procurement of 46 operational vehicles for the Nigeria Customs Service.
“Today, the Council approved the procurement of 46 units of vehicles. These are for operational and administrative use by the Nigeria Customs Service. This was awarded to Messrs Elizade Nigeria Limited at a total cost of N1,554,200,000 and this amount is inclusive of 7.5 per cent VAT.
“Recall that the last set of procurement of vehicles that was done for Customs was 2017 and 2020, and in 2020 we did see a whole lot of huge seizures that were made by the Nigerian Customs and also the performance in terms of revenue.
“Even with 2021, up till August, they have overperformed the prorated rate of the target that they were given. So, the Council believes that by the provision of these additional vehicles, it will also help in enhancing, not only their effectiveness but their efficiency and more revenues will be generated,” he said.
