The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved contracts to be awarded by the ministries of Aviation and Education with a combined worth of about N21,107,212,510.
The meeting on Wednesday, the first presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari for about three weeks following his trip to the United Kingdom, also approved various contracts for other departments and agencies of the federal government.
Senior Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), Femi Adesina anchored the post-council briefing attended by Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, and the Minister of State for Education, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba at the presidential villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
Sirika revealed that the Council approved four memoranda for his ministry at a total cost of N16,697,742,839.
Giving a breakdown of the projects, he said they include construction of Wachakal Airport in Yobe State at N6.3 billion; post-construction services for the same airport at the cost of N219.8 million; procurement of eight airport rescue and firefighting vehicles at the cost of N9.5 billion; and a contract for the deployment of sniffer dogs to the Lagos and Abuja international airports at the cost of N658.8 million.
He added: “FEC approved four memoranda from civil aviation. One of them is approval for the construction of Wachakal Airport in Yobe State and at the contract sum of N6,284,065,056. Even in our drive to develop the sector and ensure connectivity within our region and also improve on our security architecture and also attend to the various needs of civilization, we found this airport and many others that are coming across the country useful.
“The second was a post-Consultancy Services for the construction of the same airport, Wachakal Air stripe which is very close to Nguru in Yobe state. So, first Consultancy Services is given to Kafe Engineering at the sum of N219,782,500 only. This will include seven and a half per cent VAT.
“The third memorandum that was taken for approval is for the supply and maintenance of eight units of airport rescue and firefighting vehicles including spare parts and training. And this was given to Messers Gulf of Africa International Limited, the exclusive representatives of the OEM and the OEMs are Emirate firefighting equipment factories. This is in the sum of N9,535,132,500 even. This also will include seven and a half per cent and the delivery period for this procurement is 12 months.
“The last memo that was taken from aviation has to do with approval for the award of contract for the deployment of sniffer dogs canine in airports in Lagos and Abuja. We will be continuing with this procurement and other airports as well.
“So, the total contract sum for this procurement is N658,762,783.36 which includes seven and a half per cent VAT.”
In his remark, the Minister of State for Education said the Council approved a memorandum for the ministry in favour of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun (FUPRE), Delta state, for the construction of facilities, including hostels, at the cost of N2.7 billion.
He explained that the ministry got the Council approval to proceed to award contracts at the FUPRE for N2.7 billion to provide hostels, administrative blocks and a new library.
Speaking earlier, Adesina said Council approved contracts worth N1,709,469,671 for four federal agencies including Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
He noted that a total of N187.5 million was approved for the procurement of operational vehicles for the FRSC; a total of N537 million was approved for NEITI’s permanent office building for its head office, and a total of N985 million for the procurement and installation of dual body scanners for four international airports in the country.
He stated: “The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) got approval to procure operational vehicles at N187,469,669.25 and that is to reduce carnage on our roads and to meet its goals of reducing accidents by at least 15% and fatalities by 20%.
“For the Ministry of Health, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in particular also got approval to procure some vehicles for its use.
“NEITI, which is, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative was given the approval to acquire a Permanent Office Building for N537,000,000 to be used as its head office. NEITI has been in a rented place.
“There was also an approval for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to procure and install four Body Dual View Scanners Solution with x-ray management software at Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Kano Airports at N985,000,002.40. You know that NDLEA has been doing wonderful things in recent times.
“Now, it has this approval to install and commission four full-body dual view scanners solution with X-ray management software at those four airports; Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, and Kano.
“For the Ministry of Water Resources, there was approval for the revised estimated total cost for supervision consultancy contract of Ile-Ife Multipurpose Dam Project in Osun State. Those are some of the approvals at the meeting today.”
