The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved N7,499,603,500 for an irrigation project augmentation in Adamawa State and surveillance equipment for two airports in the country.
Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika announced this while addressing State House correspondents after the weekly virtual FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The minister said the council approved N1,499,603,500 for surveillance equipment at Kaduna and Port Harcourt airports.
“The approval is for the award of contracts for the design, supply and maintenance of mobile surveillance observation systems with remote controlled licence. These are for the airports in Port Harcourt and Kaduna and it will continue to other airports progressively,” he said.
Sirika also said the council approved that Nigeria enters into a Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with Canada.
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“The approval we got was for the signing of Bilateral Air Service Agreement between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the government of Canada. This is in accordance with the Chicago Convention to which both Nigeria and Canada are signatories.
“The highlights of the Bilateral Air Service Agreement between us and Canada involve the granting of rights and privileges as well as the designation of airlines’ authorisation, withholding, revocation, suspension and limitation of authorisation, application of national laws and regulations.
“Other components are: safety standards certificate and licences, aviation security, Customs duties and other charges, statistics pricing and general terms and conditions of carriage, availability of airports and aviation facilities and services, capacity, airline representatives, ground handling, sales and transfer of funds, consultations, amendments therefrom, settlement of disputes, entry into force, among others,” he said.
Also, Water Resources Minister Sulieman Adamu said the council approved the augmentation of N6 billion for the Chochi irrigation project in Adamawa State.
“This project started in 1988 during Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) era to provide 1,200 hectares of irrigation at Chochi in Yola, Adamawa State. Unfortunately, it has suffered a lot of setbacks.
“First of all, following the dissolution of PTF, it was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and was kept in the cooler for about eight years before it finally emerged in 2006 and re-awarded to the same company, Impressive Bacolori. But in subsequent years, it has suffered so many things.
“There has been a lot of encroachment in the area because it’s outside the Yola town – in between Yola and Jimeta. Buildings have sprung up, filling stations, and so on and so forth. This, of course, is at several points to redesign the project.
“Now, we are poised to complete it. And one of the key issues is that the project is based on pumping. At the time it was awarded, diesel was very cheap. But now diesel is so expensive,” he said.