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Tag: FEC

  • FEC approves N35.9b for roads in six states

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved road contracts worth N35.944 billion in six states, bringing to 16 roads the number of roads the council approved in recent times.

    Barely three weeks ago, the council approved N169.74 billion contracts for the construction and rehabilitation of 10 roads across the country.

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN), explained that the projects would restore the nation’s road network as part of the implementation of the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

    The beneficiary states in the latest approvals during the last FEC meeting include Kebbi and Zamfara, where a N3.813 billion contract was approved for the rehabilitation of Birnin-Yauri-Rijau, Magajiya to Daki-Takwas Road; Akwa Ibom State, where a N1.1 billion contract was approved for the construction of Atan Ikot Okoro road with a bridge in Esssien Udim Local Government Area and Ebonyi State, where a N3.071 billion was approved for the reconstruction of Oso-Owutu road.

    For Benue State, a contract of N27.3 billion was approved for the rehabilitation of Makurdi-Naka-Adoka eoad Phase 1.

    The other approval was for Kano State, where N676.2 million was approved for the completion of Wudil-Utai-Achika-Darki-Jegaware road, whose contract was first approved in 2012 by FEC at N4.4 billion.

    The approvals, which followed two memoranda submitted to the council by the minister, showed that the Makurdi-Naka-Adoka road Phase 1 in Benue State will be rehabilitated by Messrs Gilmor Engineering Nigeria Limited in 42 months.

    The Kebbi/Zamfara road will be handled by Messrs H&M Nigeria Limited in 12 months; that of Akwa Ibom State by Messrs Raycon and Company Nigeria Limited in 28 months, and that of Ebonyi by Messrs Sabtech Towers Nigeria Limited with a completion date of 18 months.

    According to the second memorandum, the completion of work on Sudil-Utai-Acika-Darki-Jegaware road in Kano State, which contract was first approved by FEC on November 14, 2012 for N4,393,730,153.20, involves the rehabilitation of approximately 23-kilometre single carriageway road and construction of a bridge with a completion period of 24 months by Messrs Birak Engineering and Company Limited.

    But completion was stalled due to limited budgetary allocations in the preceding fiscal years.

  • FEC okays N970.2m for provision of barracks for Nigeria Customs

    The Federal Executive Council(FEC) on Wednesday approved the sum of N970.2 million for the proving of residential accommodation for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The meeting lasted late into the night.

    Ahmed said that the accommodation was important because the NCS, being a para-military organisation, was trying to ensure that its members of staff were kept in barracks.

    “The Nigeria Customs got approval today for acquisition of residential accommodation for the staff of the service.

    “What the Customs is acquiring is an estate that has a total of 42 flats and the total cost is N152 million per block of six units.

    “The approval that we got today is in the total sum of N970.2 million inclusive of VAT.”

    She said that the NCS, in its desire to upgrade its services to international best practice in information and communication, also got an approval to procure modern communication gadgets.

    She listed some of the gadgets as HF radios, BHF radios, walkie talkies, cable towers and accessories.

    The minister said that the gadgets were necessary for the Nigeria Customs to enhance its end to end encryption of messages delivery to avoid tapping by unscrupulous elements, smugglers and their cohorts.

    “The need has become necessary because of increased onslaught by the service on smuggling and other illegal economic activities.

    “The contract that was approved is in the total sum of N247.907 million inclusive of five per cent VAT and the equipment will be delivered within a period of eight weeks.’’

    Ahmed said that the third paper that was approved for the ministry was an automation project that it had been working on for a very long time.

    According to her, the Project Lighthouse is an initiative of the Ministry of Finance—a data warehousing system that is integrating different tax related data for the purpose of accurate and effective revenue assessment.

    She said the project would also serve in the determination of assets and income status for both corporate and individual taxpayers.

    “It will help us improve on our tax revenue collection efforts both at the federal and states level.

    “The total project cost is in the sum of N710 million,’’ she said.

    On his part, FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello, said that FEC approved the award of contract for the construction of a secondary road linking the town of Dangara to Yaba within Kwali Area Council of FCT.

    He said that the road was a continuation of the administration’s infrastructure development which covered the city itself and the surrounding satellite towns.

    Read Also: Ministry, Customs to create special tariff for vessel acquisition

    Bello said that the contract was awarded in the sum of N1.8 billion inclusive of five per cent VAT and timeline of 18 months.

    The minister said that contracts were also awarded for supply of equipment and purchase of water tanker for some agencies under the FCT.

    “The second projects is a project for the supply of heavy-duty equipment for use by the Development Control Department of FCT under the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council.

    “These equipment are used by the Development Control to effect needed adjustments to buildings and structures that have contravened set regulations particularly the Abuja MasterPlan which we all know is something that we guard jealously.

    “The contract is at the cost of N147.2 million

    “The third approval was for the purchase of water tanker and water tenders-four each for the FCT Fire Service.

    “ It is meant to improve the complement of equipment and facilities that they have so that they will be in a better position to react to fire incidences so that there will minimal loss of life and damage to property,’’ he said.

    Bello said that third approval was for the sum of N725 million

  • FEC approves N169.74 contracts for 10 roads nationwide

    The Federal Executive Council has approved the award of contracts worth N169.74 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of 10 roads across the country just as the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) stated that the projects would enhance Federal Government’s objective of improving transportation infrastructure and restoring the nation’s road network to support the federal government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

    The approval, which was sequel to a memorandum presented to the Council by the Minister on May 2nd, 2019, covers the rehabilitation of the Umuahia(Ikwuano)-Ikot Ekpene road, Umuahia, Umudike in Abia State,  rehabilitation of Calabar-Oban-Ekang road (section1) in Cross River state, construction of Yola-Fufore-Gurin road in Adamawa state, rehabilitation of Ado-Ekiti -Igede-Aramoko-Itawure road in Ekiti state and Rehabilitation of Funtua-Dandume-Kaduna state and Border road in Katsina state.

    Others, according to the memorandum, are the rehabilitation of Makurdi-Gboko-Katsina-Ala road (Yandev-Katsina-Ala Section) in Benue state, rehabilitation of Old Enugu-Onitsha Road (Opi junction-Ukehe-Okpatu-Aboh Udi-Oji to Anambra border), rehabilitation and dualization of the 74KM (Approximately) Aba-Ikot Ekpene road in Abia/Akwa Ibom States, construction of 4 kilometre township road in Gaya Local Government Area of Kano state and rehabilitation of Billiri-Filiya-Taraba state border Road in Gombe state.

    Stating that his Ministry, towards the realization of Federal Government’s objectives of restoring growth and investing in the people, decided to initiate the new road reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in some states of the Federation to open up settlements, provide access for evacuation of goods and services as well as improve the socio-economic lives of the people within the stretch of the different communities in the project areas, Fashola said the projects would  create  between 2000 to 2500 jobs with 90 per cent of the jobs for Nigerians and 10 per cent for expatriates.

     

  • FEC holds valedictory session May 22

    President Muhammadu Buhari will on May 22 for a valedictory session for members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), Information, Culture and Tourism Minister Lai Mohammed said yesterday.

    The valedictory session is part of the winding up of the first term of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    The President secured a second term mandate in the February 23 general election, defeating Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with over three million votes.

    He will be inaugurated on May 29 for a fresh four-year term.

    Announcing the programme, Mohammed said a valedictory session with FEC members has been scheduled for the last Thursday preceding May 29.

    The minister, who spoke after the weekly FEC meeting, said the President enjoys the liberty to dissolve his cabinet at any time.

    He said the President had asked the FEC members to prepare their handover notes and submit same to permanent secretaries in their respective ministries before the administration winds down completely.

    Mohammed said: “It is, therefore, inaccurate to extrapolate from my statement – that’s the FEC valedictory session will hold on 22 May – to say that the President will dissolve the cabinet on the same day. They do not mean the same thing.”

    President Buhari, on April 17, directed ministers to immediately submit a comprehensive status report of their policies and projects on or before April 24 to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

    A statement by the President’s Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, had said: “As the first term of the President Buhari administration winds down, the President has asked for a comprehensive ‘status reports on policies, programmes and projects’ from cabinet members on their respective ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

    “These reports have Wednesday, April 24, as the deadline for submission to the Presidential Audit Committee in the office of the Vice-President.

    “A circular to this effect issued by Boss Mustapha, the SGF, also requested members of the FEC to ensure that all outstanding memoranda they intend to present to the Council are submitted to the Cabinet Affairs Office, Office of the SGF, not later than Tuesday, April 30.

    “The circular also informed members that the “9th and 10th meetings of the Council have been rescheduled to Thursday, April 25 and Thursday, May 2, respectively, in view of the Easter break and May Day celebrations.”

     

  • FEC okays N2.8b contract for digital decongestion of prison

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved N2.8 billion  contract for digital decongestion of prisons.

    The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami briefed State House correspondents at the end of a meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He was with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, Minister of State Aviation, Hadi Sirika, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, and Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello.

    From the click of a button, Malami said that the stakeholders would be able to assess the daily situation of inmates in every prison in the country.

    The information to be obtained, according to him, include how many inmates in a prison on a daily basis, how many inmates have overstayed their sentences etcetera.

    Stressing that the system is to be operated by Prison staff, he said that it will also involve capturing the biometric of prison inmates across the country.

    He said: “At a point, it was said 70 percent of prison inmates across the prison formations in the country were awaiting trails. Arising from these concerns, the Federal Government has been working to come up with policies, legislation and associated programmes that are targeted at decongesting the prisons.

    “One of the policies put in place was the legislation of the criminal justice act, which has partially succeeded in addressing decongestion to an extent.

    “Recall that Mr. President had put in place an adhoc committee under the chairmanship of FCT Chief Judge, Justice Ishaq Bello, to move around the prisons in the country, look at the conditions and come up with suggestion.

    “So, we are also aware that by the Constitution, Mr. President is vested with the prerogative of mercy targeted at setting free inmates that satisfy certain conditions.

    “Arising from this, the office of the attorney general presented a memo today, which is web-based automated inter-connectivity system, which is a digitalised way of decongesting the prisons.

    “The idea is to digitally connect all the prison formations to the office of the attorney general of the federation, the police, prison service and indeed selected courts.

    “The essence is to have an idea on the daily basis what obtains at our prisons across the nation. So, at a glance at a click of the button, one can access what obtains at the prisons across the country,” he said.

    He added: “For instance, who is going to court today, who is being released today, those that have been in prison longer than their years of sentence, who is in prison that is not meant to be there?

    “This will aid stakeholders in decision making on a daily basis through digital process of inter-networking. This is against an adhoc committee moving across the country to have physical presence in prisons,” he stated.

    On allegations by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that Federal Government is plotting to reverse Rivers S/Court judgment, Malami said that it was freedom of speech taken too far.

    Malami said: “Regarding that was levelled against me by PDP, I think it remains an accusation. It has to remain so until proven through a judicial process.

    “But for me I think it is freedom of speech that has been taken too far.” he said.

    Udoma said that the Federal Government’s N24.38 trillion debt stock was sustainable.

    He said: “With regards to our debts, our debts are sustainable. We do have a revenue challenge and we are focusing on that. Once the revenues come up, it will be obvious that we don’t have a debt problem at all.

    “We are working on a number of initiatives to increase our revenues. We are looking at initiatives to widening the tax payers’ net. We are looking at initiatives to increase efficiency in collections.

    “We are looking at a single window, which will help to increase efficiency, custom collections. We are looking at many different ways to improve revenues.

    “The debts are sustainable, every nation borrows. We are working on increasing our revenues,” he added.

    Read also: FEC approves N2.8 billion digital prison decongestion contract

    Udoma said that the executive arm of government is happy with the focus of the National Assembly on the 2019 Appropriation bill.

    “With regard to the budget, we are happy to see the focus of the National Assembly on the budget and we look forward to whenever it’s passed and the executive receiving it.”

    He also said that FEC approved two contracts under the national social investment programme.

    “Both of them are under N-Power Built programme. The  N-Power Built programme is a non-graduate  programme that seeks to deliver accelerated training and certification skills to 75,000 Nigerians between ages of 18-35 years old.

    “It aims to build a high crop of highly competent and skilled workforce of technicians, artisans and service professionals, who will be trained and tooled and transitioned annually to take up jobs as electrical installation technicians, plumbing and pipe fitting installers, mason, carpentry and gentry experts, welders, fabricators, professional painters, built technicians and so on.

  • FEC approves N594m contracts for FCT water board, fire service

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a memo for the award of contract for supply of water and field for the  Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Water Board at the sum of N368 million including five per cent VAT.

    The FEC also approved another contract for the supply of 500 firemen suits for the FCT Fire Service at the sum of N226 million including five percent VAT.

    The FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello, disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing State House Correspondents after the weekly FEC Meeting which lasted about four hours at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Bello said council also approved two memos for the FCT.

    The first memo, he said, was for the award of contract for the supply of water and field for the Abuja Water Board at the sum of N368 million including five percent VAT.

    ” The second memo is the contract for the supply of 500 firemen suits for the FCT Fire Services at the cost of N226 million including five per cent VAT,” he said.

    He said council also approved the sum of N491.7 million for the procurement of Memory Access Retrieval System to enhance safety.

    Also addressing newsmen, Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said the contract was to ensure safety and security of air travellers inline with President Muhammadu Buhari’s main thrust in the  Aviation sector.

    ” It will enhance our laboratory in accident investigation. It is a requirement of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in their standard practices and applicable by local laws,” he said.

    The council also considered and approved a memo presented by the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, for the award of contract for the digital process of inter-networking to track the duration of inmates with the aim of decongesting the nation’s prisons at the sum of N 2billion.

    Malami said: ”The essence is to have an idea of what obtains in our prisons across the nation on daily basis, so that at a click of the button, one can access what obtains in the prisons across the country.

    “For instance, we will know who is going to court today, who is being released, those that have been in prison longer than their years of sentence, and so on.

    ”This will help stakeholders in decision making on a daily basis through digital process of inter-networking”.

    Malami noted the idea was to ensure easy way to decongest the prisons across the country.

    ” At a point, it was said that 70 per cent of prison inmates across the prison formations in the country are awaiting trails, arising from these concerns.

    ”The Federal Government has been working to come up with policies, legislation and associated programmes that are targeted at de-congesting the prisons.

    ” One of the policies put in place was the legislation of the Criminal Justice Act, which has partially succeeded in addressing decongestion to an extent.

    “The idea is to digitally connect all the prison formations to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, the police, prison service and indeed selected courts.” (NAN).

     

  • FEC okays N5.5 billion to create 60,000 jobs

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved N5.5 billion  for the creation of 60,000 jobs.

    The contract, under the N-Power Knowledge Multipack project, is to train 12,000 youths between 18 and 25 years old.

    The 12,000 youths will in turn be empowered to train additional youths, bringing the total beneficiaries to 60,000.

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, briefed State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, the contract, which was awarded under the Social Investment Programmes, will make provision of N259,000 each for training the youths and N207, 000 each for their tools.

    He said: “One of the projects approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) today is knowledge, youth and empowerment programme. Now, this programme targets 12,000 young Nigerians of between the ages of 18to 25 years. It is meant to give them trainings and devices.

    “The trainings intend to transform the 12,000 beneficiaries from unemployed, under-employed trainees to employed citizens and entrepreneurs.

    “It will deliver to 12,000 beneficiaries informed trainings which will enable beneficiaries build and imbibe technical proficiency such as assembling, repairs, maintenance as well as technology skills and digital literacy across a wide range of electronic brands, products and technology which can be grouped into three areas – mobile devices, computing devices and commonly used electronic devices irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds.

    “It’s a programme that is open to all unemployed youths across the six geo-political zones. Each of the 12,000 targeted beneficiaries will be empowered to train 5,000 youths via a training platform which means they will need to translate the jobs to 60,000 additional jobs because each of the 12,000 is empowered to train five other youths via a training platform and engage them on his or her platform.

    “The project is awarded to Messrs Softcam. It’s of nine months’ duration. Softcam will be working with officials of Social Investment Programme.

    Read lalso: FEC approves N6.17bn for dualisation of Ikot-Ekpene-Aba-Owerri Road

    “It will cost N259,000 per youth for the training and N207,000 for work tools. Thereafter, once they are trained, they will set up their businesses. Each of the 12,000 beneficiaries will set up his/her business. The cost is N5.595 billion.

    “The idea is to ensure that our youths are trained and capable of handling all these electronic equipment, ” Udoma said.

    The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed said $6.8 million loan was approved for rebuilding of the Northeast.

    Hajia Ahmed said: “As at December 2018, the National Assembly had approved the Issuance of Promissory Notes to two (2) creditor categories from the Programme:

    1. Refund to 21 state governments for projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government (Refunds to 4 States – Bauchi, Delta, Kogi and Taraba, were not approved) (N488,743,526,204.77).

    “ii. Payment to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) for Fuel Supply Accrued Interest and Foreign Exchange Differentials (N348,003,054,975.00).

    Note: Subsequent to the submission of this Memo to Council, NASS approved the following additional items:

    • Refund to two (2) State Governments (Delta and Taraba States) – N90,236,461,031.36;
    • Payment for six (6) Contractors – N206,065,107,252.69; and,
    • Payment of Exporters Claims under the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) Scheme – N195,089,234,808.63.

    “Purpose of the Council Memo

    To seek Council’s approval for the following: i. Appointment of Transaction Parties for the Programme

    1. To incur a total estimated cost of N689.96 million (including Fees and Expenses to the Transaction Parties) in implementing the Programme and that the funds be sourced from proceeds of FGN Securities Issuance.

    “Appointment of Transaction Parties and the Procurement Process

    1. Three categories of Transaction Parties are to be appointed for the implementation of the Programme. They are: i) An International Accounting Firm operating in Nigeria (for verification of the liabilities); ii) Financial Advisers (for the structuring of the Promissory Note); and, iii) Legal Advisers (for legal advisory services and litigations that may arise).

    Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing Mustapha Shehuri said the Council approved N6.17 billion for the augmentation of the contract for the construction of Ikot-Ekpene border-Aba-Owerri road, Section 1, Phase 1.

    He said that the contract was awarded in 2012 but the augmentation had to come following observations by the contractor.

    He said: “FEC has given approval for the augmentation of contract for construction of Ikot-Ekpene border-Aba-Owerri road, Section 1, Phase 1 and the length is 11.26km.

    “The contract was awarded in 2012 to Arab Contractors at the cost of N3.78b; it came up for augmentation because the contractor actually observed some failures in the contract around some sections of the road.

    “Actually, it is a one lane but with the augmentation now, it will be dualised; the contract period in 12 months; the cost after augmentation is now N6.17 billion,’’ he said.

    The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Aisha Abubakar, said that FEC approved the revised estimated total cost for the completion of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development Headquarters in Abuja.

    She said that the building was initially conceived to be the National Children’s Library and Resource Centre approved in 2006.

    The 20 new completed projects including erosion and flood control works, he said, are located in Bauchi, Yobe, Ekiti, Kano, Nasarawa, Benue, Katsina, FCT, Jigawa and Kebbi states.

    The Minister of Mines and Steel, Bawa Bwari said that FEC approved N486.9 million for mining drilling equipment.

  • FEC approves N6.17bn for dualisation of Ikot-Ekpene-Aba-Owerri Road

    The Federal Executive Council ( FEC ) on Wednesday approved the sum of N6.17 billion for augmentation of the contract for the construction of Ikot-Ekpene border-Aba-Owerri Road, Section 1, Phase 1.

    Alh. Suleiman Zarma, the Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Zarma said that the contract was awarded in 2012, but the augmentation had to come following some observations by the contractor.

    “FEC has given approval for the augmentation of the contract for construction of Ikot-Ekpene border-Aba-Owerri Road, Section 1, Phase 1 and the length is 11.26km.

    “The contract was awarded in 2012 to Arab Contractors at the cost of N3.78bn; it came up for augmentation because the contractor actually observed some failures in the contract around some sections of the road.

    “Actually, it is a one lane, but with the augmentation now, it will be dualised; the contract period is 12 months and the cost after augmentation is now N6.17 billion,’’ he said.

    On her part, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, said that FEC had also approved the revised estimated total cost for the completion of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development Headquarters in Abuja.

    Read Also: FEC okays N5.5 billion to create 60,000 jobs

    Abubakar said that the building was initially conceived to be the National Children’s Library and Resource Centre which was approved in 2006.

    The minister, however, said that the design was contrary to the guidelines of the Abuja Master Plan which stipulated that the development of the Central Business District should have a minimum of five suspended floors.

    “Therefore, we had to make a request for the revised estimate to redesign to comply with the FCT Master Plan and got approval to convert it to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development headquarters.

    “So, today, we got approval in the total sum of N851.6m revising the project from the initial approval of N1.79m,’’ she said.

  • FEC okays N5.5 billion to create 60,000 jobs

    The Federal Executive Council ( FEC ) on Wednesday approved N5.5 billion towards creating 60,000 jobs in the country.

    The contract, under the N-Power Knowledge Multipack project, target to train 12,000 youths between 18 and 25 years old.

    The 12,000 youths will in turn be empowered to train additional youths, bringing the total beneficiaries to 60,000.

    The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, briefed State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Read Also: FEC approves N1.4b for DPR building design

    According to him, the contract, which was awarded under the Social Investment Programmes, will make provision of N259, 000 each for training the youths and N207, 000 each for their tools.

    The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed disclosed that $6.8 million loan was approved for rebuilding of school in the North East.

    The Special Adviser to the President on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, said that 20 new ecological projects have been completed across the country.

     

     

  • FEC approves N1.4b for DPR building design

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC)  meeting yesterday approved N1.4 billion for the design of 12 floor building design for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu briefed State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He was with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Minister of Trade and Industry, Okechukwu Enelamah after six hours meeting.

    The contract, he said, is for the design of the head office of DPR in Abuja, which is currently situated in Lagos State.

    ‘Today we got the approval to begin the process to relocate them to Abuja.” he said

    When asked if the sum was not too much for designing the building, he said that it only represented about 2% of the proposed N35 billion cost of the building.

    He said: “FEC approved 1.4 billion for the design of DPR Head office in Abuja. The contract was awarded to Messers Arteck Practice Limited to design a 12 floor building at a plot which has already been allocated to by the FCT.

    “They are currently based in Lagos and are the regulatory and supervisory arm of the Ministry of Petroleum, and is instrumental in terms of income generation. It will enable DPR move to Abuja.” he said

    On the seeming high cost of the design, he said: “The contract was awarded to DPR tenders board, their bid was the lowest, the highest bid  was about N3 billion. The total projected potential cost for the building when it is done is about N35 billion.

    “So if you look at that as a percentage of the work, it is absolutely insignificant, in international terms it is very very justifiable, it is less than two per cent.”

    He added “The FCT did mention in our deliberation that because of the new zoning policies, the previous plan which was to build a car park of another five floors along with the 12 floors  have to be changed a little bit because they are taking possession of additional green area that were assigned to them.

    “So they will build a lot of parking … within the building. So I think because of the amount of work to be done and in line with international practice, it is quite frankly very reasonable.

    “Let me also say that part of the programmes we have pursued in the ministry, is how to get a lot of our parastatals to become independent and self financially generating agency and so get out of federal budget. …. has done that, DPR is the one to do that next.

    “So a lot of funding for this development is going to come out of DPR itself not out of federal budgeting.

    “The plan is that if we continue the way we are doing, a lot of federal agencies will be out of federal budgeting and be self-reliant. Be it PPPRA, DPR, PEF, that is the game plan. So far we have exited NCMB and we are near existing DPR and then PEF.” he stated

    Enelamah said that FEC also approved N1.55billion  consultancy contract for the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), which is part of the Federal Government social investment programs.

    Read also: FEC approves N1.3bn contracts to reposition NAN, NTA, FRCN

    He said: “We got an approval from the Federal Executive Council to award a contract to engage a Program Management Office Consultant and System Provider, for the GEEP at N1.556billion.

    According to him, the contract which is for providing services for 4.6 million people, is a viable contract.

    He also pointed out that the program has provided credit for over 1.5million Nigerians

    Enelamah also said that FEC approved the establishment of a Committee to come up with alternative ways to add to what government is doing in financing infrastructure.

    He said that it will be a committee of Ministers and ICRC, NSIA, Africa Finance Corporation and some private sector players.

    Stressing that he will Chair the committee, Enelamah said that other members include Minister of Finance, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Minister Transportation, Minister of Water Resources and Minister of State for Aviation.