FEC Approves N51bn For Contract Reviews, Refund To Yobe
The Federal Executive Council has approved N51,003,698,535 for contracts, including variations as well as a project expenditure refund to Yobe State.
The minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, revealed this in Abuja when he spoke on the memoranda presented by ministers of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), his Federal Capital Territory (FCT) counterpart, Bello Muhammed.
Lai Mohammed, explained that the council approved a revised cost for construction of the Yola-Hong-Mubi Road, put at N29,826,449,000; and the approval for a refund of N18,663,843,109 to Yobe State for works done on federal roads and bridges.
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He says the council also approved the revised estimated total cost of the award of contract for the rehabilitation of the Yola-Hong-Mubi Road in Adamawa State for N29,826,449,000, thereby revising the initial contract from the original N21,841,578,000 to N51,668,027,000.
He added that the council also approved the N18,663,843,109 for the Yobe State Government as reimbursement for five federal roads rehabilitated or constructed.
Mohammed noted, N1,113,406,426 was also approved for the revised estimation of a power project for the Gwarimpa axis of the FCT, adding that it was initially awarded in 2015 at the cost of N527m.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, explained that the council approved the award of a contract for consultancy services for the pr-development of the Funtua Integrated Textile and Garment Park in Katsina State and for the Medical Tourism Park in Lekki Special Economic Zone in Lagos State for N1.4bn, to Messrs Tata Consulting Engineers in partnership with Messrs Abi Grant Limited”.
Adebayo announced the decision to concession Calabar and Kano free trade zones due to inadequate resources to provide all the necessary infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige during his briefing, says he presented two memoranda for the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), which is aimed at digitising the parastatal and creating the eNSITF platform to combat the menace of fraudulent practices in the system.
“The portal management committee will manage the portal be the fourth that somebody has that there’ll be a management committee and because of that, we’ll still be there for call for the portal and the costs for the portal and management and the solutions, the upgrade and everything they are putting for eNSITF is N1.2 billion.
The second memo was on employment, job creation, he says “it’s a portal called Nigerian Labour Exchange (NILEX), it’s housed in my ministry but over time, because it’s not being developed, the portal is so small it cannot take stress of the number of people wanting to go into that, that digital platform is supposed to be used by employers on one hand and job seekers.
“The employers will come in and load the vacancy they have, the type of skill they want, the qualifications of people that can fit in there”.
