•Council, Senate honour Mama Taraba
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N10.168 billion for the execution of projects under the ministries of Water Resources, Aviation as well as two agencies under the Presidency.
The virtual FEC, which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), held yesterday in the First Lady’s Conference Room of the Presidential Villa.
Speaking to State House Correspondents after the virtual meeting, Ministers Suleiman Adamu (Water Resources); Senator Hadi Sirika (Aviation) and Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Information and Culture), gave details of the projects approved by council.
In the Ministry of Water Resources, the minister said the council approved augmentation for two contracts, which had been affected by time and inflation.
“The contracts, Bagwai Irrigation Project in Kano State and the Biu Water Supply Project in Borno State, according to Adamu, got an aggregate of N8.825 billion.
“The first one was for expansion and completion of Bagwai Irrigation Project on Watari Dan in Bagwai Local Government Area of Kano State. We have sought for an augmentation of N3.76 billion, which was approved.
“Therefore, council was gracious to approve this augmentation with N3.762 billion, bringing the new contract sum from N5.4 billion to N9.2 billion, inclusive of 7.5% VAT, with an additional completion period of 24 months plus another 12 months liability period.
“The second memo was for requesting for augmentation for Biu Water Supply Project. Again, this is a project that was started in 2001, but it is still yet to be completed. It ran into a lot of problems, mainly associated with funding and the Boko Haram insurgency. So, we sought for an augmentation.
“So, the total augmentation, like I said, is N5.063 billion, bringing the contracts sum now to N9.36 billion from N4.29 billion, inclusive 7.5% VAT, with a new completion period of 24 months. We hope that these projects will be implemented in earnest and hopefully, we’ll be able to get them completed by 2023 for the overall benefit of the people,” he said.
For the Ministry of Aviation, the council approved a contract for the procurement of a towable mobile office for the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) of the Civil Aviation Authority.
“The contract is for the procurement, equipment and installation of accident investigation towable mobile offices in favour of Messrs. Crases Integrity Services Limited. The total contract sum is N201,150,437.21,” he said.
Also reporting two memoranda approved by the council in President Buhari’s name, the Minister of Information and Culture said: “I have two memos presented in the name of Mr. President. The first was a memo seeking approval of the council for the enhancement of security at the newly completed premises of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission headquarters located at Jabi. You will recall that from 2011 upwards, there’ve been various attacks on Federal Government’s institutions and even multilateral institutions like the United Nations’ building.
“Consequent upon those attacks in 2011, 2014, 2018, the Federal Government set up what is called the Vulnerability Assessment Committee to see how we can better protect ministries, departments and agencies and it’s in line with this that the EFCC, today presented to the council a memo seeking approval for the procurement of four sets of automatic and static anti-crush boulder system, with automatic vehicle scanners and other accessors, linear metres perimeter fencing, intrusion detection system and human screening equipment, four walk-through metal detectors, two handheld metal scanners, one luggage scanner and three handheld explosive trace detectors, all at the value of N805,738,541.95, inclusive of the 7.5% VAT, with the completion period of 12 weeks. The memo was approved by the council.
“The second memo, which Mr. President presented today, is a memo seeking council’s approval for the procurement of 16 vehicles for the use of Federal Civil Service Commission.”
The FEC also observed one minute of silence for the former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Aisha Al-Hassan, to honour her memory.
The SGF, Mustapha, officially announced the passing of Al-Hassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba, to the council and demanded that all members rose in honour of the dead.
Also yesterday, the Senate observed a minute’s silence in honour of late senator.
This followed a point of order moved by Senator Shuaibu Lau Isa, in which he drew the attention of the Senate to the demise of the lawmaker, who represented Taraba North in the 7th Senate. She died in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on May 7, 2021, at the age of 61 years.
