The Federal Executive Council, on Wednesday, approved contracts worth N58.427bn for roads and agricultural emergency intervention projects.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk, disclosed this to State House correspondents shortly after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa.
Fashola said, “The ministry of works and housing submitted two memoranda. The first was for the termination and re-award of the 49 kilometres section of Abaji to Kotokanfi, which is part of the Abuja-Lokoja highway. It was awarded in favour of Messers Galt for N56.175bn. Hopefully, this should facilitate the completion of that critical highway, which started in 2006.
“The second memo was to revise the contract some of the Afo-Apoto-Oyo boundary roads in Kwara. The revision was by N251,530,000, which revised the contract sum from N3,060,000,000 to N3,311,000,000. To enable the contractor to make provision for drains to replace unsuitable material and reconstruct damaged shoulders of the road and accommodate some price variation. The memo was also approved.”
The minister also appealed to commuters using the Abuja-Keffi expressway, which had recently suffered constant traffic gridlock, to bear with the Federal Government, noting that the ongoing expansion would alleviate their suffering.
Noting that over 20,000 vehicles ply the road daily, Fashola said if it were possible, the road would have been shut to enable speedy completion.
Fashola said, “On Abuja-Keffi Road, the reason we’re there in the very first place to build the route is that it has become insufficient to manage the large traffic of commuters. And we understand the inconvenience that commuters feel trying to use that road.
“We appeal to them to bear with us. It’s a challenge for us; I think almost about 15 to 20,000 vehicles, if not more, use that corridor now almost daily. We wish we shut it down to have uninterrupted construction, but unfortunately, that’s impossible. So, people have to drive through the construction site while we manage traffic.
“So, please bear with us. We’ll do the best we can to minimise the inconvenience. When the road is finished, be sure that the current inconvenience would have been well worth the wait and the experience.”
On her part, the humanitarian affairs minister, who announced that FEC approved the National Action Plan on Human Trafficking in Nigeria 2022 to 2026, said Council also approved over N2bn as revised estimated total cost for the supply of cattle for Taraba State under the emergency agricultural integration for states that were affected by conflict and insecurity.
She said: “Today in Council, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development submitted two memos. One is for the revised estimated total cost for the cattle supply for Taraba state under the emergency agricultural integration for states affected by conflict and insecurity.
“The other memo is on the national action plan on human trafficking in Nigeria 2022 to 2026. All the two memos were graciously approved by Council this afternoon.”
On the cost of procurement, Farouk said: “It is an agricultural emergency intervention that was to be taken to the conflict-affected states, and is in the tune of N2bn and some millions or thereabout.”
In his address, the Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, said the Council also approved the revised science, technology, and innovation policy.
He said: “The Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation presented a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council, which we are so happy that the Council approved. And the memorandum essentially was a revision of the science, technology and innovation policy for our dear country.
“There has been tremendous advances in science, technology and innovation all over the world, and this necessitated the need for our science, technology and innovation policy which was put in place in 2012, 10 years ago, to be revised so that we can keep pace with new and emerging technologies.”
