The Interview Editors
President Muhammadu Buhari held a virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) Meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.
This was the second virtual FEC meeting the president would be presiding over amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, who spoke with State House Correspondents after the meeting gave details of the contracts the FEC approved.
These include the construction of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Parks Scheme at Odukpani in Cross River State, for which.92bn was approved.
The contract was awarded to Messrs. Kinetic Electro-Mechanical Limited, according to the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, who sought the approval of FEC for the project.
It is meant to provide additional infrastructure for the manufacturing of oil and gas components for the sector.
The FEC also approved $454,050 for sea-time training for the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme.
The training is for cadets’ on-board foreign-going vessels by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and safety Agency.
The consultancy contract was awarded to Messrs. SWETS Marine Consultancy and targets at preparing “1,000 idling Nigerian seafarers that have graduated but have yet to obtain requisite certificate of competency required of them, so as to be gainfully employed as officers and masters on board ships.
Mohammed also disclosed that N623.7million approved for the Nigeria Customs Service to buy computers for its zonal and area commands.
He noted that 1,200 units of computers/printers would be bought for the customs.
“The Minister of Finance (Mrs. Zainab Ahmed) presented a memo for the award of contract for 1, 200 units of coloured printers and desktop computers for human resources and accounting management systems across zones and area commands of the Nigeria Custom Service, which was approved.
“The sum of the contract was N623, 700, 000 for the 1, 200 desktops and computers for the use of the customs service all over the country,” he said.
The Oseakwa Bridge in Anambra State also received contract augmentation approval of N118.061m. The contract was originally awarded for N896.86m.
“It’s a-90m long bridge with a-2km approach road and a completion period of 12 months”, Mohammed explained.
The new approval brought the total contract sum to N1.014bn.
He added that that work on the project had reached 87.91 per cent completion in 2012 before it was stalled due to flooding.
Another sum of N610m was approved for the Plateau State University, Bokkos, to build a Faculty of Health Services, while the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, got approval of N101m for the provision of a flight simulator building.
Others who joined the president for the meeting were Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari and the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen Babagana Monguno.
While ministers who had memos to present to the session physically attended the meeting at the State House, others linked up from their various locations.
