The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved over N26 billion for use by the Nigerian Ports Authority for the management of port facilities.
Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo revealed this while briefing State House Correspondents on decisions reached at the cabinet meeting.
He said: “My two memoranda, the first being for the renewal of a management contract for the management of ports facilities and the second for the procurement of two tugboats for operations at the Lekki Deep Seaport, pooled an aggregate of N26.77 billion.
“The first memo was the renewal of the management contract for the management of Tugs, Pilot Cutters or Mooring Launches within the limits of Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports complex.
“This management contract was signed between the Nigerian Ports Authority and a Marine Services company, initially in April 2007, for a period of 15 years, which therefore meant the agreement had expired in March last year.
“The purpose of the memorandum is to seek Council’s approval to renew the management contract, as provided in the management agreement and endorsed by the Bureau of Public Procurement, for the sum of $29,871,615.22, which is an equivalent of N12, 440,332,875.44, inclusive of 7.5% VAT, at an exchange rate of one US dollar to N416.46
“The second memorandum that was considered by Council and approved is in respect of a contract for the design, construction and supply of two 80 tons marine tugboats in order to support the operations of the newly commissioned Lekki Deep Seaport in Lagos.
“The contract was awarded in the sum of €30,183,540.20, which is an equivalent of N14, 330,329,389.75 at the Central Bank’s prevailing exchange rate at the time of payment, inclusive of seven and 7.5% VAT and with a completion period of 15 months.”
The Ministry of Aviation also got approval for the construction of a 150 room capacity hostel for over 2 Billion. Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who briefed on behalf of the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, disclosed.
“On behalf of the Minister of Aviation, who presented a memo to Council today, seeking Council’s consideration and approval for the award of contract for the construction of a 150-room capacity female hostel, at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria in the sum of N2, 244,713,424.56, inclusive of 7.5% VAT with a completion period of 12 months,” he said.
Mohammed also disclosed that the Council approved N383 million for the procurement of utility vehicles by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
“Also the Federal Minister of Information and Culture presented a memo to Council, which was approved today, for the procurement of 13 operational vehicles for the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria for the sum of N383, 968,500, with a completion period of three weeks.
“The operational vehicles will be used for the day-to-day operations of the FRCN and in particular, they will be used to report, gather news, in respect of the various cases in tribunal and also for the National Population Census coming up sometimes in May,” he said.
The Council also approved the sum of N95.98 billion for the dualization of a road that links Ekiti and Ondo States.
The Minister of State for Works and Housing, Umar El-Yakub made this known to State House Correspondents on Wednesday.
According to the Minister, “The first memorandum was for the award of contract for the dualization of the Akure/Ita Ogbolu–Iju/Ado Ekiti state border, on the Ondo State side, in the sum of N46, 684,481,745.44, with a completion period of 24 months.
“The section two of that road was awarded at the cost of N49,295,088,593.98, with a completion period of 30 months. So, one is doing it from the Ekiti State border and the other one is on the Ondo State side. That’s the two sections of the contract that was awarded.”