Deji Elumoye
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved contracts worth N64,686,536,230, for 16 road projects to be executed in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
The Council also okayed the deployment of the Revenue Assurance Solution (RAS) for the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) to assist in its ability to block revenue leakage and wastage.
On hand to brief newsmen at the end of the weekly meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja,
were the Ministers of the FCT, Mallam Mohammed Bello; Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Ali Isa Pantami; and presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu.
Commenting on the approvals granted the Ministry of Works and Housing, Shehu, said roads and bridge projects sited across the six geopolitical zones were approved.
According to him, “the Minister of Works and Housing he requested for the approval of 15 projects, roads and bridges, all of which were approved. I’ll just give you like two or three of the projects he got approvals for.
“One is for the award of contract of the construction of phase two of the Ikot-Ekpene-Aba to Owerri Dualisation project and this is at the cost of N40,157,000,000. It is due for completion in 30 months.
“Another project for which he got approval is the construction of the Offa Bypass Road phase 2 in Offa local government area of Kwara State. This project is for N4,335,000,000, due for completion in 12 months.
“Another is the revised estimated cost of the rehabilitation of Alesi-Ugep Road section in Cross River State. The initial cost was N11.221 billion, now valued at N14.74, with an additional completion of six months. (N59,232,000,000)
“The eleven other roads are spread across various geopolitical regions of the country”, the presidential spokesman said.
On his part, the FCT Minister, said a road project worth N5.454 billion that will decongest Abuja metropolis was approved.
He said: “Today at the Federal Executive Council meeting, I presented one memo and that’s in respect of the contract for the completion of the road called Mpape to Galuyi to Shere Road within the Federal Capital Territory in Bwari Area Council and that road is to be constructed by Messrs Vipan Global Investment Limited at a total cost of N5,454,536,230.67 only. We expect that that road will be completed within 18 months.
“That road has been under construction for some time and when we realized that the contract handling the project could not perform, the contract was terminated and we have reissued it to this new contractor and it is intended to open up the road leading Galuyi, Shere resettlement site, which is about 64% completed.
“This road, when done, is going to allow us to move settlements in two phases. The first phase will be to move settlements within phase two of the city that are meant to go there and these ones are seven communities of Utako, Maje, Mabushi, Jabi Samuel, Jabi Yakubu and Panda and then Zilu”.
Also speaking on the approval of FEC for RAS, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, said “the first memo presented at the Federal Executive Council, which is going to be the one to speak on now is for the Nigerian Communications Commission for the deployment of Revenue Assurance Solution (RAS).
According to Pantami: “This project has been ongoing since on 27, June 2016, almost six years now and the process has been a very long one for the commission and the wisdom behind the deployment of this Revenue Assurance Solution is to block leakages in the telecommunications industry, particularly as it applies to Annual Operating Levy.
“The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the revenue generating sectors to enhance and improve on revenue generation. As part of the compliance to this directive, the Nigerian Communications Commission has been automating so many processes, deployed technologies to ensure that all leakages are blocked blocks and at the same time to promote the cyber security of our country by making sure that our cyberspace, particularly as it relates to the telecommunications sector.
“This system, prior to the presentation of the memo today, Nigerian Communications Commission, has obtained the IT clearance from the National Information Technology Development Agency, certifying the project.
“Secondly, they have obtained the security report of clean bill from the Office of the National Security Adviser on it and thirdly, in 2018, they obtained an endorsement from the Minister of Finance then, and fourthly, they also obtained the certificate from the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and finally, they have also obtained the certificate of no objection from the Bureau of Public Procurement.
“The wisdom behind deploying this technology is just to enhance government revenue and at the same time to ensure that leakage is being blocked”.
