The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved over N19billion for various projects for the Ministries of Transportation, Aviation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Aviation, Hadi Sirika and FCT, Muhammed Bello made these known at the end of the Council meeting which was chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja on Wednesday.

The Minister of Information said the five memos presented by the Minister of transportation, Rotimi Ameachi, were approved by the Council.

He said the approvals included N639million for modular tamping machine for Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), N247million for procurement of a rig-stacker for National Inland Waterway Authority and N166billion for two power cars to be used on the narrow gauge by the NRC.

The Council also approved N3.5billion for the removal of wrecks along the Badagry Creek from Tincan Island to Navy Town in Lagos State as well as N902million for the construction of 1000 sitting capacity international conference centre for the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Zaria, Kaduna state.

“The first memo is actually a memo in which the minister sought the approval of Council for the award of contract for the design, manufacture, supply testing and commissioning of one modular tamping machine at the sum of N639,150,932 for the use of the Nigerian Railway Corporation. The machine is for immediate use in Agbor, Delta.

“The second memo was a memo asking for Council’s approval for the award of contract for the procurement of one rig-stacker, in the sum of N247,062,708. This is for the benefit of the National Inland Waterway Authority.

“The third memo is one seeking Council’s approval for the award of contract for the design, manufacture, testing and commissioning of two power cars to be used on the narrow gauge by the Nigerian Railway Corporation, at a sum of N1.662 billion.

“There’s another memo by the Minister of Transportation, which sought Council’s approval for the award of contract for the removal of wrecks along the Badagry Creek from Tincan Island to Navy Town Lagos State, in the sum of N3,587,955,266.40  and it’s supposed to be completed within 25 months.

“This contract will benefit the National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.

“Finally, the Minister of Transportation sought Council’s approval for the award of contract for the construction of a 1000 sitting capacity international conference centre for the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, in the sum of N902,329,463.33,’’ he said.

According to the minister, the project is to be completed within 24 weeks, saying the NITT, being the apex transport and logistics management development institute in Nigeria and the West African sub-region, is desirous of constructing a 1000 sitting capacity international conference centre to meet its growing population.

Sirika also said that the Council approved N10.5billion for the provision of Airport Management Solution for the international airports of Abuja, and that of Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu

He said the approved amount included 7.5per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) while the project would be completed in 12 months.

The minister said: “Today in Council, the Ministry of Aviation had a memorandum that was approved and this is a contract for the provision of Airport Management Solution for the international airports of Abuja, and that of Lagos and Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu. It is awarded in the sum of N10,594,057,618.20.

“This Airport Management Solution was earlier being provided only in Lagos and Abuja. This is now extended to all the five airports and what it will be doing; one is common use terminal equipment, which is cute systems that are required for sharing airport resources in accordance with requirement of IATA recommendation 1797.

`This allows flexible shared resources for check-in and boarding, such as servers, workstations, associated peripherals between all airlines and handling agents present at the airport. This will be for all the five airports and baggage drop.

“This service, as explained, will also be in all of the airports, which makes it faster and quicker for passenger processing.

“Another service to be provided is Local Departure Control Systems. This is aimed at airlines that are still using manual procedures like locals, charters, domestic,etc. The system secures and accelerates these operations while ensuring better service for passengers.’’

According to Sirika, the system also accepts mobile phone boarding pass or home printed boarding pass.

“Then Baggage Reconciliation System also, where baggage can be tracked from when you arrive and drop your baggage automatically it goes into the system and onto the aircraft itself.

“So, this will eliminate the issue of missing baggage or mix up of baggage to arrive at another location not intended.

“Then another thing is Electronic e-gates. These are access controlled gates to restrict only passengers and staff access to designated areas. The e-gates provide a platform to monitor and control access into the boarding area. This is new and not part of the systems that were being provided for Lagos and Abuja.

On his part, the FCT Minister disclosed that the Council approved N686million for the provision of engineering infrastructure to a section of Asokoro District known as Abubakar Koko Street.

He added that the Council approved N1.3billion for the construction of a 14.7 kilometres dedicated power line from the existing newly completed Kukwaba 132/33kv transmission station in Kukwaba District of Abuja.

“During today’s Council meeting, two memos presented by the FCT Ministry were approved. The first memo is the approval for the contract for the provision of engineering infrastructure to a section of Asokoro District known as Abubakar Koko Street.

“This contract was approved for Datum  Construction Nigeria Limited at a contract amount of N686,796,482.14 and it has a completion period of six months.

“The second contract approved is the contract for the construction of a 14.7 kilometre dedicated power line from the existing newly completed Kukwaba 132/33kv transmission station in Kukwaba District of Abuja.

“This is at the sum of N1,398,901,681.27 and awarded to Messrs Olivec Ventures Nigeria Limited and for a completion period of 12 months.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, revealed that the Council approved N316.5million for the second phase of Project Lighthouse.

According to her, the Project Lighthouse is a data engine that collects, integrates and analyses data from revenue generating agencies in order to create insightful information for improved decision making.

“One major area that we have witnessed remarkable progress is in terms of recovery of debts owed to government. Generally, revenue loopholes have been aided by poor information sharing enforcement.

“So this Protect Lighthouse shows us that many companies and individuals who owe government agencies have refused to honour their obligations yet are still being engaged and transacted with, and even being paid on government payment platforms like Treasury Single Account.

“In 2019, the ministry issued a directive to all ministries, departments and agencies to aggregate and send to the ministry a list of all debtors and their outstanding amounts that are owed to government agencies. This we have put together in one central fund that we call Project Lighthouse.

“Since that time we have been able to aggregate N5.2 trillion worth of debts that are being owed to government by third parties and as at today we have been able to recover N49.7 billion of this amount through the efforts of works we’ve been carrying out through Project Lighthouse and we’re still compiling.

“Project Lighthouse has brought together data from the FIRS, the Nigerian Customs Service, the Corporate Affairs Commission, as well as data from BVN in one central pool.’’ (NAN)