By Chijioke Okoronkwo

Abuja, May 10, 2023

Less than three weeks to the end of the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved contracts for different projects running into hundreds of billions of Naira in different states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Rivers State and the FCT got the lion’s share of the allocations with approval of about N139billion for projects in Ogoniland, Rivers State and approval of N132.9billion for projects in the FCT.

Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media and Publicity, who briefed State House correspondents on Wednesday after the FEC meeting presided over Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said that the FEC also approved N449.9 million for the engagement of consultants for the development of master plan for 17 airports in Nigeria.

Shehu listed the airports as: Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Port Harcourt International Airport and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.

Others are: The airports in Owerri, Imo, Benin, Edo, Enugu, Enugu State, Maiduguri, Borno, Yola, Adamawa and Calabar, Cross River.

The rest are those in Ilorin, Sokoto, Ibadan, Jos,  Akure and Katsina.

Shehu said that the council also approved post-contract consultancy amounting to N3.4 billion for the construction of the second runway and associated facilities at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The presidential aide said that contracts were also approved for the Ogoni remediation in Rivers.

Shehu said: “Two major contracts were approved for Ogoniland, Rivers, and you know, Ogoni is one of the flagships of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

“There are water projects that have been awarded under the second phase amounting to N22.8 billion.

“Approval was also given for award of contract for the remediation of newly identified hydrocarbon impacted sites along the shoreline of Ogoniland for N107 billion.’’

Shehu said that the FCT also got quite a number of approvals including contract for the full scope development of the Shehu Shagari Way for N91 billion.

He added: “Another one is for the rehabilitation of the Rubochi township roads and the rehabilitation of Rubochi-Gwagwalada in FCT for about N5.7 billion.

“Council also approved contract for the construction of 3.2 kilometre road to Kwali Bridge in Kwalli Area Council of the FCT for about N1.6 billion.

“Another FCT contract is for the revised estimated cost of the contract for the provision of engineering infrastructure at Guzape District lot 11 in the FCT and the contract sum is N28 billion.

“And the fifth approval for FCT is for revised estimated total cost/augmentation of the contract for the provision of access road to Kabusa Garden Estate, Dako District in FCT and this is for N6.6 billion.’’

Shehu  said that approvals were also made for the Ministry of Works for the rehabilitation of several roads across the country.

He said that the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning also had approval for the construction of the FIRS multi-storey office complex at Agidingbi Training School, Ikeja, Lagos, for N10.3 billion.

Shehu saud“Finance Ministry also had approval for the construction of Zone B Headquarters of the Nigeria Customs in Mando and Afaka in Kaduna.”

More so, he said that the Ministry of Interior also got approval for the establishment of the National Institute for Domestic Security at Irogbo-Ilesha, Osun.

“This is for research and capacity development of paramilitary agencies and other relevant stakeholders both within and outside Nigeria.

“This is to guarantee a peaceful and secure nation, with a budgetary provision of N285 million in 2022 budget and N360 million in 2023 budget,’’ he said.