The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of N3,491,622,340 to enable the Ministry of Aviation purchase a property to be used as its main office at Plot 426, Cadastral Zone, opposite the Corporate Affairs Commission.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced this on Wednesday while briefing State House reporters after the federal cabinet meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
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He said the property would enable the ministry to accommodate many of its agencies in the same building as they currently operate from rented properties.
“And this is a drain on government apart from the fact that it does not allow for good coordination of activities,” he added.
Mohammed said the council also approved the award of contract for the establishment and deployment of Advanced Report Generation Utility Engine web based reporting tools in favour of Msssrs Sinecon Limited in total sum of N553, 575, 000, inclusive of 7.5% with a delivery period of 12 months.
He said the technology would aid the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to be able to establish and develop the advanced reports generation system.
He added that the web reporting tool would motivate investigators over time to create more visual contents that would have an integrated option to develop 3D flights animation to communicate the history of flights that would be hosted on plane sciences services in Ottawa, Canada.
For the Ministry of Power, Mohammed said council approved the upward review of the original contract sum in respect of the construction of Yola, Song, Gombe, Mubi, Gulako 132 KV double circuit 232km transmission line, stressing that it was crucial to the ability of the Transmission Company of Nigeria to will power generated by the GENCOs.
“The contract has been awarded before but due to paucity of funds and additional obstacles, it has to be reviewed from the original USD $16 million plus N1.248 billion to now the same $16,698,000 but N2,337,643,640,” he said.
The minister said FEC also gave a nod for the repair and refurbishment of defective nine sets of 330 KV, 13 sets of 132 KV and 26 sets of 33 KV Crompton grips circuit breakers for the Transmission Company of Nigeria at N409,089,841, adding that it was to aid the TCN network.
“Some of these circuit breakers are weak, having been there for more than 35 years,” he said.
Mohammed said a memo presented by the Minister of Agriculture seeking approval for a national agricultural technology innovation policy was approved.
According to him, “It is a policy that aims at better synergy and alignment with MDAs to overcome inadequate coordination on policy implementation.”