The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved $USD3.45 billion loan to fund projects in the power sector, resource mobilisation programme for states, and adolescent girls’ initiative for learning and empowerment.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, announced this on Monday while briefing State House reporter after the federal cabinet meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the tenure of the five loans was around 40 years with a moratorium period of around 10 years and very low interest, adding that “in the cases of the either loans, zero interest, some fees would be incurred.”
On the training and empowerment of adolescent girls in Nigeria, the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, said girls between the ages of 10 and 20 from 18 participating states would benefit from the project to reduce the number of out-of-school children.
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The minister said the council had reviewed its policy direction and permitted the Public Procurement Council to exercise its powers on the award of contracts in line with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, thereby allowing FEC to concentrate on issues of national importance.
While briefing, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, said the council approved the Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation Trust Fund under a governing board with the target of raising $5bn annually from various sources.
She said the implementation would be carefully worked out by members of the committee which included the minister of finance and other relevant ministers.
The minister also said that FEC also ratified the protocol on the protection of the rights of older persons in Nigeria.
The Minister of Solid Mineral Development, Dele Alake, said the council approved a draft policy on the entire solid mineral sector, covering the gamut of oil activities, operations, guidelines, regulatory framework, handling, sourcing, mining, and all the dynamics in the sector.
The minister, who said both high and low were involved in illegal mining, disclosed the plan to rejig the security architecture with the approval of this policy which involved inter-security agency structure to combat the menace.
“In essence, it gives the solid mineral ministry to act on all issues pertaining to deregulation, …, management, operation of all the solid minerals sector, sanitizing the environment and making it investor friendly and ensuring the security and stability of investment and of course, giving us also a lot of attractions to both local and foreign investors,” he added.
Alake said Nigeria would find itself in economic dire straits in a couple of years if it failed to make conscious efforts to diversify with the current happening in the global oil market.
“And if we have an abundance of solid mineral resources, why shouldn’t we diversify, concentrate, exploit judiciously, proficiently and efficiently, these God-given abundance resources?” he asked.
