FEC Approves N26.6bn Contract for New FCT District

Written by This Day Thursday, 26 January 2012

The Federal Executive Coun-cil (FEC) yesterday appro-ved the award of contracts for the purchase of two fast boats to ply the newly dredged River Niger from Warri to Onitsha, Lokoja and Niger State.

It also awarded contracts for the development of Kagini district of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the automation of operations of the Citizenship and Business Department in the Ministry of Interior, at a total sum of N26, 579,359,253.67.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said the council, presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, decided to buy two fast moving passenger ferries to ply River Niger, which dredging has been completed.

He was flanked by Ministers of Internal Affairs, Abba Moro, Science and Technology, Prof. Eta Ewa Henshaw, Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed and Transport, Idris Umar.

Maku explained that the initial plan was for the private sector to take over the transportation business but that the buying of the boats was to prove to them that government was done with the dredging and as such, they could now come in with their investments.
“The provision of the ferries will promote waterways transportation, boost economic activities and reduce pressure on other modes such as road transportation,” he said.

The project, he also said, would directly create 23 job opportunities for professionals and non-professionals during the operation of the ferries while many job opportunities would be created indirectly when the ferries were fully operational.

“After deliberations, council approved the procurement of two fast-moving 40 to 45-seater passenger ferries (Catamaran) for the National Inland Waterways authority (NIWA)/Federal Ministry of Transport (FMT) in favour of Messrs Karfex Fisheries Limited in the sum of N168,455,700.00 inclusive of all taxes, with a delivery period of six months.”

Also yesterday, he said council considered a memo brought by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory for the development of phase II of Kagini district, which he explained was considered based on the growth rate of the city to enable expansion and accommodation of residents in the ever expanding city.

Maku continued that the project would create employment for numerous indigenous professionals, artisans and unskilled labour. The contract was awarded to Messrs Salini (Nig) Limited for N25,954,847,809.80, bringing the total contract sum to N52,609,879,287.47 with a completion period of 48 months. The contract includes provision of water, roads and other infrastructure.

The meeting also considered and approved the automation of the operations of the Citizenship and Business Department, Ministry of Interior on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model that would see private investors staking their funds to run the scheme.
“By execution of the projects, all companies, corporations, agencies and organisations who have employed expatriates must migrate their employees' registration into the new platform and must comply with applicable technology fee. This would enable government have a complete database of expatriates employed nation-wide and will also provide employment opportunities and knowledge advancement for Nigerians.

“In order to improve the efficiency and for optimal service delivery of the department, council approved the automation of the Citizenship and Business Department of the Ministry of Interior on a PPP using BOT model, in favour of Messrs Anchor Dataware Solutions for an initial concession period of five years.

“It is expected that each company that migrates to this platform will pay the sum of N50,000. And given the revenue projections indication given by the company, it is expected that within this fixed period of five years, given the number of organizations and companies that would migrate to this platform, enough funds would have been generated.
“The cost of the project is to the tune of N455, 550,743.87. We expect to recoup the money within this period through the charges that would be levied. 40 per cent of the excess funds will go to the federal government, 50 per cent to the company while 10 per cent will go for project management.

Moro said it would help the registration of births and deaths and monitoring of expatriate quota while companies on the platform would be charged N50, 000 yearly and would be managed by private hands.
Maku also said that the of Science and Technology brought a memo seeking approval for the setting up of National Science Research Technology and Innovation Fund which followed  the setting up of a National Science and Research Technology policy that was handed over to a committee to hone.

“Today the Ministry brought the report of the Council committee and approved the setting up of a special Fund to support Science, Technology and Innovation in Nigeria. This is a research fund which would be centralized to all research institutes and of course organizations that are interested in scientific research in Nigeria. By approving this fund, it is taking a major step to propel the development of the country and the realization of vision 2020”, he explained.

Earlier, Jonathan had while swearing in two Permanent Secretaries lamented that the inefficiency of the civil service was being protected by the civil service rules which negatively affects productivity and advocated capacity building for effective service delivery.
He said the civil service being alive to its responsibilities would help to drive the transformational agenda of his administration and therefore charged them to be alive to their responsibilities if they ever hope to compete favourably with the private sector.

"The current challenges we have is the capacity of officers below you and that is what a number of people complained about in the civil service. Before, we want the civil service to operate like the private sector, but the only thing is that the laws that operate in the civil service over-protect us unlike the private sector that we can easily do away with people we perceived to be dead wood or people we perceived not to be doing their work very well, in the civil service it is a little different. So, we must be creative in handling such issues", he said.

Those sworn in were Aliyu Ismaila Numa who fills the position left by the new Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Isa Sali and Ossia Afemefuna who takes over from Prof. Simon Ogandi.