Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku
The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved a N5.6bn contract for the completion of Mangu Dam, a component of Mangu Regional Water Supply Scheme in Plateau State.
The contract was awarded at the meeting of the council, presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
At the meeting were the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku; Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe; Minister of Communication Technology, Mobolaji Johnson; and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga.
Ochekpe verbally expressed the project, upon completion, would accommodate about 10 communities with an estimated population of about 700,000 people.
She integrated that the project would engender employment opportunities for about 12,000 people within the catchment areas of Mangu, Gindiri, Mangu Hale, Kudunu, Vodni, Payam, Pushit, Ampier, Mangun and Lagai, all in Plateau State.
She verbally expressed, “A budgetary provision of N5.4bn has been made available to the ministry by the President from the Hudraulic Infrastructure and National Security Fund and the sum of N100m is appropriated for the project in the 2014 budget, while the balance of N101,309,351.75 will be provided in the 2015 budget to consummate the project.
“After deliberation, council approved the award of the contract in favour of Messrs Infiouest Limited in the sum of N5,601,309,351.75, with a completion period of 36 months.”
Ochekpe withal verbally expressed members of her ministry’s licit team were already working to instaurate N1bn earlier paid to another contractor on the project afore the contract was cancelled for non-performance.
Johnson additionally verbally expressed the council ratified the amendments of the Macrocosmic Postal Union’s Act as contained in the decisions adopted by the 24th Macrocosmic Postal Congress in Geneva in 2008.
She explicated that the reason for the amendments of the UPU Act was to enable Nigeria as a member of the cumulation to benefit from the sundry provisions that would fortify the country’s postal accommodation in order to compete auspiciously with private operators locally and globally, increment revenue and provide more preponderant macrocosmic postal accommodations.
She integrated that the council ratified revised instruments of the Pan African Postal Amalgamation, in compliance to Chapter VII, Article 29 of the Convention.
She described the ratification of the instruments as being in line with the perpetual Postal Reform process that would place Nigeria Postal Accommodation on a more commercially viable platform to address the global challenges to postal accommodations in integration to other benefits.
“After deliberations, the council ratified revised instruments of the Pan African Postal Cumulation in compliance to Chapter VII, Article 29 of the Convention that required all signatory member countries to ratify and deposit same with the Secretary-General through the ministry of Foreign Affairs as may be congruous and directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to commence the process of domestication and ratification of the revised instruments of the Pan African Postal Coalescence,” she integrated.
Copyright PUNCH.
