The Federal Executive Council, FEC, has approved N3.109 billion for contracts in the Ministry of Education as well as the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.
This was disclosed to State House Correspondents by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, after the week’s virtual FEC meeting, presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Mohammed, who addressed the media on behalf of Ministers of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and that of Communication and Digital Economy, Professor Ali Pantami, said they presented three memoranda.
According to him, the Ministry of Education’s memoranda sought approval to purchase an official residence for the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State as well as funding to augment the execution of five projects at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.
“The Ministry of Education presented two memos today. One was for the approval for the procurement of a landed property for the residence of the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State.
“This is a very short memo, which actually sought Council’s approval to provide accommodation for the Vice Chancellor, and of course, it means the university was purchasing a property in Dutse, which will serve as the official accommodation of the Vice Chancellor.
“After due process has been observed, including whether the seller has title and whether it was adequately covered by C-of-O, the Council approved that a property be purchased for the sum of N161,250,000 million, inclusive of 7.5% VAT, with the delivery period of two weeks for the official residence of the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Dutse, Jigawa State.
“The second memo was actually a memo asking for augmentation on five contracts at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka in Anambra State. The significant thing about this contract is the fact that these were contracts that were awarded by the university itself, some in 2007, some in 2010, some in 2012, and some in 2015, but due to the inability of the university to execute these projects, for reasons ranging from lack of funding to other sundry reasons, they appealed to the federal government to help complete the contracts.
“The contract, which was then awarded at the sum of N2,513,991,695, due to contract variation, cost of materials etc., has now been jacked up to N4.6 billion. In other words, the federal government is making available to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University the sum of N2.1 billion to augment the contract, which they awarded between 2007 and 2015, which you were unable to complete.
According to Mohammed, the FEC also approved N847,502,000 for the award of a contract for digital interconnectivity among identified ministries and other agencies of government through the Local Area Network, LAN.
“The Honourable Minister of Communication presented a memo today and that memo was to seek Council’s approval for the award of contract for the provision of project management services for the implementation of the Local Area Network infrastructure, upgrade project, in identified ministries, departments, and agencies, in favour of Knowledge Resources Limited in the sum of N847,502,000, inclusive of 7.5% VAT and this is to be delivered within a period of 12 months.
“Earlier before now, Council had already, through an intervention project, approved money for the upgrade of the infrastructure of the Land Area Networks. The purpose of this is to improve our communication infrastructure, between ministries, departments, and agencies of government,” he said.
Source: The Nation
