Nigerian President orders EFCC to probe road contractor

Goodluck Jonathan,
the Nigerian president

Nigerian President orders EFCC to probe road contractor

The Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe a government contractor for allegedly tendering false information to secure a 2.2 billion naira (about 15 million dollars) road contract.

The President gave the directive at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House in Abuja.

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, told State House correspondents after the council meeting that the measure was taken to check sharp practices in the process of contract award at the federal level.

The minister said the contract for the rehabilitation of a 1.6 kilometre road in Apapa, Lagos, was provisionally awarded to the contractor at the council’s last meeting.

 Investigations

 He said because the council was not too sure of certain information as claimed by the contractor, the president directed an investigation into the claims to ensure that the right decision was being taken.
  
Maku said, “on the result of our findings, council got the information clearly that there was still some problems with the information that was offered by the said contractor that tendered for the job.”

 Joint project

In a related development, FEC approved Government’s guarantee for a loan of 100 million dollars to Lagos State government for the state to begin the second phase of its urban transportation system.

He said “the Nigerian Government which has been the guarantor of this project has facilitated Lagos State to take another loan of 100 million dollars for the second phase of the project which will run from Mile 2 to Oshodi and Ikorodu.”

Maku said “We consider this project a successful one; it’s been a project in which the Nigerian Government and Lagos State have collaborated to ensure its success.”

He pointed out that the collaboration was a good example of how the federal and state governments could work together to improve services in the states.

He said council also recommended the type of rapid bus system which has brought down the cost of transportation in Lagos to other cities like Port-Harcourt, Kaduna, Kano, and the Federal Capital Territory.

Award of contract

The council also approved the contract for the rehabilitation of the Lower Usman Dam water treatment plant which supplies potable water to Abuja and environs.

Maku said FEC approved the contract to complement the completion of the water transfer project from Gurara to the dam and to ensure steady water supply to the Federal Capital Territory.

Education

Mr. Labaran Maku, also told newsmen that the Council had approved e-learning training in 12 universities across the six geo-political zones of the country.

 He said “Today, education received a major boost in the council and the Minister of Education presented a memo which will provide an e-learning platform for 12 Nigerian universities.”

He added that “These Universities cut across the six geo-political zones in the country.”

Maku stated that the project which was being funded by the Education Trust Fund (ETF), would support the universities to promote learning using the internet and using e-learning.

The council also approved the release of 5.5 billion naira (about 825 million dollars) by the ETF to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in Enugu State South East Nigeria, to update its facilities.

He said that part of the fund would be used for the procurement of Ubiquitous Wireless Network for the ICT backbone infrastructure for the four campuses of the university, using direct procurement method.

Agriculture

Also addressing correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ayo Adesina stressed that the promotion of the use of cassava by local bakeries, which was part of Nigerian Government’s Agriculture Transformation Action Plan, would make the nation self-sufficient in food production.

Adesina noted that Nigeria was the largest producer of cassava in the world with an annual production of 35 million tonnes of the commodity.

The minister said that already the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, had produced bread with 50 per cent cassava flour content.

He estimated that the use of 50 per cent cassava content by local bakeries would save Nigeria 315 billion naira, about 20.1 billion dollars annually, which would be used to expand the local economy.

NAN Adekusibe/Ekata