Customs Gets N3.4bn To Acquire New Aircraft

Federal government has approved the sum of N3.4 billion for the procurement of an aircraft by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

The minister of state for budget and national planning, Clement Agba, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja

According to him “the Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning presented a couple of memos for which approvals were obtained. The first one was for the award of contract for the procurement of a Cessna Caravan aircraft by the Nigeria Customs in the sum of N3,447,442,710 inclusive of 7.5 percent VAT with a delivery period of 12 months.”

He said the aircraft would help NCS in carrying out air surveillance as well as curb the activities of smugglers.

“This aircraft is an addition to the current fleet in the Customs Service and it is aimed towards combating smuggling activities and enhancing intelligence gathering. It is also to provide aerial surveillance and reconnaissance for the customs across our borders,” Agba added.

He said the sum of N45.9 billion was also approved as augmentation for the cost of contracts for the construction of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (NDIC) Head office Building in Abuja and Lagos, including its training institute in Lagos.

“The augmentation amount is a total of N45, 937, 319, 279.44.

There are three different projects here; the first one is the NDIC Head Office Annex project in Abuja, the Lagos Office project and the Lagos Training Centre project in Lekki-Lagos,” he said.

Agba also disclosed that the Council further gave approval for the implementation of the Nigerian Customs Service Modernization Project.

He said the concessionaire is Bergman Securities Consultant and Suppliers Limited as the project sponsor, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as lead financier while Huawei Technologies will be trained as lead technical service provider.

He said the concessionaire has furnished the government with $9 million  security from the satisfactory performance of the project. They have also executed the depth facility tensions in the some of $300 million to finance the first phase of the project.

During his briefing, the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, said the council approved the phase two of the electronic Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (e-NSITF), which will enable concessionaires to upgrade the infrastructure for N15 billion.

Ngige also said the FEC approved the amendment of obsolete laws in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) standard.

He said, “The second memo is the memo or what we call the electronic NSITF, Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund. Nigeria now operates the old Workmen Compensation Act, which is now Employee Compensation Act 2010.