Federal Gov’t Approves €443.3m, $141m For 6 Fighter Aircraft, Ammunition

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the acquisition of credit facilities for the procurement of fighter aircraft and ammunition for the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Wednesday, following the Council’s meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Standing in for the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, who is on official duty in the United States, Idris provided details of the FEC approvals.

“The first one is that there have been approvals for some contracts, about seven of them for the Nigerian Custom Service,” Idris said.

He added: “The next one is an approval for an agreement for the elimination of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.”

He further noted, “The third one is an approval to obtain a credit facility in the sum of €443,330,781.49 and another $141 million from a group of financiers for the procurement of six units of M346 fighter aircraft and ammunition for the Nigerian Air Force.”

Additionally, the Council approved a double taxation agreement between Nigeria and Botswana.

In another development, the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism, and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, revealed that FEC has approved the establishment of the Creative Economy Fund.

“FEC gave approval for the creation of a Creative Economy Development Fund. This is a special purpose vehicle that will allow members within the creative economy to have access to funding and use their IP as collateral in terms of monetisation,” Musawa explained.

She highlighted the critical need for structural reforms in the sector, saying, “We identified very early on that the very basic structures in order for us to really tap into the potential of the creative economy were missing. So, we got to work in putting up those structures.”

Musawa added, “We are working together with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and the Ministry of Justice to ensure that we deliver an IP policy, hopefully within the next two weeks.”

The Minister also disclosed that the Afrexim Bank has committed $200 million to support the fund.

“This is a special purpose vehicle that will allow us to give this funding to members within the community.

“And hopefully, we’ll be able to really tap into the potential and reach our targets of economic expansion, creative expansion, cultural expansion, and of course, job creation, specifically for the younger demographic,” she stated.