The federal government has explained why it is signing huge volumes of contract just 18 days to the end of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
This is even as Federal Executive Council considered some 37 memoranda, some of which were approved and for which an aggregate of N327.34 billion was earmarked.
According to the government, it has continued to entertain and approve such huge volumes of multibillion naira contracts because it is the duty of the administration to continue working for Nigerians until its very last day in office.Ministers who addressed correspondents after the week’s council meeting, presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential villa, Abuja, managed to justify the reason for the large volumes of contracts being churned out in the last days of the administration.
The senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, who coordinated the post-FEC briefing, described the day’s session as a very busy one, saying “it’s been a very long day for everyone, 37 agenda items were considered for today’s meeting. Quite extraordinary”.
However, when journalists queried the need for turning out so many contracts when the administration is meant to be rounding off its activities and books, two of the six ministers addressing the briefing; minister of transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, and his water resources counterpart, Sulaiman Adamu, said it was not out of place to have such activities in the final days of an administration.
According to Sambo, “this government was elected to function from 2019 to precisely 29th May 2023. Should we now stop functioning one month before the next government because we’re coming to the end of the tenure?
“This government must work. We expect the next government to also work until the very last day of their tenure”, he said.
Backing Sambo’s explanation up, Adamu said besides the fact that the administration was inaugurated to serve Nigerians till its very last day, besides the fact that the incoming administration is expected to start off where the incumbent would sign off.
“If I may add, there are processes and this process has started. We’re still operating the 2022 budget, we have agencies. These things are not just done in one day. We had lots of submissions to BPP to ICRC, all the agencies involved in the procurement, and they have to get ready.
“So, anytime they’re ready, it’s at that point that we have to submit. And like the Minister of Transportation said, we’re still in office technically until the 28th of May. So, we still have to operate and this is the instruction that we have from Mr. President.
“Since the elections were conducted, that government must continue to function regardless of elections and so on. And so we’re just doing our duty as we should serve in the country.
“We do not control the process, but when it’s completed and we’re still in office, we’re duty-bound to bring these memos to Council for Council to approve. Government is a continuum. There are still a lot of memos.
“I can assure you a lot of contracts will not see the light of day in the next one week or two. And for those, we don’t have any option but to let the process continue and then for the next government to come and continue. That’s what we face also.
“Some of the very first memos we brought to council in 2015, for me, I had no idea when they started, but I had to be briefed on, this was the the way that it had to be and then we were brought in here. So, government is a continuum. And it should be seen as such.
“I think this administration should be given that full credit because, to a large extent, we have continued since 2015, to implement projects and programs that we didn’t initiate that which, in our assessment, were good for the country. We continued them, we didn’t jettison them, and we’re confident that the incoming administration will do the same”, he said.
During his briefing presidential spokesman,Shehu further announced that of N90 billion was approved for the completion of various roads totaling over N125 billion.
He also said N10.3 billion was approved for the construction of a multi-story office complex of the Federal Inland Revenue Service in Lagos, as well as over N33 billion for the completion of some major roads in Borno, Adamawa, Kogi, Delta, Ondo, Ogun and Benue States.
On his part,the minister of industry, trade and investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, disclosed that Council approved of three key policies aimed at driving economic growth and attracting domestic and international investors.
According to him, policies included the Nigeria Investment Policy (2023-2027), the Nigeria Automotive Industry Development Plan (2023-2033), and the Trade Policy of Nigeria (2023-2027).
He highlighted the significance of these policies in stimulating investment, strengthening the automotive sector, and enhancing trade, with the ultimate goal of bolstering the nation’s economy and increasing revenue.
During his briefing, the Minister of Sports and Youths Development, Sunday Dare, said Council approved N2.4 billion for the construction of a National Sports Medicine and High Performance Center at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
“The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development presented just one memo. The memo has to do with the National Sports Medicine and High Performance Center and the construction of a High Performance Center at the Package B of the Moshood Abiola Stadium.
“Over time in the last past decades, one of the drawbacks of sports development and athletes development has been the lack of a high performance center. Global sports development practice has High Performance Center as a major component of conditioning its athletes, it takes your athletes beyond just raw talent to some level of sports science and precision.
“The lack of that scientific input into our sports development over time has not helped us to reach the maximum podium performance that can be attained by athletes”, he said.
Also, the minister of agriculture and rural development, Mahmood Abubakar, disclosed that council approved the National Dairy Policy to regulate Nigeria’s dairy industry to satisfy demand for milk and other products.
“The memorandum presented to Council today was to seek Council approval for the draft National Dairy Policy to regulate the Nigerian dairy industry by providing a framework and guiding principles for the development of an efficient dairy sub sector to satisfy the national demand for milk and dairy products.
“We have always been talking about food security, but we realize that food and nutrition security goes hand in hand”, he stated.
For the Ministry of Transportation,Sambo said the council approved N4.3 billion for the procurement of security gadgets for the Nigeria Railway Corporation.
He said the equipment include scanners, metal and bomb detectors and narcotics detectors among others explaining that the gadgets will help improve security in the rail transportation segment in the wake of rising security challenges.
He also informed that council approved a total sum of N8.6 billion for the purchase of houses that will serve as office accommodation for the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in Port Harcourt and Abuja.
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