Business
FEC approves N87billion for construction of roads
FEC approved N87 billion to upscale the country’s road infrastructure across geo-political zones.
The Federal Executive Council has approved N87 billion to upscale the country’s road infrastructure in the North-Central, South-west, middle belt and South-South geo-political zones.
This was disclosed by the Ministers of FCT and Works and Housing, Muhammad Bello and Babatunde Fashola, respectively after the Council met on Wednesday at the State House, Abuja.
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The funds would be used to construct:
• A road linking Shehu Yar’adua Way with the Kubwa Expressway in the Federal Capital Territory.
• Oyo–Ogbomosho and,
• the Loko – Oweto bridge.
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The FCT Minister explained that the road linking Shehu Yar’adua Way with the Kubwa Expressway in the Federal Capital Territory, would serve the adjourning districts of Mabushi, Kado, Katampe and Jahi as well as generally enhance overall decongestion of traffic in phases I, II, III and IV of the FCT development plan, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
What they are saying
Muhammad Bello said, “During the FEC meeting of today, there was an approval of a contract for the full-scale development of arterial road which we call N-20, which is the road that is linking Shehu Musa Yar’Adua way, also called the northern park way, with the Murtala Mohammed way, popularly known as the Kubwa expressway.
“This project involves the full-scale construction of that road, including a number of bridges and the normal telecommunication, power and water lines in line with the general standard of roads in the FCT.
“It is a contract of N30, 686, 609, 000, with a completion period of 32 months and the project is within phase II of the federal capital city.”
Fashola disclosed that the two memoranda presented by his ministry were also approved by the Council.
He said, “The first one related to the Oyo-Ogbomosho highway, which is the 52-kilometer part of the Ilorin – Ibadan 145-kilometer highway. The remaining part is the Oyo to Ogbomosho part which is 52 kilometers.
“We needed to adjust some things in the scope of work, the thickness of the pavement from 500mm to 560mm to also change the asphalt to polymer-modified bitumen and also the shoulders from surface dressing to fully asphalted inside and outside shoulder.”
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Speaking on the second project he said: “The second similar project we are trying complete is the Loko-Oweto Bridge. That is the bridge across the River Benue that links Nasarawa and Benue states and provides a major time-saving detour, about four hours, for people trying to come from south-south, Benue, through to Nasarawa to Abuja.
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“So, the approval given today was a N9.348 billion variation to complete the bridge component or remaining work on the bridge.”
Business
AfCFTA to reduce illegal gold mining in Nigeria – Minister of Mines
The Minister of Mines and Steel says that illegal gold mining would be stemmed by the implementation of AfCFTA.
The Nigerian Government announced that the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would help reduce illegal mining in the country and also standardize Mining practices in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, at the NAN forum in Abuja on Sunday.
The Minister disclosed that the mining sector was ignored by the Federal Government after oil was discovered, which made it possible for artisanal miners to venture into the sector.
“Right now, many Nigerians are into artisanal mining and this was caused by the fact that when oil was discovered, Nigeria moved away from mining, which was the mainstream of the economy.
“Before oil and gas, Nigeria relied on coal and tin; we were exporting and were indeed, quoted on the London Metal Exchange.
“And that is basically what was giving Nigeria money in those days before oil came but when oil came, we moved away. We left mining behind,” he said.
He added that the most mined commodity in Nigeria by artisanal miners is gold, which has created a lucrative black market for international buyers. He also said that with the AfCFTA, documentation of mining exports would be required, reducing illegal outflows.
“Gold is the most traded mineral in Nigeria and these people mine gold and get nuggets. There are several thousands of such miners, when you aggregate what they mine, it comes in large volume and several kilos of gold,” he said.
“To know the extent of the money they make in the gold business, they hire private jets to take them out illegally because they realise a lot of money.
“At the rate gold is selling, one ounce of gold is selling for $2,200 and by the time you carry a thousand kilogrammes, you are making several billions of naira.
“But with AfCFTA coming into effect, we hope that other countries will cooperate with Nigeria because now it is a free trade but there is documentation,” he added.
The Minister said that with AfCFTA going into effect, the FG hopes it will help stem the problem because Nigeria is supposed to trade freely with Africa with documentation.
“We hope that other countries will cooperate with Nigeria. I will not allow such illegal activity to go on within those countries,” he said.
In case you missed it: Nairametrics also reported that the Mining Minister said a Nigerian-Canadian company, mining gold in Nigeria’s Osun State looks set to commence the exportation of gold in June this year.
Business
Insecurity: Nigeria needs to increase military spending – Senator Ali Ndume
Ndume has called on the FG to increase military funding so as to contain the rising insecurity in the country.
