The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N348.59 billion for the road linking Akwanga though Jos to Gombe.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
He was with the Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu.
According to Fashola, the project which will be completed in 48 months, covers 420.6 kilometers.
He said “FEC approved N348.594 billion contract for the construction of 420.6 kilometers Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe road. The project scope is the expansion of the current two-lane highway into a dual carriage way.
“What is significant about it is that it completes the integration of the north central with the south east and the north east.
“Council had previously approved the Abuja-Keffi Road and the Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi Road all in the north central. In May this year, Council had also approved Nineth Mile Enugu to Makurdi road that connects the south east to the north central.
“That completes the spine of the major movement of agro produce and other related produce. The construction period is 48 months.” he said
The Council (FEC) also approved N12.104 billion for ecological projects across the country.
Femi Adesina said that the approval covers twelve projects in the country.
He listed the states for the projects to include Anambra, Lagos, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Plateau and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Kachikwu said that the Council approved the installation of technology monitoring schemes and structures under Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) at a total sum of N17 billion.
According to him, it is for automated fuel system management and censor network.
He said “The narrative is that we have all struggled with this whole subsidy payment and how much is consumed in Nigeria, volumes of products moved out illegally and the whole impact on FAAC accounts.
“The President has given a very serious mandate that we ought to rein in on this process. The essence of what PEF is doing is that this will enable us track refined petroleum product movement from the point of LC (letter of credit) opening from the vessels that come into Nigeria, up until the point where they are discharged into tanks in Nigeria, and from the tanks into trucks in Nigeria, monitor the trucks till they deliver the products into the storage tanks for the filling stations and they are discharged and sold.
“So, that will produce a 100 percent wholistic monitoring of this production. For the first time we will be able to tell how much petroleum products we consume in this country. Because, there has been so much going on in terms of the movement of consumption numbers from thirty something million liters a day to 70 million liters to 18 million liters a day during the difficult times.
“And the challenge the president has given me is to rein that in, let’s know what we consume in reality, let’s know where these products are going and this process will be able to track every truck.
“So, a typical truck will be licensed with a driver, with a transport company, so if a truck misses, you can find the transporter and the company that takes responsibility.
“So we expect this to be over a period of three years but we promise that within one year, the real effects of this will begin to show. Obviously you need time to train and to continue to improve the system. We hope that by the time we start doing the 2020 budget in 2019, we would have gotten to a point where a lot of the losses that you are seeing are being tracked and substantially impact will be made in monies that come into the federation accounts.
“It will help us keep proper data repository of consumption in this country, destruction, data on all trucks that operate, total number of products received, what is sold out of filling stations and it is going to be a collaborative system that involves NNPC, DPR and PPPRA but situate quite frankly in PEF.” he said
According to him, FEC also approved the revision of contract for the construction of NCMB’s headquarters in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
He said that the project, which was awarded in 2015 at the sum of about N27 billion was on Wednesday revised to N42 billion.
He said “It is one of the dramatic skyline in Yenagoa and has gone quite substantially far. This reasons for this increase was largely due to foreign exchange variables determinant which was initially about N157 to a dollar but today it is N305 to a dollar and still counting.
“The whole idea is for contract to be completed. It is a 24 month contract and fairly far gone. We hope that once that is done, NCMB will stop paying rent in the series of buildings that it rented in Yenagoa.
“But most important, the whole glamour of the south south states during the Vice President visit to the Niger Delta with me and the minister of Niger Delta was largely to see oil companies during foot hold in some of these south south states. The building is larger than what the NCMB needs and already talks are on with AGIP and a few of them who want to position their presence very effectively in some of these areas.
“If we continue at this pace of construction, Mr. President should be able to commission that building between the end of this year and early next year,” he said.