The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday approved sundry contracts in various sums totalling N31billion.
The contract includes the construction of internal roads and drainages for the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), gas hub located at Paloco in Bayelsa State, to Black Springs limited
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva while briefing State House journalists after the weekly meeting of the Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, said the gas hub is to encourage the development of companies that will process our gas and develop our gas and to deepen the use of gas internally and to be able to process gas for export and to also construct cylinders.
The contract valued at N2.044b, will be for infrastructure development for the companies in the gas hub, including Shell Nigeria gas company and Roll gas company located in the hub.
“So these drainages and roads and the developments in that hub are expected to encourage more companies to come into that hub to be able to deepen and develop the gas economy in the hub. This is in furtherance of commitments to the decade of gas as declared by Mr. President, from 2021-2030,” Sylva said.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello said the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), got approval for the revised estimated total cost of the contract for the provision of engineering infrastructure to Wasa Affordable Housing District in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“Council augmented the cost of the project to be completed in 42 months by N28,117,904,027.00 from the sum of N56,925,048,940.98 approved in 2014 to a new contract figure of N85,042,952,967.98 . The District has a total area of 367.11 hectares,” Bello said.
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Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola also revealed that FEC approved its policy memorandum that seeks better enforcement of the financial regulations of the government, especially the revised 2009 regulations with regards to valuation process for plants, equipment, land, property and machinery.
“This policy is premised against the context of the Executive Order 11 that enthrones maintenance, as a conscious government policy,” Fashola said.
“Government assets should last longer than the life cycle usually prescribed in the existing financial regulations, such as four years and nine years for other classes of machineries.
“The other context behind the policy was also in order to help the government manage expenditure in the face of revenue challenges on certain items of governance, on which the government can spend less if, as a result of policies, the government takes certain actions.
“For example, if you slow down the depreciation policy on vehicles, for example, your replacement rate slows down, as well. So we propose for the council to adopt policies to change the depreciation threshold from four years to six years for vehicles.
“We also proposed that plant and machinery should now be depreciated over a period of up to 10 years instead of what currently exists in the financial regulations.”
The minister said it was proposed that ministries, departments and agencies, heads of the Ministry as accounting officers and ministers must sign off on requests for valuation of properties, especially when agencies are trying to buy properties.
He noted that sometimes ministers are not even aware, as permanent secretaries make proposals for acquisition of those types of assets.
“They should go to the Ministry of Finance, who is in charge of making the financial regulations in order to effect the necessary relation,” Fashola said.
“Finally, we also proposed that the government approves the sale of two properties, at the 2001 rates, which were 18 and 20 million at the time, those were the market values of those properties, but they were sold at 5 million and 2 million in 2001.
“So we have said that the government should approve, that the buyer should pay the open market rate at that time in order to consummate the transaction.
“They were properties sold as a result of the prosecution for narcotics by NDLEA, so they were proceeds of drugs, but the valuation process followed the NDLEA Act instead of the financial regulations. So, essentially those policy proposals were approved by the council.“
