The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a contract for the dredging of the Warri Escravos seaport.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, stated this while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the cabinet meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Amaechi said the approval was sequel to a memo presented by his ministry. Earlier, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman, had said the project would fundamentally change the fortunes of Warri ports.
“It’ll expand the utilization of our eastern ports, we believe in the need to ensure that all port locations are given the seamless access by providing dredging works and that is what we are here to do today,” she added.
She said the procurement of the dredging works for the Calabar port had also reached an advanced state. “We inherited a system that did not go through the relevant processes which we terminated. We’re now almost concluding Calabar and we’ll also come and seek Federal Executive Council’s consideration for that.”
Usman said that NPA had been able to ensure transparency and eliminate corrupt practices, adding that the agency had been able to block revenue leakages and have seamless accounting processes by ensuring payment of debts and compliance with the Treasury Single Account.
She however, said corruption was fighting back all the time as “we have had instances where corruption is pushing back and we’ve remained resolute with the support of Mr. President in assisting us to fight corrupt practices in the Nigerian Ports Authority.”
The Federal Executive Council also approved road projects worth N47 billion. Addressing State House reporters later, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said N19.392 billion was approved for the 44.625km Baban Lamba-Sharam Road in Plateau State.
He said that the council also approved N22 billion revised rate for the 81km Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Road awarded in 2000. Fashola said N6.309 billion was approved for the section four of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Road.
The Minister of Interior, Abdurrahman Dambazzau, said the cabinet approved N234 million for the completion of cadet mess and cafeteria for the Police Academy in Kano.