THE Federal Executive Council approved, yesterday, the procurement of more patrol vehicles for the operations of the Military Task Force in the Niger Delta region and declared that the wanton blood letting in the region was under control. Vice President Atiku Abubakar was absent at the meeting for the third time in as many weeks.
Information and National Orientation Minister, Mr Frank Nweke, with whom was his Water Resources counterpart, Alhaji Muktar Shagari, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting and said the Council felt that with the situation in the Niger Delta area now under control, there was the urgent need to strengthen the security system in the area.
He said government also approved the strengthening of the operations of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) through the procurement of 73 customised double deck 4×4 wheel-drive vehicles at a cost of N155 million.
A recent one-day forum organised to assess the performance of the ailing commission, he said, discovered that it was not adequately catered for, which was responsible for the inefficient operation of the agency lately.
Water Resources minister, Alhaji Shagari, said the meeting also approved the Onitsha Augmentation Water Project, which would involve the rehabilitation of eight very large, and nine large bore-holes that would produce about 180 million litres of water daily for one million people. He said the project, which will cost over N1.2 billion, is being backed up by the 2006 budget while additional N900 million would be provided for it in the 2007 budget.
He said the Otamiri Water project would cater for at least six local government areas in Rivers State and would be commissioned within three months.
Shagari also said the Gurara National Water project would be completed by February and commissioned in April while the multi billion naira Azare water works in Bauchi State is now ready for commissioning.
Another decision reached at FEC, according to the minister, was the approval for the release of $10 million for the immediate take off of the Computer-For-All scheme, which was initiated September, last year.
When operational, the project would enable public servants in Nigeria acquire desktops and laptops at a subsidised rate of about N80,000 and N90,000 each respectively.
He further said the meeting also approved the provision of engineering infrastructure at the Bwari Satellite Town at a cost of N13.1 billion which will be completed within 24 months, as part of the presidential directive that new Satellite towns be established in Bwari, Karshi and Kubwa among others in the FCT.
The FEC, he added, had approved the designing of the dualisation of nine federal major roads across the country, including the sections I and II of the Owo-Ipele-Oluku roads in Ondo and Edo states at the cost of N77.9 and N56.9 million respectively.
Sections I and II of the Abaji-Lokoja road were also approved for dualisation design at the cost of N97.8 and N76.8 million respectively; while the sections I and II of the Auchi-Benin road design also received the green light at the cost of N93 and N77.8 million respectively.
Other road projects approved were the rehabilitation of the Kano-Katsina and Enugu-Makurdi among others.