…says can’t deliver Eastern railway corridor before end of administration
NOSA EGHAGHA
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), has approved at least N13.32bn for life assurance packages for 318,319 personnel of the Nigeria Police Force from October 26, 2022 to October 26, 2023.
Addressing State House Correspondents after the FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, the Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, said the package is aimed at encouraging men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force to do more in protecting the lives and property of Nigerians.
“I submitted one very important memo to the Federal Executive Council, which has to do with the award of contract for the engagement of insurance underwriters and brokers for the coverage of group life assurance scheme for the Nigerian Police Force for the year 2022-2023 in the total sum of N13,321,742,038.83.
“This is going to cover our Police population of 318,319, officers and men. The Federal Executive Council has graciously approved this memo and it will take effect from Oct. 26, 2022, to Oct. 26, 2023.”
According to the minister, the essence of the group life assurance scheme is to encourage the police officers and men who have been working hard to ensure the security of lives and property across the country.
Also speaking, the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, said that the Federal Government’s promise to construct the $1.96b narrow guage Eastern railway corridor for the South-East region before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, was no longer feasible.
Recall that the President, had two years ago, performed the groundbreaking of the $1.96 billion rail line project, assuring that it would stimulate economic activities in 14 states it covers.
The then Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, had said that the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri line would be delivered before the end of the tenure of the present administration.
However, his successor, who spoke on the issue while briefing journalists, explained that financing the project has become an issue because of government’s inability to access foreign loan, which was to serve as counterpart funding for the project.
“Now, the eastern line is the line from Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, it has been segmented in such a way that the first part of the works covers from Port Harcourt to Enugu. The truth of the matter is that if there was a promise to deliver this line before the end of this administration, this promise is no longer feasible, because when the contract was approved, it was approved on the premise that 85 per cent will be funded through foreign loan, while 15 per cent will be the counterpart funding for the national budget.
“Since that approval, we have not been able to obtain that 85 percent foreign loans for this project. We have been funding it through the national budget on the bases of the 15 percent counterpart funding of the Federal Government; and therefore, funding has been a major challenge for this project.”
Sambo said that the Federal Government has not been able to obtain the foreign counterpart funding embedded in the project, making it impossible to fund it as envisaged.
Also, the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, revealed that the Council approved N3.4 billion for the restoration of power supply to Maiduguri, Borno.
“As you are aware, Maiduguri got disconnected from the national grid due to activities of insurgents. They have been disconnected for over 24 months.
“About nine months ago or thereabout, we were able to supply Maiduguri through an old line which we resuscitated through the effort of the Borno State Government’s Rural Electrification Agency and the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
“They resuscitated a single line of 33KV from Damaturu, Yobe State, and through that we took a very small quantity of electricity which could only give electricity on the 11KV line.
“So, we are now trying to supply through another new line, a double circuit 33KV which can take up to around 40 Megawatts from the Damaturu 330 substation.
“This is at a cost of N3,164,293,880 plus N250,000 million for security and other logistics.”
The minister further revealed that 23.9 million dollars was approved for the construction of power substations in Geidam, Yobe, and Zing in Taraba.
He further disclosed that his Ministry got approval for the construction of five multi-million dollar one-line power substations in Birnin Kudu, Babura and Kazaure in Jigawa; Nguru, Yobe; Oro, Kwara and a 22-kilometre transmission line passing through Birnin Kudu- Misau-Ningi–Azare in Jigawa and Bauchi States.
