The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the construction of several concrete roads across the country and the demolition of Lagos Carter Bridge for reconstruction. Minister of Works David Umahi, who briefed newsmen after the Council meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu yesterday at the Presidential Villa, also disclosed that there would be commissioning of four completed projects per zone by May 15.
Among road projects approved were the Suleja-Minna Road previously handled by Salini Construction Company. “The company did a bit of the job about 10 kilometres, and it was about 91 kilometres from Suleja to Minna.
But it failed almost as they were doing it,” He said the failed contractor has been dragged to the ICPC for recovery of funds adding that a N91 billion contract.for.one of the carriageway has been awarded to CGC.
For the Carter Bridge, the Minister disclosed that a consultancy contract for the design and costing has been awarded to Advanced Engineering Consultants at the cost of N5.6 billion.
He added that the Council approved the retooling of the 132 km Kano–Kongolam Road—a 2022 tax credit project spanning Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina states—from asphalt to a secure three-lane (12m wide) concrete carriageway with solar lights, tree planting, and CCTV. “Because of this security there, the project could not take off.
And so when we came on board, we had to review the project and rephrase it, instead of doing the entire 132 kilometres by two, so we decided to take one carriageway by three lanes… 132 kilometre scoped for N334 billion,” the minister explained.
The 103 kilometre Ibadan–Ife–Ilesa dual carriageway, inherited with minimal progress, got a fresh N427 billion award after review, noting Osun State’s 5- kilometre contribution.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Isiaq Salako, said the Council approved a memo that covered the procurement of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to sustain the presidential treatment programme for people living with HIV/AIDS. Salako highlighted Nigeria’s free-drug policy, noting recent concerns: “We know that Nigeria has a policy of providing free drugs to people living with HIV and AIDS. And earlier in the year, there was some anxiety that Nigeria was going to run out of ARV.”
The second memo approved was to upgrade cancer treatment centres. “The second memo is to replace, upgrade, and provide training for cancer treatments in six of our cancer centres, one per geopolitical zone, so that radiotherapy, which is an essential part of cancer treatment, can continue in these centres. And this has also been approved by effect today,” Salako said.
