THE Federal Government approved N33.81bn for the award of various contracts for projects in the Ministries of Works and Housing; Industry, Trade and Investments, and Justice in Abuja on Wednesday.
This includes N1.07bn for the procurement of eye-scanning lie detectors and night-vision goggles for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Niyi Adebayo, disclosed this to state house correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting, which was presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking on the two memos presented by the Justice Ministry, Malami said the first memo sought to procure eye-scanning lie detectors for investigation purposes.
The second memo, he said, sought the procurement of digital night vision goggles for its nocturnal operations when hunting down drug cartels.
He said, “Two memos were presented this afternoon by the Federal Ministry of Justice on behalf of and at the instance of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. One, it was a memo seeking the approval of the council for the award of a contract for the supply of an eye-scanning lie detector.
“So, to enhance the capacity of the NDLEA in exterminating illicit drugs trafficking, sales and consumption, the Federal Government has considered the need and possibility of indeed providing this equipment to NDLEA.
“On that account, the Council approved the award of contract for the supply of eye-scanning lie detector by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency in the sum of N498,850,000 only, inclusive of 7.5 per cent VAT with a completion period of 90 days.
In the second memo, he said “the contract too was presented for consideration of the council and the council has approved the award of the contract with the supply of digital night vision goggles by the national drug law enforcement agency in the sum of N570,825,000 only, inclusive of 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax with a completion period of 12 weeks.”
Minister of Works and Housing, Fashola, revealed that the first memo approved for his ministry was meant to augment the contract of the Zaria-Funtua section of the Zaria-Sokoto-Birnin-Kebbi highway.
The N9.44bn augmentation now puts the contract cost at N16.92bn.
He said, “The augmentation caters for an extension of the scope of works on that section from 26 kilometres to a total of 64 kilometres. It also caters for the improvement of the pavement from a laterite-based pavement to a cement-based, concrete-mixed, stone-base pavement.
“It also makes provision for extensive drainage works to accommodate increasing rain flow and flooding patterns that we have observed in the last few years. Council approved that memorandum.”
Explaining details of memos presented for his ministry, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Niyi Adebayo, revealed that the council approved infrastructure contracts in one of six special economic to be created by the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority in Lekki.
