The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N28.1 billion for the augmentation of road and infrastructural projects in the Wasa District of the federal capital territory (FCT).
The council gave the approval on Wednesday in a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, said the augmentation was a ripple effect of inflation, which had overtaken the initial approval of N56 billion for the Wasa district projects.
“The initial contract for that project was awarded in 2014 at the sum of N56 billion but as time went by and due to inflation and some other factors, we had to vary the contract and the price to reflect current realities and that is the reason why the augmentation request was presented to council and council approved,” he said.
Bello said the total project sum was N85 billion with a completion period of 42 months.
The council also ordered the buyers of two seized properties in Lagos to pay the government the cost of the prevailing price in 2001 when they were purchased.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said N18 million and N20 million were to be paid for the Lagos-based properties earlier purchased for N5 million and N2 million, respectively.
He said the government was short-paid in the transaction.
“They were properties sold as a result of prosecution for narcotics by NDLEA. So, they were proceeds of drug crimes, but the valuation process followed the NDLEA Act instead of the Financial Regulations Act. So essentially, those policy proposals were approved by the government,” he said.
“The addresses of the properties, the first one is a four-bedroom bungalow with two room boys’ quarters at Adeniyi Jones in Ikeja Lagos, and the other one was a five-bedroom duplex with two room boys’ quarters at Amadasun street, GRA Ikoyi, so they were sold for N5m and N2m respectively in 2001.
“At that time, the valuation we got was that if they were properly valued, they should have been sold for N18m and N20m respectively.”
He noted that the NDLEA Act of the time gave precedence to the directives from the ministry of justice and regulations were made according to powers under the act.
He said, “But they did not take cognisance of the procurement law and the financial regulations of the time.
“So, we are now saying, going forward, the financial regulations must take precedence. So, those are all proposals that will come as a new law when the Ministry of Finance finishes with them so that you cannot have different regulations for the disposal of assets that have been forfeited to the government. They must be subject to one superior procedure.”
The minister also said the council approved a policy recommendation to extend the usage life of government assets such as plants, equipment, land, property and machinery.
“The purpose of the policy memorandum was to seek better enforcement of the financial regulations of the government, especially the revised 2009 regulations with regards to valuation process for plants, equipment, land, property and machinery, and also how they are disposed of when they reach the end of life,” Fashola said.
“This policy is premised on Executive Order 11 that enthrones maintenance as a conscious government policy. And we think that because of that, government assets should last longer than the life cycle usually prescribed in the existing financial regulations, such as four years and nine years for other classes of machinery.
“The other context behind the policy was also to help the government manage expenditure in the face of revenue challenges on certain items of governance. For example, if you slow down the depreciation policy on vehicles, your replacement rate slows down as well.”
He added that with the new approval, the depreciation threshold for vehicles would change from four to six years.
Group tackles Natasha over call for drug test on senators
Some indigenes of Kogi West Senatorial District on Sunday, rose in defence of their senator, Sunday Karimi over the verbal tirade between him and Mrs Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the embattled Senator of Kogi Central who is currently on suspension from the national assembly, noting that her call for periodic drug tests was apt and self-indicting.
The indigenes said the embattled senator’s advice was in order, considering the fact that her conduct since she refused to obey a simple sitting arrangement rule at the Senate, had truly called for a drug test to ascertain if she was free from the influence of substance.
The constituents were responding to a statement by the embattled Senator, where she called for periodic drug tests for senators, in response to a statement by Karimi.
Their reaction came through a statement signed by the Chairman, Kogi West Patriotic Assembly, Ayodele Joshua, PhD; and Secretary, Kareem Adigun.
Senator Karimi had said former Governor Yahaya Bello had been vindicated by the embarassment Akpoti-Uduaghan had brought on the Senate and Nigeria as a whole.
The Kogi West Indigenes, who swiftly rose in his defence after Akpoti-Uduaghan’s response, told him not to engage in a war of words with her, stating that they were well positioned to give the embattled Senator the right response.
“Our attention has been drawn to a rejoinder by the suspended Senator representing Kogi Central in the National Assembly, Mrs. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, to Senator Sunday Karimi’s comments on her conduct at the National Assembly, which recommended drug tests for serving senators.
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Taraba police spokesman Abdullahi Usman is dead
The Taraba State Police Public Relations Officer, Abdullahi Usman, has passed away after a protracted illness.
Usman died in the early hours of Sunday at his residence in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, after serving as spokesman of the command for the last three years.
Gambo Kwache, who is the acting spokesperson of the Command, confirmed the death of the PPRO to journalists on Sunday.
“I woke up and saw several missed calls on my phone and a message, stating that Oga is dead. I will call you, let me get there first,” Kwache stated.
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Also, a close friend of the late Usman, Mr. Ahmed Manga, confirmed the death of the PPRO.
Manga, who spoke to our correspondent through the phone of the PPRO, said Usman died at about 5am on Sunday.
“He was sick, although not much, until last night, when he started struggling with the sickness. We wanted to take him to the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Jalingo.
“Before we could get there, he died on the way. He was later confirmed dead when we arrived at the FMC,” he said.
Manga said Usman will be buried on Sunday afternoon according to Islamic rites.
Court refers Ojukwu property case to alternative dispute resolution
Justice Adedayo Oyebanji of a Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, TBS, has referred to Multudoor Court House, the suit filed by Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL) over an alleged N12 million rent owed it by West African Offshore Limited for 13 years.
OTL, in the suit, claimed that West African Offshore Limited’s lease expired in 2012 and that the company has not paid rent to it since then.
At the resumed sitting of the court on March 10, Justice Oyebanji took all pending applications.
Justice Oyebanji however referred to the multi-door, the issue of West African Offshore Limited (Uche Obilor) whose lease expired in 2012 and had not paid OTL since then.
In the suit, Maple Petrochemicals (owned by Kwara Governor Abdurahman Abdurazak) which is also a party in the dispute, filed an application requesting the court to restrain OTL which had executed warrant on its 14 Probyn Road, Ikoyi property in 2022.
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The warrant was executed on the property following a 2018 judgment delivered by the court.
Afamefuna and Nwachukwu Ojukwu through their best friend, Bianca Ojukwu, who had filed an application to withdraw an earlier one seeking to join were not in court neither were their lawyers.
However, OTL Director,
Dr P Ike Ojukwu, the company’s counsel, Ifeanyi Okumah and Massey Udegbe, OTL Estate agents were in court.
In another case where Bianca and sons had instituted Form 49 contempt proceedings against the Ojukwus/OTL and some tenants, the trial judge, Justice A. M Lawal, upon request by the plaintiffs’ lawyer, for more time to respond to some applications before the court, adjourned the matter till June 16.
The case, LD/1539/2012 in which judgment was delivered in 2022 had Bianca suing OTL on behalf of her sons who at the time were minors.
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