Insecurity: FEC Approves €443.3m, $141m Facility to Procure Fighter Jets, Ammunition

*Okays establishment of creative economy fund

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday gave the federal government the go-ahead to obtain credit facilities from financiers for the procurement of fighter jets and ammunition for the Nigerian Air Force.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this to newsmen after the Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
This is just as the Council also approved the establishment of the Creative Economy Fund to ensure the deepening of the sector and creation of jobs.

Idris, who offered to stand in for the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said t that there had also been approvals for some contracts, about seven of them for the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS).
“ The next one is that there’s an approval for an agreement for the elimination of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and prevention of tax evasion and avoidance between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.

“The third one is an approval to obtain a credit facility in a sum of 443,330,781.49 Euros and another 141 million US dollars from a group of financiers for the procurement of six units of M346 fighter aircraft and ammunition for the Nigerian Air Force.
“And the last one from the Federal Ministry of Finance is the approval for signing of an agreement for the elimination of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Botswana,” the minister said.

Also briefing, Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, told newsmen that FEC gave approval for the creation of a Creative Economy Development Fund which is a special purpose vehicle that will allow members within the creative economy to have access to funding and use their IP as collateral in terms of monetisation.

“We identified very early on that the very basic structures in order for us to really tap into the potential of the creative economy was missing.

“So, we got to work in putting up those structures. IP policy is one of those very basic structures that was missing. We are working together with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and with the Ministry of Justice to ensure that we deliver IP policy, hopefully within maximum, at the very last phase, within the next two weeks.

“This is a special purpose vehicle that will give them funding that will be able to allow us to leverage funding that we’re getting. We already have commitment, for example, from Afrexim Bank that has committed to giving us $200 million and a number of other sources.

“So, this is a special purpose vehicle that will allow us to give this funding to members within the community. And hopefully, we’ll be able to really tap into the potential and reach our targets of economic expansion, creative expansion, cultural, expansion of course job creation, specifically for younger demographic,” she said.

Also, FEC approved a total of N78.350 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of the Buruku/Gboko Water Supply project in Benue State and the Greater Dutse Water Supply Project in Jigawa State.

Water Resources and Sanitation Minister, Prof Joseph Utsev, who disclosed this to newsmen said “FEC approved the award of contract for construction of the Greater Dutse Water Supply Project in Jigawa State at the total contract sum of ₦59,457,319,900.94.

“Council also approved the award of contract for the Rehabilitation of the Buruku/Gboko Water Supply Project in Benue State at the total sum of ₦18,893,279,411.42″.

According to him, both water supply schemes will be powered by Solar energy systems as a deliberate effort to reduce carbon emissions and the impact of climate change.

His words: “In today’s FEC meeting, council approved the award of contract for the construction of Greater Dutse water supply project in Jigawa State and this is aimed at serving about  1.5 million people of Jigawa State.

“This will be powered using Solar energy to reduce carbon dioxide emission. As you know,  this is a key factor in bringing about climate change. So, with the introduction of solar energy in powering this system, that can be eradicated and as well, and it will reduce the menace of flooding in that particular vicinity.

“Again, FEC approved the award of contract for the rehabilitation of the Burku/Gboko water supply project in Benue State.

“The project in Benue will also be powered by Solar energy. This is envisaged as servicing about 506,000 residents within the Amaladu axis that will spin to Gboko, Ushongo, and other parts of Buruku local government,” the Water Resources Minister added.

Commenting on the intervention of the federal government regarding recent incidences of dams collapse in the country, Utsev said presently, a committee was moving round to assess the state of all critical dams with the aim of putting them back to shape to avert a reoccurrence in the future of the impact of flooding.

He said: “At the moment, the committee has been constituted into two teams. Team A and team B. The team A is now in Bauchi State. They were in Plateau State yesterday. They are in Bauchi now and will be moving to Gombe State. From Gombe State, they will proceed to Adamawa State while team B moves to Delta State.

“Today, they are in Enugu State and will be moving to Cross River State. That is how they are moving round and by the grace of God, we are going to cover critical dams across the country before we go onto the second phase, where the report will generated for Nigerians and briefing will be going out. “

The federal government has also taken steps to print 1 million science textbooks in a move to boost the integration of science courses among students at the basic school level.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Gas, Heineken Lokpobiri, explained that the project would be executed through the Petroleum Technology Development Fund  (PTDF).

According to him, there is a discovery that students were lagging behind in science courses, a development that is creating gaps in technology advancement.

He stated: “Today, we brought a memo on behalf of the PTDF, which is the Petroleum Technology Development Fund which had initiated a programme called the PTDF Stem Fund.

“STEM is Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  Some time ago, the PTDF, which is the creation of law, with the mandate to build the capacity of Nigerians in oil and gas industry came up with a programme called PTDF, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Programme.

“They sought to obtain presidential approval. And today, we brought a memo to Council to be able to print 1 million science textbooks, the science courses that were identified that Nigerians have deficiency are physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computer science.

“It is believed that for us to match up with the rest of the world, we needed to build capacity at the secondary school level. This programme is meant to print 1 million textbooks, science textbooks that will be distributed to all the local governments, 774 local government areas in the country, and to support the 104 unity schools that we have in the country, and then 122 special schools, that we have in the country.

“This memo was brought before Council. It was approved by Council. Essentially, what is important is that this is a support and dual capacity at the secondary school level to match up with the rest of the world in terms of technological and engineering development, we need to lay a very solid foundation”.