Aviation
FEC approves N10.2Bn projects for Water resources, Aviation, Presidency
The Federal Executive Council, (FEC) has approved the sum of N10.168 billion for the execution of various projects under the ministries of Water Resources, Aviation, as well as two agencies under the Presidency.
The virtual FEC, held at the First Lady’s Conference Room of the Presidential Villa on Wednesday, was chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, in the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on a four-day official visit to France.
Speaking to the State House Correspondents after the virtual meeting, the Ministers of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu; Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika; and Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, gave details of the various projects approved by the Council.
In the Ministry of Water Resources, the Minister said that the Council approved the augmentation for two contracts, affected by time and inflation.
“The contracts, Bagwai Irrigation Project in Kano State and the Biu Water Supply Project in Borno State, according to Adamu, got an aggregate of N8.825 billion.
“The first one was for expansion and completion of Bagwai Irrigation Project on Watari Dan in Bagwai local government area of Kano State. We have sought an augmentation of N3.76 billion, which was approved.
“Therefore, Council was gracious to approve this augmentation with the sum of N3.762 billion, bringing the new contract sum from N5.4 billion to N9.2 billion, inclusive of 7.5% VAT, with an additional completion period of 24 months plus another 12 months liability period.
“The second memo was for requesting for augmentation for Biu Water Supply Project. Again, this is a project that was started in 2001, but yet to be completed. It ran into a lot of problems, mainly associated with the funding and the Boko Haram insurgency. So, we sought an augmentation.
“So, the total is N5.063 billion, bringing the contracts sum now to N9.36 billion from N4.29 billion, inclusive 7.5% VAT, with a new completion period of 24 months. We hope that these projects will be implemented in earnest and hopefully, we’ll be able to get them completed by 2023 for the overall benefit of the people”, he said.
For the Ministry of Aviation, Council approved a contract for the procurement of a towable mobile office for the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) of the Civil Aviation Authority.
“The contract is for the procurement, equipment and installation of accident investigation towable mobile offices in favour of Messrs. Crases Integrity Services Limited. The total contract sum is N201,150,437.21.
“The purpose of this equipment, once purchased, if there is, God forbid, an accident anywhere, these mobile offices will be driven to the location and an office will be established for the purposes of taking data, collecting samples and gathering information regarding the incident and then analysing them on site and tagging them and doing all sorts of things there and you know, this can take any time, sometimes a few hours, sometimes even weeks”, he said.
Also reporting two memoranda approved by Council in President Muhammadu Buhari’s name, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said “I have two memos presented in the name of Mr. President. The first was a memo seeking approval of the Council for the enhancement of security at the newly completed premises of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission headquarters located at Jabi. You will recall that from 2011 upwards, there’ve been various attacks on federal government institutions and even multilateral institutions like the United Nations’ building.
“Consequent upon those attacks in 2011, 2014, 2018, the federal government set up what was called the Vulnerability Assessment Committee, to see how we can better protect ministries, departments and agencies and it’s in line with this that the EFCC, today presented to the Council a memo seeking approval for the procurement of four sets of automatic and static anti-crush boulder system, with automatic vehicle scanners and other accessors, linear metres perimeter fencing, intrusion detection system and human screening equipment, four walk-through metal detectors, two handheld metal scanners, one luggage scanner and three handheld explosive trace detectors, all at the value of N805,738,541.95, inclusive of the 7.5% VAT, with the completion period of 12 weeks. The memo was approved by Council.
“The second memo, which Mr. President presented today, is a memo seeking Council’s approval for the procurement of 16 vehicles for the use of the Federal Civil Service Commission. You know “we have 16 members of the FCC; the Chairman and 15 commissioners representing the states and they normally embark on extensive advocacy visits and team oversight functions to ministries, departments, and agencies across the country.
“So, they asked for replacement of the old unserviceable vehicles and the Council duly approved the purchase of one Toyota Landcruiser V8 and 15 Toyota Rush, all at a total of N336,216,198”,
Edited by Tunde Orebiyi.
By Salisu Na’inna Dambatta
“As a villager, I loathed paying taxes, or what they called revenue, in our weekly open air market,” said Maitabo, the livestock trader who is now an industrialist in the big city where he established factories that turned out a basket of consumer goods, including polished rice.
He said he spent the first 40 years of his life in his native village without electricity. There was no smooth, all-season motorable road to his village either. The only school in the district was in Alkarya, the district headquarters of his Karkara collection of hamlets, tiny villages, and homesteads.
Maitabo said he previously viewed paying the community tax and cattle tax to the local leaders as an unnecessary dishing money out to big men who dress nicely, ride bicycles, even motor cycles and build cemented houses with roofs made of shiny corrugated iron sheets.
However, as his livestock trade expanded and the necessity for Maitabo to hire articulated trailers to convey his wares from the big livestock markets where he buys them in hundreds to far-flung consumption centres of Kano, Ibadan, Warri, Abuja, Benin, Uyo, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt and Okigwe near Umuahia, he appreciated that the wide, smooth and tarred highways plied by the trailers were important facilitators for his flourishing lucrative trade.
He also realised that the trailers conveying his livestock travel through thick forests where security personnel were stationed to protect travellers from marauders. The trailers were driven on bridges built by the government to cross both big rivers and streams: the days of using risky ferries to cross the rivers were over.
As an industrialist who graduated from livestock trade and living in a rural Nigeria 50 years ago, he is now face to face with the importance and benefits of paying taxes. And he no longer loathes paying taxes as he did previously. He nowadays encourages other business owners and everyone who will listen to him to pay taxes as and when due.
His favourite justification for his willingness to pay taxes was the improvement he noticed to the wellbeing of people in his village during a visit. The authorities have provided a laterite road linking his village to other towns; a windmill that draws potable water from a deep well for his community; a dispensary that meets the health care needs of a cluster of villages including his home village, and the most wonderful of all, the electricity that was wired to the village by the Rural Electrification Authority.
Maitabo will tell his listeners that it was long after he enjoyed various government services that it dawned on him that the livestock tax he paid and the flat tax paid by all male adults in his village, contributed to the pool of money spent in providing those services in his and other neighbouring villages.
Now as a dweller in a city, the owner of manufacturing plants and a fleet of trailers that bring raw materials to his factories and evacuate manufactured goods from there, he realises that the constant electricity supplied to his factories and the smooth roads used by his articulated trucks were emplaced by government using the very taxes he previously loathed to pay.
He now discourages tax evasion; shun false tax entries and avoids quarrels with tax officials. Maitabo believes as the World Bank does in a Subnational Studies on ease of doing business that, taxpayers and businesses are interested in what they get for their taxes: quality infrastructure including good roads, reliable railway network, functional aviation facilities, efficient sea ports, continuous supply of electricity and telecommunication connectivity, which are all vital for the sound functioning of an economy.
A healthy workforce enhances economic competitiveness and productivity. This makes governments invests in the provision of health services. Government also spends on imparting relevant skills to improve the efficiency of workers. It provides tertiary education facilities such as the 37 Federal Polytechnics, 43 Federal Universities and 27 Federal Colleges of Education where top-level human capital is nurtured to support the economy through technical innovations.
Maitabo often explains to his listeners that although the government in Nigeria charges excise, import and export duties and collects petroleum profit tax to raise revenue to finance the operations of the security forces namely the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Services, the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Civil Defense, he noted that the bread and tea millions of Nigerians buy daily, complete with fried eggs and the meals they enjoy in countless eateries and open air restaurants, including the peppersoup, are not taxed by the government.
Maitabo is always at his best telling people who listen to him why he pays taxes. He points out that revenues from taxes are used to compensate public servants who provide essential services as ambulance drivers, fire fighters, nurses in healthcare centres and air traffic controllers who contribute to safe aviation in the country.
He narrates correctly that Nigerians who travel anywhere by road, sea and air, inevitably drive on government-provided roads, use safe sea lanes cleared by the country’s maritime authority and fly out or land at beautiful airports built by government–using money from taxes.
Maitabo admits that he benefits immensely from the services provided by the government which it pays for with money generated through taxation, and wished that those services continue to improve sustainably, often saying, “That is why I pay taxes.”
Sen. Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation
The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, on Wednesday in Abuja said domestic flights that had been suspended since March 20, would finally resume on July 8.
Sirika announced this in a statement signed by Mr James Odaudu, the Director of Public Affairs, in the ministry.
He said flights would commence at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
According to him, the Port Harcourt, Owerri, Maiduguri and Kano airports will reopen to flights on July 11, while other airports across the country will join on July 15.
Sirika said passengers looking to travel out of the country would have to wait a bit longer as the dates for the restart of international flights into and out of the country would be announced later.
“I thank stakeholders in aviation industry and Nigerian public who have to cope with the adverse effects of flight suspension for their perseverance and cooperation in ensuring a successful return of operations at the nation’s airports.
“Passengers are highly advised to follow all the safety guidelines and protocols put in place to ensure that the airports don’t become channels of infection for the dreaded coronavirus.
“Government will do all within its powers to ensure a rapid recovery of the aviation industry,” the minister assured.
Cloudy Weather
By Gabriel Agbeja
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted cloudy and thundery activities over the country from May 31 to June 2.
NiMet`s weather outlook released on Saturday in Abuja said thunderstorms were reported over the central cities down to the south of the country.
The agency said current observation showed that moisture was still much up to the northern region and that it was expected to aid the sustenance of weather systems over the region.
“On Sunday, early morning thunderstorms are anticipated over parts of Kebbi and northern states. Later in the day, cloudy conditions with intervals of sunshine are anticipated over the north.
“There is prospects of thunderstorms over southern Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Yola, Sokoto, Yelwa, Katsina, Kano and Zaria axis.
“An overnight system is expected to affect eastern parts of central states, giving few thunderstorms over Niger State and Ilorin axis.
“Mambila Plateau should expect thunderstorms as well. As the day progresses, cloudy condition is anticipated with chances of scattered thunderstorms across the central region,’’ the agency said.
It envisaged inland cities of the south to be cloudy in the morning hours with chances of thunderstorms over Enugu, Obudu and Ikom axis.
NiMet predicted prospects of light thunderstorms over some coastal cities like Calabar, Benin and Ijebu-Ode axis during the morning period.
The agency also predicted most parts of the coastal region to experience thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening periods.
“On Monday, cloudy condition with intervals of sunshine is expected over the north within the forecast period with a chance of thunderstorm activities over Yelwa during the morning hours.
“Also, there is prospect of thunderstorm activities over Maiduguri, Zaria, Sokoto, Yelwa, Gombe and Yola during the afternoon and evening period.
“Much cloudiness is anticipated over the central cities in the morning with chances of thunderstorms over Jalingo.
“Thunderstorms are envisaged over the central region during the afternoon/evening period.’’
According to NiMet, cloudy morning is expected over the inland and coastal cities in the morning hours with prospects of thunderstorm over Lagos, Ikom, Obudu, Owerri, Calabar, Yenagoa, Warri and Port Harcourt.
It forecast few thunderstorms over the inland and coastal region during the afternoon and evening period.
The agency predicted cloudiness to prevail over the north on Tuesday within the forecast period with chances of a few thunderstorms over Yelwa and Sokoto axis during the morning hours.
It envisaged scattered thunderstorms over places like Kaduna and Yola during the afternoon and evening hours.
“ Cloudy skies are anticipated over the central states with chances of thunderstorms over Abuja, Lafia, Lokoja and Niger during the morning hours.
`There are prospects of thunderstorms over the central region during the afternoon and evening hours.
“Cloudy conditions are likely over the inland and coastal region with prospects of few thunderstorms over Calabar, Warri, Benin and Port Harcourt axis in the morning hours.’’
According to the agency, thunderstorms are anticipated over the inland and coastal areas during the afternoon and evening hours. (NAN)
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