FEC Approves Electronic Birth, Death Registration

The Federal Executive Council has approved the development of an Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System, a platform that will effectively keep electronic records of births and death registrations.

It also approved the establishment of an Aviation Leasing Company under Public Private Partnership.

The move, FEC said, was to inject private sector funds into infrastructure development and boost the nation’s economic growth.

In a statement released by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission on Wednesday, the Acting spokesperson, Ifeanyi Nwoko, said both approvals were given following the issuance of Full Business Case compliance certificates by the agency and Federal Ministry of Aviation as grantor.

He added that the ALC which will be executed by Messrs AJW Consortium as concessionaires, is to provide an opportunity for local leases of aircraft to both domestic and international carriers, hereby alleviating the problems of aircraft/engine leasing, costly lease rates and high insurance premium charges to Nigerian airlines.

The statement read partly, “The Aviation Leasing Company will facilitate the ease of doing business for foreign lessors with Nigerian domestic Airlines being a one-stop-shop thereby limiting capital flight and the strong demand on forex. The project will create employment opportunities for Nigerians which will have a multiplier effect on the economy.

“The ALC will also provide leasing opportunities for Nigerian and African Airlines to boost their fleet size, alleviate the problems of aircraft leasing and high insurance premium charges, provide an alternative to foreign lessors and introduce competition which would relax the terms and conditions currently obtainable, thereby facilitating growth and development.”

Continuing, Ifeanyi noted that the company will commence with leasing 8 aircraft in its first year of operation, increasing the portfolio as it grows to 50 leased aircraft after the 7th year and remains constant at 70 leased aircraft by 2034.

“After approximately 7 years, the company will commence outright purchase aircraft (instead of lease) once the portfolio exceeds 50 leased aircraft.”

On the Electronic Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System, the ICRC disclosed that N5.3 billion private sector funds will be injected by the concessionaire, Messrs Barnksforte Technologies Limited.

The spokesperson explained, “The project which has the National Population Commission as Grantor seeks to capture and verify births and deaths in Nigeria, provide attestation and verification of certificates to end users on the platform. Prior to this, these registrations have been carried out manually, a process that has been characterized by low coverage and inadequate data.

“The private party will Design, Finance, Build, Operate, and Transfer the Project to the Government at the end of the concession period of 15 years.”