FEC Approves N27bn for Road Project Linking Ondo, Edo

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N27 billion for the rehabilitation of a 27km road linking Ondo and Edo states.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, revealed this to State House correspondents at the end of the Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said: “The Minister of Works and Housing presented a memo for the approval of the award of contract for the rehabilitation of the Idoani-Otuwo road which links Ondo and Edo States.

“The contract is for the sum of N27, 233, 577, 000 billion and it has a completion period of 27 months.”

Also addressing the correspondents on the outcome of the FEC meeting, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, disclosed that the council gave approval for the second phase of the National Sugar Master Plan, which started in 2012.

He said the council approved the commencement of the 2nd phase from 2023-2033 for another period of ten years.

“In 2012, the 1st phase of the sugar master plan was approved, lasting for 10 years until 2022.

“Today the council approved the extension from 2023-2033 and the whole idea is for the development of the sugar industry, aimed at self-sufficiency in sugar production,” he stated.

According to Mr Adebayo, the plan has several policy measures and fiscal incentives to stimulate demand and attract private sector investment in the sugar industry.

He added that four major investors participated in the 1st phase of the plan, creating 15, 000 jobs in the process with about 200 hectares of land acquired by them for the production of sugarcane to boost local production of sugar.

On his part, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, also told the correspondents that the council approved the building of a retaining wall for a salt project in Ebonyi State.

According to the minister, the wall is to help protect the washing away of the salt, which occurs naturally.

He said the salt if fully tapped, could save the country millions of dollars from importation of the commodity.

The minister added that the commodity could also be exported to earn more revenue for the country.

“We came to council for an approval because there is an intervention; direct intervention by the president for a salt project in Ebonyi State.

“We import our salt from abroad spending annually in the region of about 88 million dollars.

“Now by this project, it will mitigate that. It will not satisfy local demand but at least meet some of the local demand and save us the foreign exchange.

“The salt is in Ebonyi State but it cannot be mined without this infrastructure that we are about to build.

“We are building a retaining wall because water comes in and washes the salt away every time.

“These are salt lakes that occur naturally. After the environmental impact assessment was done, the report suggested that we should build a retaining wall,” he said.

Mr Adegbite added that the proposed wall would be 27 kilometres long and about 2.9 meters high and would be funded directly from the presidency, adding that the project would be achieved in six months.