FEC Okays N14.8b Lagos Office Block Construction for FIRS

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a contract for the construction of a new office block and parking lot worth over N14.8billion for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

This was part of the resolutions reached the council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

According to the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clement Agba, who briefed correspondents on the memorandum he presented for the council’s consideration, when completed, the office complex, which is to be located on 17b Awolowo Road, Lagos, will save the service about N4 billion that it usually pays on rented property.

He revealed that the 12-storey building will also alleviate the traffic problems that the old FIRS office causes in the area.

The FEC also approved the creation of a database of national capital projects Information System to track abandoned and uncompleted projects across the country.

Agba said the system, which will be headed by the Minister of Finance, will prioritize and fund selected projects on a yearly basis while also leaving open the possibility of privatizing some of the projects, repurposing some for alternative use or completely abandoning others.

He said any decision on the identified projects will be determined by the outcome of investigations.

The council also approved an N1 billion contract for the procurement of equipment for the prototype Aviation Medical Centers at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stated this during the briefing, affirming that the prototype is part of the plan to build such centres in each of the airports in the country.”In other words, we are building Aviation Medical Centers in all the airports and this is the first prototype at Abuja the contract was approved for the supply of medical equipment and furniture, to the tune of N1,000,684,789.32, with a delivery period of six months and the contractor is Tasodic Sodica Limited,” he said.

In his remarks, the Minister of Agriculture, Mohammed Mahmood, said Council approved the Agriculture and Rural Development memorandum on the revised National Animal Health Policy.

He explained that the purpose of the memorandum was to revise the previous policy that deals with animal health.

He explained: “Why the revision? A lot of things have happened that brought to the fore the critical importance of animal health, the new components, where we must be very conscious of how healthy the animals are whether they are our pets or livestock that we either use for food or for whatever reasons.

“Because we realize the frequency of zoonotic diseases. That is diseases coming from animals to infect humans seem to be on the rise.

“There is also the transboundary diseases, meaning maybe animals from another country, through going and coming, can infect animals here and then can infect humans.

“So the importance really is if we just focus on us humans to be healthy, and the animals around us unhealthy, and you can infect us, then this is grossly wrong. So, this is the reason this we have increased our tracing or caring for the animals, discovering new diseases, or vaccinating these animals.

“For example, we just flagged the vaccination of dogs that may have rabies, because if they do, they can infect humans. And this is not just viruses, even bacteria can be harboured in animals and can be transmitted to humans.

“So, the purpose of the new policy is to upgrade the old policy to make sure it’s comprehensive. And this is based on a new concept of health. One health meaning human health and animal health can be considered as one because one can cause an adverse effect, especially on animals to humans.

“So, this is basically really the purpose of this policy and has been approved. And this is in collaboration with state governments just so that you know, states have been carried along. Other stakeholders have been carried along. And the whole purpose is to make sure that there’s holistic cooperation and implementation of the policy.”