Abia Road: FEC’s approves N12bn for construction of section II of Ohafia–Arochukwu Road

The contract for the construction of Section two of the Ohafia to Arochukwu road in Abia, was Wednesday approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

This was disclosed by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, at the end of the Council meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the State House, Abuja.

According to the Minister, the memorandum presented by the Ministry of Works and Housing and which was approved, was for the construction of Section two of the Ohafia to Arochukwu road, which comprises Umuahia/Bende/Ohafia road in Abia State at the cost of N12.088 billion.

This he said, comprises a distance of 45 kilometres to complement Section One which was previously awarded in 2018, that is the section from Bende/Arochukwu to Ohafia which was 19.27 kilometres.

“With this award now, the entire length of the road is now under contract with the same contractor and we hope for expeditious execution,” he revealed.

On his part, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, said the Council approved the purchase of 52 operational vehicles for the effective operation of the Nigeria Correctional Service.

“We considered in the Council the award of contract for the procurement of 52 number operational Black Maria vehicle to facilitate effective operation in the Correctional Service as well as ease of movement of awaiting trial inmates from the Custodial centres, 247 of them in all to about 5,022 courts in Nigeria.

“This is to complement what we have already acquired between 2016 and 2019 of about 451 Operational Green Maria vehicles. The objective is to ensure that the delay associated with trial of inmate is reduced if not eliminated,” the Minister noted.

There was also the presentation by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, that the council also approved N745 million for hiring of additional forensic field auditors for the audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

“The memo that was presented by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was a concluding memo on the procurement of Field Forensic Auditors for the forensic audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission and today the council approved additional forensic field auditors at a total sum of about N745.2 million.

“This brings to the total number of field forensic auditors to 16 in addition to the earlier approved Lead Forensic Auditors, Messrs Olumiluwa Bashir and Co.

“These people are now going to be in charge of the nine states of the Niger Delta which has been divided into 16 lots. As I stated earlier, lots one is Ernst and Young for the headquarters.

“They will be undertaking the 19 years of audit and also bring out the organigram for restructuring of the NDDC for better performance in future,” Akpabio said.

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