The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N123.4 billion for remediation and execution of power projects in Ogoni land, Rivers state.
Minister of Environment, Mr Mohammed Abdullahi, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“On behalf of the Ministry of Environment I presented two memos to do with remediation and the power project in Ogoni land. These two projects actually resonate with the Nigerian government and the United Nations’ Environment Programme’s objective of providing succour to the Ogoni people particularly in the areas of livelihood and remediation.
“The first memo is on the remediation of simple hydro-carbon impacted sites in Ogoni land to be carried out by 35 different contractors, with a completion period of 24 months. The cumulative value of the contract is N95, 908, 284, 450.91 billion.
“The second memo also touches on the livelihood of the Ogoni people is the construction of 132 KV 16 kilometres of transmission lines and 260 MVA Power Substations in the phase I of the Ogoni Power Project, approved for N27, 585, 539, 410.13 and it has a completion period of 12 months,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Transportation, Mr Mu’azu Sambo, said the council also approved N1.8 billion data centre for the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
“The first to be approved is in respect of the award of contract for the upgrade of the Data Centre of the Nigerian Ports Authority, its servers, storage and business continuity at the cost of N1,787,203,792.65 inclusive of 7.5 percent Value Added Tax with a completion period of six months.
“The second memo that was approved was for a concession of the Eastern zone offshore West reception facility, in line with international conventions and environmental laws signed by Nigeria, which require that offshore wastes generated by ships be disposed of in an organised manner in order to protect biodiversity and human beings,” he said.
He said when completed, the project would generate $25 million within a period of 20 years.
He said the council also approved same project for western and central zones of the maritime domain of Nigeria for a period of 10 years.
He said the council also approved the deployment of a modular floating dock acquired by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to be managed under a public-private partnership.
“It is going to be managed by a private company that will put in an initial capital investment of $19.5 million for a concession period of 15 years,” he said.
He said when fully established, the facility would save Nigeria millions of foreign exchange, stressing that the present situation warrants all cabotage vessels operating in Nigeria to go to Benin Republic and Ghana to access docking services.
