ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday gave a matching order to the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Governor Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emiefule and the Nigeria National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) to ensure an end to the fuel scarcity that surfaced last weekend in the country with immediate effect.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
He gave the order after Okonjo-Iweala had briefed the Federal Executive Council meeting held at the Presidential Villa.
Okonjo-Iweala, who briefed State House correspondents alongside Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga; Supervising Minister of Information, Edem Duke and Minister of Environment, Labara Malam, said government has met it’s financial obligations and the next phase was to get the quantity fuel needed to Abuja and other parts of the country that have been hit by the fuel scarcity.
According to the Finance Minister, “The second issue discussed at council is really about the fuel marketers and fuel marketing situation and the lines of the queues being experienced in the country.
“We discussed that at the FEC because Mr. President wanted prompt and quick action to improve the situation as fast as possible.
“So, after the briefing and discussion on both the financial and physical sides, what emanate is that this situation, we hope will soon be resolved because both on the financial side, action has been taken and it is being implemented through the Ministry of Finance and the Governor of the CBN.
“Let it be known that in December we paid N320.2 billion to marketers to settle their claims and as of now what we have approved by Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) is about N185 billion on Sunday, which we are issuing sovereign debt notes to which is tantamount to having government guarantee that they will be paid.
“But the long and short of the matter is that the financial issue has been taken care of. The physical quantities are being loaded to be brought to Abuja and Lagos and other cities that are suffering so that hopefully tomorrow (Thurdsday) next (Friday), we should begin to see this queues reduced as supplies arrive up to Saturday, we hope that Abuja will be cleared.
“So the summary is that the FEC is concerned about the matter, discussed and beyond discussing it, the President gave instruction on how to deal with it so that physical quantities will be available and the queues will diminish, and by the end of the week we have a situation that are clarified.
”Going forward, Letter of Crédit (LCs) have been opened, you know being opened by the marketers and therefore we should be in a reasonable situation to handle this fuel issue, going forward. So, progress is what we want to report on this issue”.
Council also approved a memo by the minister of Industry, Trade and Investment for the award of contract by the National Automative Council (NAC) to procure Auto Testing Laboratories equipments and tools to installed in designated auto-testing laboratories in Lagos, Enugu and Zaria.
According to Aganga, the overall objective is to ensure vehicle safety and environmental protection as well as the quality of automotive products in Nigeria.
“There is a financial provision of N3,011,138,664.00 in the approved 2014 internally generated revenue (IGR) budget of the council out of which the sum of N2,384,260,928.05 was earmarked for the auto-testing laboratories equipment and tools.
“Council approved the award of contract for the procurement, installation and training on auto-testing laboratories equipment and tools in the sum of €11,574,082.18 Euros (N2.44 billion) with a
delivery period of 36weeks”, he said.
Breaking down the contract, Aganga said Lot 1 involves supply, installation and training on Auto-Testing Laboratory Equipment for emission laboratory, Lagos in favour of Messers AVL List
GMBH, Austria in the sum of €4,801,939.79 euros.
Lot II involves the supply, installation and training on Auto-Testing Laboratory Equipment for Auto component laboratory, Enugu, in favour of Messers
Mustang Advanced Engineering (USA) Afram Nigeria Ltd in the sum of €4,626,531.00 million.
Lot III involves supply, installation and training on Auto-Testing Laboratory Equipment for Auto testing laboratory equipment, Zaria in favour of
Messers AVS Nigeria / Artec Testnology, Netherlands, in the sum of €1,202,783.40 million euros.
Lot IV involves supply, installation and training on Auto Testing Laboratory Equipment for Metallic Component and Safety Glass Laboratory, Zaria in favour of Messers AVS Nigeria/Artec Testnology Netherlands, in the sum of €764,036.91.
Lot V involves supply, installation and training on Auto-Testing Laboratory Equipment for vehicle evaluation laboratory, Zaria, in favour of Messers Mustang Advanced Engineering USA/Afram Nigeria limited in the sum of €898, 791.08.
After deliberations, council also approved the contract to procure temporary office building located at Plot 1072 Cadastral Zone B10, Dakibiyu District, Airport Road, Abuja for the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) in favour of Messrs El-Davido Properties and Engineering Services Limited in the sum of N326,095,875.00 inclusive of VAT with a delivery period of three weeks.
The Coordinating Minister for the Economy/Minister of Finance, who presented a memorandum to seek Council’s approval, said the tribunal has adjudicated cases in the capital market worth over N300 million.
She said, “The tribunal has over the years been grappling with the challenge of regular payment of rent on its office accommodation as well as threats of eviction from the rented office accommodation which has become an annual occurrence with the attendant embarassment.
“The procurement will be funded from a grant of N410,004,829.81 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Tribunal based on a request by the Minister of State for Finance for the office building, pool vehicles for judges and other operational purposes”, she said.
Council also approved the National Policy on the management of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in the country.
The objective of the policy, according to Laraba Malam, is to strengthen government’s capacity to manage , monitor and control the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and also ultimately phase out the use of PCBs in the course of protecting human health and the environment.
Council noted that a Draft National PCBs Policy adopted by the relevant stakeholders has been developed under the Nigeria PCB Management Project and provides it for adoption for the legal framework, enabling power and the appropriation of budget to implement the Nigeria PCBs Management Project.
She noted that the draft bill has been sent to National Assembly for approval.