A total of N39.6 billion in contracts for transmission lines in the ministry of power were approved by the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday in Abuja.
During the meeting, which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Minister of Electricity Abubakar Aliyu gave a briefing to State House Correspondents. He said the contract’s N39.6 billion price includes offshore and onshore components at $53 million and N15.6 billion, respectively.
“Today I presented three memos to the council, and I received approval for all three of them,” Aliyu stated.
“The first memo requested clearance from the council for the $6 million (offshore value) acquisition of transmission line materials for re-construction works for the Transmission Corporation of Nigeria in favor of Messrs Legacy Power.
“The onshore component is N145m inclusive of all taxes and the final year of completion.”
The second document, according to him, asked the council for permission to award a contract for the building of a 15 km turn-in-turn outline of the existing Akure-Ado-Ekiti 132KV single-circuit transmission line at the Akure 330KV, 132KV, and 33KV sub-stations.
He clarified that Messrs Legacy Power Limited is the party to the contract, which is worth $2.5 million for the offshore component and N988.5 million for the onshore component.
The Akure sub-station, which was finished in 2021, is a 330KV sub-station that the FG was unable to energize due to “a lack of line,” according to Aliyu.
“The line is scheduled to originate in Benin, where a brand-new line is now being built. The line will pass through and activate the sub-station in Akure as it travels from Benin North to Oshogbo.
“Thus, this project is a 132KV line running concurrently with the Benin North-Akure line from the Akure sub-station to Akure-Ado-Ekiti.
“This project would be finished by the time we are able to activate the Akure line, ensuring that there will be no electricity issues throughout the region. This project was also approved by the council and will be finished in a year,” he explained.
The third document the Council looked at was from the electricity ministry, and according to Aliyu, it included five projects for the design, procurement, and installation of 132KV sub-stations and transmission lines for the TCN in various parts of the nation.
“The contract is in favor of multiple contractors in the total $53 million; this is offshore; then the onshore is N15.6 billion,” he continued.
“The projects are all similar; as I mentioned earlier, design, delivery, and installation of 2 by 60MVA 132 33kV transmission sub-stations across the nation.
“We have one in Bauchi State’s Misau Local Government Area. At Kastina State’s Mashi Local Government, we have another one. The third one is Api and North Bank in Makurdi in the state of Benue; the fourth one is a 60MVA transformer at an academic institution in the state of Ebonyi; the fifth one is a line of 30 kilometers from Rimin Zakara to Kayin in the state of Kano.
The African Union Convention on Cross Border Cooperation, often known as the Niamey Convention, was the subject of a note that the ministry delivered to the Council, according to Zubairu Dada, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
He stated that the Convention was introduced by the Nigerian Government on May 29, 2012, in Niamey, Niger Republic, during the summit of African ministers in charge of borders, and it was approved in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in 2014.
“Nigeria organized and oversaw the Convention’s drafting. The Convention was subsequently ratified by Nigeria on January 29, 2017.
“All we accomplished today was submit the Convention to the Council for its endorsement and the president’s ratification. Simply put, the Convention seeks to advance regional, sub-regional, and local cross-border cooperation.
Dada said, “This just speaks to the foreign policy of our administration, which promotes good neighborliness; in other words, making good attempts to ensure that we live in peace with our immediate neighbors.
He claims that the deal has established a framework for the advancement of the continent’s economic integration and interregional cooperation, which would serve to ease commerce and advance the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
“For now, all we are doing is asking for ratification. It has already been ratified and endorsed by a few other African nations.
By making sure that we ratify it as well, he continued, “all we are doing is giving leadership to Africa so that it will go into effect.