The Federal Executive Council
The Federal Executive Council on
Wednesday approved the purchase of 38 patrol jeeps worth N326.78m for
the inspectorate divisions of the Ministry of Mines and Steel
Development.
The purchase of the vehicles is to boost the operations of the ministry.
The Minister of Mines and Steel
Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, made this known in Abuja on Wednesday
when he briefed State House correspondents after the FEC meeting,
presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said, “We are one year in office, in two days’ time; so this is the anniversary cabinet meeting.
“And it gave us the opportunity to
really reflect on the progress we’ve made as a government, the
challenges that we still have to tackle and the commitment that we had
to reiterate to Mr. President for giving all of us the opportunity to
serve the nation.
“And to do so in a manner that advances our democracy and the development of our country.
“Aside from that, we took on two
memoranda – one from the ministry of mines and steel development and
another from the ministry of water resources.
“On the mines and steel development it
was the approval of the direct procurement of Nissan four-wheel patrol
vehicles for the mines inspectorate (division) in our 36 states.”
The minister explained that for no
vehicle has been purchased for the inspectorate divisions of the mines
and steel development ministry, which oversees the artisanal mining
situation in the various states of the federation, in a decade.
He said the vehicles would be used for
surveillance of areas where illegal mining activities take place and for
field trips by the ministry’s workers.
Fayemi, who recalled the recent killing
of some miners by bandits in Zamfara and the death of two miners in
Paiko, Niger State, said that through proper surveillance such incidents
could be avoided.
He further said that as part of the
ministry’s road map, a surveillance task force had been established with
the ministries of Interior, Defence, and Police Affairs.
He stated that the approval of the
purchase of the patrol vehicles is an indication of the government’s
commitment to supporting made-in-Nigeria products.
He said, “Over the last three months,
all the approvals we had for the purchase of vehicles for Mines and
Steel, Interior, Immigration, EFCC were procurement authorised to buy
vehicles from local assembly plants.
“This is so that we can begin to
strengthen our automotive industry and the government remains committed
to that and this approval is further confirmation of the government’s
commitment in that direction.
“It speaks directly also of our
determination to really begin to focus a lot more seriously on the
activities of informal or illegal miners.”
Fayemi added that the ministry was eager
to define the role it could play in supporting artisanal and small
scale miners in fulfilment of the administration’s job-creation and
revenue-generation agenda.
He said the vehicles, worth N326.78m,
would be bought from local automobile companies and given to each of the
36 states and Abuja, with Lagos State getting two.
The Minister of Water Resources, Mr.
Suleiman Adamu, who also briefed the correspondents, said that the
second memo considered by FEC was the ratification of the Lake Chad
Water Charter.
He said that a treaty that was signed by
all the countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in 2012, required
the ratification of 95 per cent of the countries before it could come
into effect.
LCBC is an intergovernmental organisation that oversees water and other natural resource usage in the basin.
The commission was established on May 22, 1964 by the four countries that border Lake Chad: Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria and Chad.
Today, the commission has eight member
governments, namely: Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Algeria, the
Central African Republic, Libya, and Sudan – chosen for their proximity
to Lake Chad.
N’Djaména, the capital of Chad hosts the headquarters of the commission.
Adamu said, “The charter was ratified
today and the next stage is for it to go to the National Assembly for an
enactment of the law to back it.
“The charter seeks to strengthen
cooperation between all the member countries of the Lake Chad Basin
Commission and to forge some kind of consensus on issues relating to the
environment, security, and the future of the lake itself.
“The lake has been threatened by climate
change over the years. It has shrunk to less than 10 per cent of its
storage capacity 40 years to 50 years ago.
“And all efforts are being put in place
to ensure that the lake is safe from extinction and to improve the
security situation in the region.”
The minister ascribed the restlessness
and insurgency in the North East partly to the shrinking of the lake and
expressed the hope that with other countries ratifying the charter,
security in the region could be guaranteed.
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