The Federal Government has approved N1,168,664,834,021 for the procurement of maintenance materials for the Ibadan-Kano standard gauge and the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge rail lines.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi revealed this to State House journalists on Wednesday, shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Amaechi said, “I have an approval of the cabinet to procure rolling stocks for the operation and maintenance and rolling stocks operational maintenance equipment for the new railway projects corridors in Ibadan to Kano standard gauge and Port Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge rail lines to the tune of N1,168,664,834,021 including 7.5 per cent tax.
“These rolling stocks are essentially the consumables we use to maintain the trains, coaches and locomotives. So the reason for train breakdowns discussed in the cabinet is that we may have run out of rolling stocks. So with this, we will replace all the rolling stock.”
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said the council approved N4.97 billion for printing contracts ahead of the 2022 senior school certificate examinations organised by NECO.
“Today, the memo we presented from the Ministry of Education is a printing contract by NECO for the Senior School Certificate Examination. The beneficiaries are nine contractors and the amount is N4,965,986,573.89. It will be completed in eight weeks. And it is for the printing of sensitive, non-sensitive equipment and other ancillary equipment for the examination,” he said.
