The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved contract for the construction of the $39.9 million Cameroon-Nigeria border link bridge and a Revised National Policy on Environment for the country.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Environment, Ms Amina Mohammed while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
The minister, who briefed alongside Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed and the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, said the policy on environment which was first formulated in 1991 was first revised in 1999.
“What the policy does is to look at all the different inter-sectoral issues that we have whether it is with water, health, power agriculture and bring them in to have a multi-sectoral response.
“It went into an extensive stakeholder consultation, a greater part of the new policy environment sees partnership with the private sector and with the communities as absolutely essential to the sustainability of our environment,” she said.
She said the new policy provides a better opportunity to engage with states, local governments and communities and the execution of the priorities of the change agenda of the present administration.
Also speaking, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola said the council approved memorandum for the construction of Cameroon-Nigeria Border link bridge, at Ikot Efiom under the African Development Bank (AfDB) support.
He said the project was initiated to improve the relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria after the International Court of Justice’s judgement on Bakassi.
According to him, the bridge to be constructed is part of the link road between Enugu-Abakiliki Way and part of larger Lagos-Mumbasa Highway.
He said $38 million is for the construction while $1.9 million is for consultancy under the AfDB procurement guidelines.
The minister also told journalists that the council has approved the resuscitation and completion of the Kaduna Eastern Bypass highway, which was started in 2002 and planned to have been completed within three years.
“The project which was first awarded in 2002 was N16 billion. We have had to get approval for N22 billion verbatim and so that takes that project cost now to N32 billion
“The contractor was paid N5.5 billion in 2002. If we had paid the contractor N11 billion then when exchange rate was N109, it would have fetched us $96 million. If you multiply $96 million today even at official rate of N305, it is now N29 billion,” he said.
