By Ahmed Idris
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved approved N1.6 billion for the procurement of 68 anti-smuggling vehicles for the Nigeria Customs Service.
Addressing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly FEC meeting in Abuja, Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said the vehicles would enhance the operational capacity of the organization to effectively police the nation’s borders.
“The operational vehicles currently available for the NCS are grossly inadequate for effective anti-smuggling activities. The need to effectively patrol the borders of the country, enhance Customs’ bid to suppress smuggling and increase revenue collection gave rise to the request to purchase 68 operational vehicles,’’ she said.
Also speaking, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, said the council approved N499 million for the procurement of project monitoring vehicles for the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing.
He said the Ministry of Education also got approval for the construction of a three-storey faculty building for National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) at the cost of N711 million.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainah Ahmed told journalists that the council approved training of 8400 out of the targeted 25,000 youths in various programmes under the N-Power scheme.
She said the first group of 2000 out of the 8400 young Nigerians would be trained in software development for three months and nine months apprenticeship to enable them become self-employed.
She said 2900 of the youths would also be trained in building and electrical engineering programme for three months, and would be given tools at the end of the programme.
