The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the procurement of 38 units of four-wheel Nissan Patrol totalling N326.781 millions of the mines inspectorate division of the Ministry of Mines and Steel.
The council also ratified the Lake Chad Basin Water Charter, paving the way for the document to be sent to the National Assembly for enactment into law.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Sulaiman Adamu; and the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, briefed State House correspondents of the meeting’s outcome.
Fayemi said the 36 states of the federation, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, would benefit from the procurement.
“For a decade, no vehicle has been purchased for the mines and steel inspectorate division to oversee what is going on in our various states,” he said.
He said the procurement of the vehicles was meant to tackle illegal mining activities and other various challenges facing the sector.
The minister added that the procurement also demonstrated government’s commitment to support Made in Nigeria products.
“Over the last two to three months, all the approvals we have got for vehicles not just ours in Mines and Steel Ministry but the ones for the Prisons Service, Immigration and the EFCC are procurement authorised to buy vehicles from local assembly plants so that we can begin to strengthen our automotive industry.
“The government remains committed to that and this approval is further confirmation of the government’s commitment in that direction.
“It also speaks directly to our determination to begin to focus a lot more seriously on the activities of informal or illegal miners,” he added.
He said each state and Abuja would get one vehicle each while Lagos would get two.
Adams said the council ratified the Lake Chad Basin Water Charter.
He said the treaty which was signed in 2012 by all member countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission required 95 per cent of member countries to ratify it before it comes into effect.
With this ratification, the minister said the next stage was for the document to go to the National Assembly for an enactment into law.
He said, “The charter seeks to strengthen cooperation between all members and to forge some kind of consensus on issues relating to environment, security and the future of the lake itself.
“As you are aware, the lake has been threatened by climate change. It has shrunk to less than 10 per cent of its original size 40, 50 years ago and efforts are being put in place to ensure the lake is safe from extinction and to improve the security situation which as you know, is part of the reasons for the current restlessness and insurgency by youths in the North East.
“We are also expecting other countries to ratify the charter so that we can strengthen the relationship in the Lake Chad Basin Commission.” (Punch)
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