….approves new contract thresholds for MDAs
…seeks more private sector involvement in infrastructure
Amid rising cases of vandalisation of manhole covers in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and rail infrastructure, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Monday directed Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to strengthen legislations that will criminalise usurpers of Government assets under the cover of the night in the country.
Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation, who disclosed this while briefing the State House Journalists, after the meeting of FEC presided over by President Bola Tinubu, said the directive was aimed at mitigating the unwholesome activities of scrap metal vendors, miners, and cart pushers among others, who operate under the cover of darkness to indulge in the stealing of critical Government assets.
Idris also revealed that FEC, among others, also directed the Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to communicate new contract threshold to the MDAs
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He disclosed that the new threshold would reduce the number of contract memos that come to the FEC regularly
“With the approval of the president, the Council has also directed the Bureau for Public Procurement to communicate the new threshold on procurement of goods and services.
“You will agree with me that the threshold has been there for a very long time, and this is also contributing to the number of memos that come to the Council for approval. So there is a new approval. Details will be communicated by the Bureau of Public Procurement.
“They will notify MDAs on the new threshold for project goods and services”, he noted.
The Minister also revealed that the Council had also taken note of the increased collaboration that Government is desirous of doing with the private sector, adding that ” Council has directed all MDAs, especially the Ministry of Works and others that deal with critical infrastructure, to collaborate more with the private sector in terms of infrastructure development.
“What I’m trying to say is that the government is saying that there is an increasing need for people in the private sector to participate actively in our economic growth here as a nation. And therefore, wherever there are private sector players that can participate using their own funds.”
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He noted that the Government had seen an increased appetite among private sector players to come in and contribute their own quota towards the infrastructure development of the economy, especially in the area of road construction.
“So Council has directed that there must be this increased collaboration with the private sector players so that together the economy can grow”, he noted.
The Minister pointed out that some vendors have continued to vandalise the Federal Government’s critical assets
“The capital vendors or miners or whatever you call them. We have seen an increased activity among people who, you know, are scrupulously going to steal some of these government assets on the road by bridges and, you know, critical metals that people just go and take and then go and sell.
” The Federal Government is already mulling the possibility of criminalising this. Of course, we already have some of these laws in existence, but we are looking at them in depth, and the Attorney General of the Federation has been directed to look at that.
“There is an increased activity, you know, that the government has noted where people go, especially in the cover of the night, remove some of these government assets, iron metals and scraps, and then go to sell them to other individuals who in turn now recycle them and bring them back to the market.
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“There is an increased activity that the government has noted along that direction. Therefore, that’s what makes me very much concerned and is taking a closer look at how this can be litigated going forward.
He announced that the full decision will be taken at the next FEC meeting, coming up next Wednesday, when another Federal Executive Council meeting will be held.
“So the idea is to accelerate the pace of decision making, so that especially those areas that require urgent attention due to racism or other injustices are regulated.
