On Wednesday in Abuja, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved N39.6 billion for several contracts for transmission lines in the Ministry of Power.
After the meeting, which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Minister of Power Abubakar Aliyu gave a briefing to State House Correspondents. He said the N39.6 billion contract had offshore and onshore components worth $53 million and N15.6 billion, respectively.
Aliyu said, “I presented three memos to the council today and I got approval for the three memos.
“The first memo sought the council’s approval for the procurement of transmission line materials for re-conductoring works for the Transmission Company of Nigeria in favour of Messrs Legacy Power in the sum of $6m; that’s the offshore value.
“The component for the onshore is N145m inclusive of the all the taxes and 12 months of completion.”
The building of a 15 km turn in-turn out line for the existing Akure-Ado-Ekiti 132KV single-circuit transmission line at the Akure 330KV, 132KV, and 33KV sub-stations was the subject of the second memo, according to him; for which he asked the council for approval before it can be awarded a contract.
He clarified that the contract was favorable to Messrs Legacy Power Limited and valued the offshore component at $2.5 million and the onshore component at N988.5 million.
The Akure sub-station, which has been operational since 2021, was a 330KV sub-station that the FG was unable to power up because of a line shortage, according to Aliyu.
He said: “The line is supposed to come from Benin which is a new line under construction. The line is coming from Benin North to Oshogbo which will pass and energise the Akure sub-station.
“So, this project is 132KV line from the Akure sub-station going to Akure-Ado-Ekiti which is simultaneously going on with the Benin North-Akure line.
“By the time we are able to energise the Akure line, this project would have been completed so that the whole area will have no problem of electricity. This project will be completed in 12 months and was also approved by the council.”
The third memo the council reviewed from the Power Ministry, according to Aliyu, included five projects for the design, supply, and installation of 132KV sub-stations and transmission lines for the TCN in various parts of the nation.
He explained, “The contract is in favour of several contractors in the total $53m; this is the offshore; then the onshore is N15.6bn.
“The projects are all similar—design, supply and install 2 by 60MVA 132 33kV transmission sub-station across the country as I stated earlier.
“We have one in Misau Local Government Area, Bauchi State. We have another one in Mashi Local Government in Kastina State. We have the third one in Benue State, which is Api and North Bank in Makurdi; then we have the fourth one which is at Ebonyi State, one 60MVA transformer at a university in Ebonyi State; then, we have the other one at Ebonyi Airport; then, the fifth one is a line of 30km at Rimin Zakara to Kayin in Kano.”
Speaking to the media, Zubairu Dada, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, stated that the African Union Convention on Cross-Border Cooperation, also known as the Niamey Convention, document had been handed to the Council by the ministry.
The Convention, he said, was conceived by the Nigerian government at the meeting of African border ministers on May 29, 2012, in Niamey, Niger Republic, and it was approved in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, in 2014.
