The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the sum of N20.4bn for the procurement of five firefighting trucks and the upgrade of facilities at two Lagos seaports.

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’Azu Sambo, was also at the briefing

Sirika said the council approved additional costs for the procurement of security and safety equipment at the Maiduguri International Airport in Borno State.

He said: “With an initial cost of N20 billion, an additional N2.64 billion was required for the project due to the drop in the value of the naira.

“It is that procurement that we sought to vary because of time and then also the exchange rate of the central bank has been moved by CBN. And the contracts were foreign components denominated the movement was N306 to the dollar to N416 to the dollar. So that called for the variation of the contract. The initial cost was N20.34 million. It was viewed the total addition is about N2.64 billion

The second memoranda involved the procurement of five firefighting vehicles. This also includes ancillary costs for the vehicles and tubs, spares, training of operators, transportation, and clearing

Total cost is N7.10 billion with seven and a half percent VAT. Delivery time is 12 months and the number of trucks is five units for airport rescue and the company is MSSRS Balkan with Gulf of Africa.”

On his part, Sambo said the ministry presented two memos for various Public-Private- Partnership projects.

He added that the first memo would address access to potable water in the Lagos port complex in Apapa and the Tincan Island ports.

The second was for the refurbishment, operation, maintenance, and transportation of the water system at the Lagos port complex.

The project, the minister, said would be implemented by Mr. Sanders Energy and Engineering Services Limited on the refurbish, operate, and transfer model