*Aviation minister insists Air Nigeria will takeoff before May 29
The Federal Government has approved the construction of a corporate headquarters for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The minister of Agriculture, Mohammad Abubakar told State House Correspondents that the approval was given on Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting to presided by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Abubakar said an initial sum of N6 billion would be used to commence the construction of the new headquarters.
Abubakar said the proposed headquarters would be a 10-story building and would be called Agriculture House.
The minister said: “The memo we presented was for the construction of our corporate headquarters here in Abuja. Since the relocation of the ministry to Abuja over 30 years ago, we’ve not had a corporate headquarters.
“We are currently using an office of the Federal Capital Territory Administration which is just About three floors and cannot accommodate the entire ministry. We have about four departments that are outside the main ministry.
“So, the Federal Capital Territory Administration has allocated a plot to us in the cadastral zone, totaling about 1.84 hectares at a very strategic place for the construction of a 10-story building which we will call Agriculture House.”
He said they had purchased a building in Abuja some years back but it later turned out not to be adequate for the services required thus, it will be sold and the proceeds would be added to budgetary provisions (2022 and 2023) of the sum of N6 billion to commence the project.
He further added that the ministry will source more funds through intervention from the presidency and other sources, to complete the project.
On the rising cost of rice, he said a lot is being done to ensure the availability of the product and to further cut down its price since Nigeria is the number one producer of rice in Africa.
“There are 10 rice mills that are being constructed under a Public Private Partnership arrangement and the President has given us intervention to complete those mills and we will commission some of them before the end of this administration,” he said.
Meanwhile, despite a Federal High Court in Lagos order barring the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) from issuing Nigeria Air an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC), the Minister of Aviation, Hedi Sirika, has declared that the airline will fly before May 29.
Fielding questions on the development, he said: “Nigeria Air limited, I did say that we will get it going before the end of this administration and I’ve not withdrawn my words.
“We have everything in place, the aircraft are in place, the offices, operational centers, the staffing, and everything that we need to have in place. We’re doing the last-minute checks and waiting for the issuance of the AOC and it will fly.
“It will fly, it will be for the benefit of this country, for the size of the population, the traveling public, and what it does to the economy, especially to tourism, to African integration, and the AU Agenda 2063. It’s a very important project and I must do it, it will happen before the end of our tenure in the next four weeks and two days.”
Speaking on the recent strike embarked upon by aviation workers, Sirika said: “So the Nigerian aviation workers are striking principally for three reasons.
“Reason number one is they said the conditions of service for the agencies. Number two is minimum wage implementation and number three, they’re talking about the demolition of the headquarters or the office of FAAN in Lagos.
“Condition of service is not in our hands, it’s in the Salaries and Income Wages. I personally as the Minister went there with the union three times to fast-track that process. So that’s being looked at by the appropriate authority and I think they are fast-tracking it.
“On the implementation of the minimum wage, that also Accountant General’s Office, Ministry of Finance and the agency concerned are working hard to ensure that that happens.
“Lastly on the demolition of the FAAN headquarters to erect offices, shopping malls and make it what you see when you travel abroad. That is also ongoing. If you ask me, to make me an omelet, you can complain that I’m breaking your egg, that’s a quotation from one of the Managing Directors of FAAN, but that said, I think it’s been overhyped, taken out of context.
“Certainly, the FAAN building was there, even before Egbon Lai Mohammed joined the FAAN. So it was a transit camp, the FAAN office is a transit camp for the people that built the airport, it’s made out of wood and some panels as a makeshift office and this is what FAAN has been using on very prime property and it’s not befitting for the FAAN Lagos office, it’s only waste of space, and it caught fire twice, once during our administration.
“So we thought that that place should leave so that we can erect offices, shopping malls, cinemas, and the rest of it. Airports are no longer places where you take over land. You all go to Dubai, you all go to other places and see how they are, so certainly and definitely government would remove those wood structures, housing FAAN’s office now and erect among the aerotropolis components; offices, shopping malls, hotels, car parks and the rest of it, befitting of the nation, Nigeria and befitting of the city of Lagos.
“Lastly, maybe I throw this one in, since as interest, just to respond. Someone on Twitter said that he has checked and has found that one fire truck costs N800 million only. I told him, first and foremost, there’s the Freedom of Information Act in place, you can apply and get the details of that procurement.
“But one, assuming it’s N800 million or even N500 million, you’ll add 1% Stamp Duty, you’ll add 5% Withholding Tax, you’ll add 7.5% VAT, you’ll the contractor’s margin, you’ll add shipment cost, you’ll add transportation costs, you’ll add Custom Clearance, you’ll training, you’ll add spares and you’ll add the margin of the contractor and come back with the figure.”