The award of the construction contracts for the Train 7 project of the NLNG to the SCD JV Consortium and the approval of the revised 2020 Budget from N10.594 trillion to N10.523 trillion dominate the headlines of Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
The Punch reports that the Nigerian LNG Limited has awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contracts for its Train 7 project to the SCD JV Consortium, comprising Saipem of Italy, Japan’s Chiyoda and Daewoo of South Korea.
The Train 7 project aims to increase the company’s production capacity from 22 metric tonnes per annum to about 30 MTPA, and will form part of the investment of over $10bn, including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain.
The newspaper also said that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N47.2bn to boost power supply in the country. According to the Minister of Power, Mr. Sale Mamman, it will supply additional 40 megawatts of power to the national grid.
The minster told journalists after the Executive Council meeting, which was held via video conferencing, that the 40mw would be moved from the Kashimbilla Dam in Taraba State.
The Nation newspaper says that Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a revision of the 2020 Budget from N10.594 trillion to N10.523 trillion, reflecting a N71.5 billion downward review.
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who stated this while briefing State House correspondents after the virtual FEC meeting at the State House Abuja yesterday, also said an amendment to the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2020-2022 was approved.
The minister also explained that FEC also approved the recommendations with key parameters, including the price of crude oil pegged at $25 per barrel, crude oil production at 1.94 million barrels per day and an exchange rate of N360 to $1.
President Muhammadu Buhari in December signed the N10.594 trillion Appropriation bill into law.
The Vanguard reported that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has reacted to claims of the herbal COVID-19 remedies, saying they were either domiciled in the conventional news media or social media.
The Director-General of the agency, Mojisola Adeyeye, said in a statement yesterday that it received an application only from one company for a product which it presented for approval for the treatment of symptoms of COVID-19, and not cure of the disease.
The newspaper also said that the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has expressed fears that an additional 950 Nigerian children could die every day from preventable causes over the next six months as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts routine services and threatens to weaken the health system.
The global humanitarian and developmental aid agency also said about 6,800 more Nigerian maternal deaths could occur in just six months. The agency said in a statement yesterday:
GIK/APA