The Punch says that the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved contracts to offer insurance cover for assets in 22 airports owned by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the expansion of the apron of the Maiduguri Airport.
It also approved road contracts in Kano, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory. The contracts totalling about N59.35bn were approved at a meeting of the council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
On the aviation contracts, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, told State House correspondents at the end of the meeting that contracts totalling N758.17m were approved for the aviation sector based on the presentation made by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika. Mohammed said,
“The first memo is a contract for the expansion of the apron at the Maiduguri Airport. This contract is worth N719.12m. It was awarded to a company called Luvaslink Projects Limited.
“The expansion of the Maiduguri Airport has become necessary because of the increased traffic at the airport. The apron of an airport is actually that area where aircraft’s manoeuvres are made, where they turn and park.
ThisDay reports that despite the underperformance of the power sector since privatisation in 2013, Electricity Generation Companies (Gencos) in the country said they have succeeded in achieving a 93 per cent increase in generation in the past seven years.
In the biannual magazine published by the umbrella body of the Gencos, the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC), the power generators, however decried the inability of the other actors in the value chain to effectively play their part to ensure evacuation of available power.
The generating companies bemoaned the lack of infrastructure in the value chain to evacuate all the power being generated, explaining that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Distribution Companies (Discos) do not have the capacity to cope with the expanding generation capability of the Gencos.
“The supply growth from the takeover date of 1st November, 2013, to date shows that available generation capacity which was 4,214.32MW has increased by 93.27 per cent to 8,145MW (as Gencos recovered 3,930.68MW).
“However, due to system constraints, generated power is rejected or forced to be reduced to match the infrastructure that transmits and distributes this power to the customer.
The Sun reports that the National Association of Chambers of Commerce Industries Mines and Agriculture (NACCCIMA) has called on manufacturers to improve on the quality of goods to make them compete internationally.
The Association made the call in view of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement which is billed to start in January. National President, Saratu Iya-Aliyu, made the remark at the ongoing 2020 Lagos international Trade Fair, organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Iya-Aliyu also urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts at going development of infrastructure in this region as the improvement in power, road and rail will significantly improve the conduct of business in the zone, improve the economy and country at large.
The NACCCIMA boss applauded the Chamber for organising the fair despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, noting that the theme of this year’s fair which is “Connecting Businesses, Creating Value” is a confirmation of the determination to maintain the mission of the fair for over three decades.
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