President Bola Tinubu has directed that all projects that require additional funding, especially major projects of the Ministry of Works, be reviewed to ensure probity, proficiency, and diligence in execution.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday, July 10, 2024.
Idris said the FEC decided to step down projects under the Ministry of Works inherited by Tinubu’s administration, which required cost adjustments and variation.
He disclosed that Tinubu directed that the memos presented to the council by Minister of Works David Umahi be looked at again so that there would be further deliberation at the next council meeting.
The minister stated that the idea was to re-examine, especially those parts that required augmentation or review.
Idris said Umahi was directed to work with the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning and the Minister of Finance to review the projects and bring them strictly in line with budgetary provisions.
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“Where there is a necessity for additional funding, this will be brought back to the Council meeting next time for further deliberation,” he stated.
Idris revealed that the council also discussed the National Council on Procurement, which had not been effective in the last 17 years.
He said Tinubu had submitted a bill to the National Assembly, which had scaled through the first reading at the House of Representatives.
“The whole idea is to ensure that we have a robust National Council on Procurement that will look at all aspects of procurement, and to bring every project into the fiscal financial discipline that the President is always talking about,” said the minister.
The minister disclosed that there was also a discussion on the report by the Daily Trust Newspaper, saying: “Recall that we have commented about this in the past and the position of government on that report.
“The federal government insists that the report on the LGBT or the so-called Samoa Agreement was misleading, it was false and it was designed to create confusion in the land.
“My ministry has also briefed the Federal Executive Council on all the steps that we have taken, including writing to the industry’s own Ombudsman with a view to drawing the attention of Daily Trust Newspaper to that very misleading report.”
Idris said the FEC expected the industry’s Ombudsman to look at the issue dispassionately, adding that the council would be patient to await the report of the Ombudsman.
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