PODECast Newsletter (February 12 2018): Federal Executive Council Meeting - Wednesday Feb 07, 2018

The Meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari. At the end of the meeting, Minister of Interior Abdulrahaman Bello Dambazzau, Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika, Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu, and Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun, briefed the Press. Minister of Information Lai Mohammed presided over the FEC briefing.

Highlights of the briefing:
-Minister of Communication: Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu revealed that three main projects and three policies have been approved by the Council since 2015.

Projects:
a. Radio Communication Monitoring project, in five locations across the country - including Lagos, Gusau, Azare and Ogoja. This project will help the Nigerian Government detect illegal usage of non-commercial radio frequencies (the radio frequencies used by airlines, oil companies, etc; as opposed to the ones used by media broadcasting houses). The project, started in March 2017, is about 63% completed, and is scheduled for completion by March 2018. According to the Minister, in 2017 Nigeria earned about N600 million from licensing of non-commercial radio frequencies, and stands to earn even more by ending illegal and unauthorized use.

b. Approval for the NPITI-2 Project: The national ICT infrastructure backbone programme known as NIPTI 2, and housed in Galaxy Backbone Limited, is being implemented by Huawei with 100% funding from the China Exim Bank. The Project will provide fibre optics connectivity to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) when completed.

c. The third project is supplemental to the first, and is aimed at allowing the jamming of any identified illegally-operating radio signals.

Policies:
a. FEC approved the ICT Roadmap (2017-2020). The ICT Roadmap provides an integrated framework for ICT development in Nigeria and articulates the strategic direction on four pillars namely: Governance; Policy, Legal and Regulatory framework; Industry and Infrastructure; and Capacity Building. Download it here

b. FEC approved the resolution of the conflict regarding whether the Federal Ministry of Communications or the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology should supervise certain agencies within the ICT sector. The debate was resolved in favour of the Ministry of Communications: it will continue to have oversight over NIGCOMSAT, NITDA and other agencies.

-Minister of Interior: Minister of Interior Abdulrahaman Bello Dambazau briefed that the Ministry got approval for 17 Project and Policy memos for its various agencies -- Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Prison Service, Federal Fire Service, etc -- since 2015. Some of the approvals are for the procurement of operational vehicles and provision of Local Area Networking (LAN). On February 7 FEC approved the purchase of additional vehicles for use in border security by the Nigeria Immigration Service.

-Policy Memos approved include those relating to the strategy to be adopted in dealing with overcrowding in Nigerian Prisons, and improving facilities and welfare for inmates.

-Minister of Finance: Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun said that the Council approved the re-appointment of the consortium that handled Nigeria’s last Eurobond Issuance, to handle the forthcoming Issuance (US$2.5 billion). Members of the Consortium include CitiGroup, Stanbic Chartered, Stanbic IBTC, White & Case, Banwo & Ighodalo, and Africa Practice. This planned Eurobond issuance - already approved by FEC and the National Assembly - is not new debt; it is wholly for refinancing maturing domestic debt (Treasury Bills).

-Minister of State for Aviation: FEC approved a Memo to substitute a member of the consortium that will provide transaction advisory services for the establishment of a National Carrier for Nigeria. Council considered and approved the substitution of Lufthansa Consulting with another company called Airline Management Group (AMG), to enable the project continue as planned. Next phase is for the Transaction Advisers to develop and submit an Outline Business Case (OBC) for the project.

Source--->> https://mailchi.mp/statehouse/podecast-february-12-2018