Nigeria’s cabinet has approved N4.3 for the procurement of security gadgets for the Nigeria Railway Corporation.
The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo made the disclosure to State House Correspondents on at the end of this week’s cabinet meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
He said the equipment includes scanners, metal and bomb detectors and narcotics detectors among others.
Sambo said the gadgets will help improve security in the rail transportation segment in the wake of rising security challenges.
“The Ministry of Transportation today submitted three memoranda to the council which were approved. The first of them was in respect of the provision of equipment for the Nigerian Railway stations across the country phase II.
“These equipment include baggage scanners, walk-through metal detectors, X-ray mail scanners, liquid explosives detectors, and narcotics chemical trace bomb detectors among others. The contract was awarded in the sum of N4.3 billion with a completion period of 12 months.
“The 2nd memorandum was also from the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to provide a secured e-ticketing solution for the Lagos-Ibadan corridor and the Warri-Itakpe corridor under a design-finance-build-maintain-operate and transfer public-private partnership arrangement for the Nigerian Railway Corporation.
“The Lagos Ibadan corridor was app roved for a concession period of 10 years at a sharing ratio of 81.5 percent to NRC and 18.5 percent to the concessionaire. The Warri-Itakpe under the same partnership arrangement, corridor was approved for a concession period of 10 years too, with the same sharing ration like that of Lagos-Ibadan,” he explained.
NIMASA
The Transportation Minister also informed Journalists that the council approved a total sum of N8.6 billion for the purchase of houses that will serve as office accommodation for the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) in Portharcourt and Abuja.
He said: “The 3rd memorandum was in respect of a request by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to buy two buildings in Portharcourt and Abuja to serve as zonal office and Abuja liaison office respectively.”
The Minister said the Portharcourt building is a three storey building that was purchased in the sum of N4, 186, 533, 750 while that of Abuja is a four storey building purchased in the sum of N4, 473, 236, 250 inclusive of all taxes.
PIAK
