FEC Approves 2019 Budget Estimates

Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday, approved the establishment of a committee made up of cabinet ministers and selected private sector investors, to source for alternative means of financing infrastructure.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, briefed journalists after a six-hour closed-door meeting that the target is to boost infrastructure spending to a N10-20 billion range annually over the next five years.

Enelamah stressed that the Federal Government plans to achieve the plan by partnering with other key sectors and meetings would begin by April 2019.

The council also approved N1.4 billion for the design of a proposed 12-floor building for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Abuja.

According to Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, the proposed building will serve as the head office of DPR, and the contract has been awarded to a Nigerian firm.

The regulatory and supervisory arm of the ministry of petroleum is currently based in Lagos and the minister stressed that the move to Abuja would be instrumental for income generation.