The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday in Abuja approved 11.5 million Euros for the procurement of auto testing laboratory equipment and tools for the National Automotive Council (NAC).
Chief Edem Duke, the Supervising Minister of Information, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said that the equipment and tools would be installed in designated laboratories in Lagos, Enugu and Zaria.
According to him, the overall objective of the project is to ensure vehicle safety and environmental protection as well as the quality of automotive products in Nigeria.
Council took critical note at the desire of the Hon. Minister (Industry, Trade and Investment) for the approval of a few batches of contracts for the procurement of auto testing laboratories, equipment and tools to be installed in a few auto testing laboratories in different parts of the country.
Over the past few decades, you know that Nigeria had been a dumping ground for vehicles of all ages and they ended up constituting health and safety hazards and so on and so forth.
So, a major frontier in moving this sector forward is what was considered today.
The objective of which is to ensure that vehicle safety and environment is protected and quality of automotive products in Nigeria is guaranteed by government.’’
Also speaking, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, said that the contracts for the procurement, installation and training on the tools would be financed from a provision of N3 billion in the approved 2014 Internally Generated Revenue.
According to him, N2.4 billion of the amount is earmarked for the procurement of auto-testing equipment and tools.
The Minister of Environment, Mrs Lawrecia Laraba-Malam, also disclosed that the Council approved the National Policy on the management of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in the country.
Laraba-Malam said that the objective of the policy was to strengthen government’s capacity to manage, monitor and control the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
She said that it would also ultimately phase out the use of PCBs in the course of protecting human health and the environment.
The Council notes that a Draft National PCBs Policy adopted by the relevant stakeholders has been developed under the Nigeria PCB Management Project.
It provides for adoption for the legal framework, enabling power and the appropriation of budget to implement the Nigeria PCBs Management Project,’’ she explained.