THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the sum of N236 million for the completion of Sabke Irrigation Dam in Katsina State.
This was revealed by Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, while briefing State House Correspondents after the about one hour council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja on Wednesday.
He recalled that the contract for the dam was initially awarded in 1997, re-awarded in 2009 after it was abandoned.
Adamu said: “One memo from my ministry was considered today as part of our efforts to improve the acreage for irrigation. We have been committing ourselves to completing many of the irrigation projects we inherited in the past two years.
“One of such is the Sabke irrigation project. This is a project that started as far back as 1997 during the PTF days but was abandoned and then reawarded in 2009, completed 95 percent by 2012 and again abandoned.
“When we came into office, I commissioned a technical audit of all the ongoing project in the ministry and because of the status of that project having attained 95 percent completion, it became a priority project because it was a low hanging fruit for us to complete.
“Unfortunately, when the contractor was mobilized to site, we found out that a lot of components of the irrigation project had been vandalized and for us to be able to put that project into effective use, we now have to do a lot of rehabilitation works and we therefore brought a memo seeking council to give us an augmentation of about N280 million for us the ability to complete the work 100 percent and make it fit for purpose and council considered and approved this memo.”
Also speaking during the briefing, Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, dismissed insinuation that the military was responsible for the spread of monkeypox virus in some states through the unauthorized vaccination of school children.
According to him, the military was not involved in any vaccination in the country.
The minister said any planned vaccination must involve state government leaders and the Federal Ministry of Health.
He said at the moment vaccination was being carried out only three states of the federation, including Borno, Kwara and Kogi.
According to him, while cholera vaccination was being conducted in Borno, Yellow Fever vaccination was being carried out in Kwara and Kogi.
Adewole said he briefed council about the monkeypox outbreak which has spread to 11 states with 74 suspected cases recorded, adding that the 33 suspected cases were recorded in seven states on October 11th.
He added: “It is also important to dispel the rumour circulating in the country that the military is vaccinating people and trying to spread monkeypox across the country.
“The military is not involved in any vaccination exercise.
“And I must also educate Nigerians about how vaccination campaigns are done. The Federal Government will take the lead but we do not conduct campaign without working with states.
“So, there is no way we will do campaign without working with the states,” he said.
According to him, “The Council also received an update on the state of the public health of the nation. We informed the council about the latest development in respect of the Monkey Pox virus outbreak. So far as of today, there are 74 suspected cases in 11 states of the country.
“We have confirmed three from Bayelsa and 12 of the suspected cases from Bayelsa tested negative; four suspected cases from Lagos tested negative. We are still expecting the results of the other ones.
“We are also doing test at the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), Edeh, to really understand the genomics of this virus.
“Even when they are negative, the laboratory attendant should be able to tell us what exactly they are.”
When asked if the military medical outreach was in good fate, the minister replied: “With respect to what the military is doing, I spoke about vaccination and not about military campaign.
“The military as part of a campaign of winning over the heart and soul of the people will get engaged in several things.
“In the past, the military was noted for even constructing roads. The military will do outreaches, measure blood pressure, and talk to people. These are normal things. I referred only to vaccination.
“We had to request for the assistance of the military in Borno state to reach inaccessible areas with respect to the polio campaign. So, we have worked with the military in the past and we will continue to work with them.
“There are doctors in the military, there are nurses and when you go abroad, some of the best institutions abroad are those ones managed by the military.
“So, we cannot disown the military. But what I want to put across is that the military is not involved in any vaccination.”
He also spoke on alleged illegal trafficking of kidney, saying that it was important Nigerians were notified about institutions that have been tagged illegal organ harvesters.
He said: “With respect to the harvest of organs, we received advice periodically from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, from National Security Adviser about goings on around the world.
“One of which is the harvest of organs illegally and it is our duty to alert Nigerians that this is ongoing. They should be careful, they should seek advice, they should patronize only accredited institutions.
“And as we rebuild our health infrastructure, there will be less need for anybody to travel out and so, we spare Nigerians the agony of falling victims of some of these illegal practices.”
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