UPDATE: Nigeria gets three centres to test for coronavirus

Nigeria has acquired the necessary reagents to test for the presence of Covid-19 (coronavirus) in suspected patients.

It has, therefore, designated laboratories In Lagos, Abuja and Irrua in Edo States to handle such tests.

Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

He said the reagents were acquired about eight days ago.

The minister however assured that no case of the virus has been detected in the country or in Africa, saying: “You know the disease is transmitted from person to person. Maybe we have been lucky that nobody with the virus has entered the country.”

He praised the Chinese authorities for the measures that they have taken to curtail the spread of the disease, including the scanning of people going out of the country.

Also speaking, Minister of State for Transport, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, revealed that FEC approved contracts for port facilities worth about N2 billion.

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The Ministry of Works and Housing also secured the council’s approval for the appointment of consultants for consultancy work on the expansion of the Abuja-Kano expressway.

The Minister, Babatunde Fashola, said Yolas Consultants was awarded the contract at the cost of N867 million.

He explained that the plan was to create an additional one lane on either side of the road to make it a six-way expressway.

The Minister disclosed that the contract was awarded to Olumuyiwa Bashir and co.

In his briefs, the Minister of Nigeria Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, revealed that the council also approved the appointment of consultants for forensic auditors for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) at the cost of N318 million.

He recalled that the nine Niger Delta State governors had in a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in October last year, called on him to do a forensic audit of the commission.

Akpabio affirmed that the audit would cover the period between 2001 and 2019.

He also said the three-man interim management committee of the NNDC would collaborate and coordinate the consultants alongside their normal day to day management activities of the commission.