On Wednesday, the Nigerian cabinet approved spending N48.4 billion on highways in the north-eastern states of Taraba and Yobe.
Lai Mohammed, the minister of information, gave this information to State House reporters about the decisions made at the cabinet meeting this week, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mohammed provided a breakdown, stating that N18 billion was allowed for the Yobe State government as refunds for the construction of federal government highways in the State and N29.8 billion was approved as revised costs for the renovation of the Yola-Hong-Mubi route.
Also see: Taraba State Road To Get N66.9 Billion From Cabinet
“The two memos provided by Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, were both accepted,” he said. The first was for the updated total projected cost of the contract for the restoration of the Yola-Hong-Mubi road in Adamawa State, which was awarded for N29, 826, 708, 000 and would take an additional 24 months to complete. The Sukuk bond will be used to pay for it.
According to him, the Yobe State government received a return for some road projects it carried out on behalf of the federal government in the second letter approved for the Ministry of Works.
The second was his memo asking council for consent to reimburse reimbursements that had been recognized and recommended by a special interministerial committee established by the federal government to verify similar claims made by the Yobe State government.
The committee verified the state government’s claim of N20 billion and approved the amount of N18,663,843, 109 as reimbursement due to Yobe State for five federal roads that they rehabilitated, Mohammed continued. “The state government undertook construction of some roads and bridges that were supposed to be federal government projects and they actually asked the federal government to reimburse them,” he said.
