The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved a Revised National Policy on Environment, first formulated in 1991.
FEC, chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo also approved the contract for the construction of a $39.9 million Cameroon-Nigeria border link bridge.
Briefing journalists at the State House Abuja, after the council meeting, the Environment, Amina Mohammed alongside the Ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said the new policy framework was important because
of the need to capture some of the emerging issues that have come up since the last revision in 1999.
Some of the issues include climate change, coastal erosion, desertification, erosion, pollution and insecurity.
According to her, the new policy provides better opportunity to engage with states, local governments and communities and executing the priorities of the change agenda.
“What the policy does is to look at all the different inter-sectoral issues that we have whether it is with water, health, power agriculture and bring them in to have a multi-sectoral response.
“It went into an extensive stakeholder consultation, a greater part of the new policy environment sees partnership with the private sector and with the communities as absolutely essential to the sustainability of our environment” she said.
Council also approved the memorandum for the construction of Cameroon-Nigeria Border link bridge, at Ikot Effiom under the African Development Bank support.
According to Fashola the project is meant to improve the relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria post the International Court of Justice’s judgement over Bakassi.
The approved bridge is part of the link road between Enugu-Abakiliki Way which is already completed and part of larger Lagos-Mumbasa Highway.
“ The $38 million is for the construction contract and $1.9 million for the consultancy and this was done under ADB procurement guidelines,” the minister explained.
Fashola said council also approved the resuscitation and completion of the Kaduna Eastern Bypass highway, which was started in 2002 and initially scheduled to be completed within three years.
He said the road was a 50 kilometre highway and dual carriage way with nine bridges over rivers and rail crossings.
“The project which was first awarded in 2002 was N16 billion. We have had to get approval for N22 billion verbatim and so that takes that project cost now to N32 billion
“The contractor was paid N5.5 billion in 2002. If we had paid the contractor N11 billion then when exchange rate was N109, it would have fetched us $96 million. If you multiply $96 million today even at official rate of N305, it is now N29 billion,” he explained.
