The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday in Abuja approved 464 million naira for the purchase of 67 vehicles for the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

The purchase of the vehicles is with a view to strengthen the commission’s capacity to carry out its responsibilities efficiently.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, made this known when he briefed State House correspondents after the FEC meeting, which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

“The Federal Executive Council also, today, considered a memorandum for the purchase of some vehicles to strengthen the capacity of the Federal Road Safety Corp in the efficient performance of its functions.

“The Federal Road Safety Corp, as you know, is mandated by the Act setting it up to maintain safety on our federal highways and in doing so, we needed to give them the tools for which they can perform these functions.

“So, today Council approved that 40 double carrier vehicles be added to their fleets, and another 27 swift moving cars be added to their fleets too,” he said.

According to him, the vehicles are to be sourced from local assembly plants in the country in line with the nation’s procurement and local content acts.

He stated that the local sourcing of vehicles was in line with the spirits of “Buy made in Nigeria goods”, adding that the country would also conserve foreign exchange from the business deal.

He said the 40 double carrier vehicles would be procured from the Innoson Group at the cost of 299.5 million naira while the other 27 cars would be bought from Peugeot Automobile company at the cost of 164.9 million naira.

The minister disclosed that the council also stressed the need to reinvigorate FRSC by providing it with more ambulances and towing vans to facilitate its smooth operations.

Ngige also revealed that his ministry briefed the council on the Nigeria’s participation at the forum of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)

In his contribution, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said the council also reviewed the statistics on the performance of the economy as released by the National Bureau for Statistics.

He stated that the council noted that the result of the oil sector for the third quarter was slightly worse than the second quarter.

He, however, expressed optimism that the fourth quarter would be much better as oil production had started moving up as a result of measures and initiatives put in place by the government.

According to him, the country’s non-oil sector has been performing well, with the sector moving out of recession.

“Indeed the non-oil sector has moved out of recession with 3.03 per cent. It is moving in the direction that is most encouraging for the government.

“Agriculture has continued to grow at 4.5 per cent; solid mineral grows at 7 per cent, the financial sector has moved into positive (2.85 per cent)

“Indeed we are encouraged by the direction in which the non-oil sector is moving,” he added. (NAN)

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