FG approves N1.49bn for Zik’s Mausoleum

                                                  GEJ approves N1.49bn for Zik's statue

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The Federal Executive Council has approved the sum of N1, 496billion, for the building of a Mausoleum in honour of Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. The Mausoleum which will be located in Onitsha Anambra State is expected to be completed in 13months. Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting on Wednesday, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Dr. Rueben Abati, said that the Mausoleum has been an issue since 2006 and that the President during his visit to Anambra State had given his word that the issue will be revisited.

According to Abati, “the President during his visit to Anambra State had given his word that the issue will be revisited and that was done today because the country owes it to posterity and the memory of the great Zik to ensure that the mausoleum is built and there is concrete assurance by the ministry of Lands and Housing that this time around the Mausoleum will be completed.” Speaking further on the contract the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ama Pepple said “the Federal Executive Council approved the award of contract for the completion of Zik’s Mausoleum, a Mausoleum in memory of our first President. It was given out for a sum of N1, 496,531,483 with a completion of 13 months.

This contract was originally under the Presidency but it was stalled and had to be cancelled three times, but in 2010 it was transferred when it became the Ministry of Lands and Housing Development” she said adding that this time they were confident that the contractors are able to carry out the work competently. Pepple who said the Mausoleum which was a national project that had to be completed before the country’s centenary celebration in 2014 also said the funds for the project had been split into the 2012 and 2013 budget.

“In this year’s budget we have N530million in the 2012 budget with which we are going to start off the project with and we have also put N1billion in the budget for next year and if that is given to us we should be able to complete it within the time stipulated.

So we are very hopeful that we will get the needed funds and the ministry is quiet ready to ensure that we get value for money for the job that we are giving out” she said. Speaking on the approved roadmap of the mining sector, the Minister of Mines and Steel, Mohammed Sada said the document was to awaken “ourselves to the various governmental policies to work on and targets to achieve”.

According to him the reforms which started in 2005, yielded nothing, but had started showing prospects from 2007 into this present government. The minister who said this was the first time Nigeria was having a roadmap for the mining sector added that the foreword for the roadmap was personally written by the President himself.

He said government had also given incentives to encourage investors in the sector, stating that all mining equipments brought into the country will be duty free.