By Cross Udo, Abuja
With just 13 days to the end of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, the Federal Government yesterday insisted that the national carrier, Nigeria Air, will fly before May 29.
The Federal Government has also approved an online university and 36 other private universities, just as the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu has declared that the country needs more universities.
Fielding questions on the possibility of Nigeria Air becoming operational before May 29 when the administration of President Buhari will come to an end, the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika emphatically said that the national carrier will fly before the exit of the government.
He simply said, “Yes, we are on course, we’re on course, and by the grace of God before President Buhari leaves office, it will fly. We are on course, we are on course, and before May 29, it will fly.”
*FEC approves N3.197bn Taxi Waylights, Photometric Pattern for three airports
The Minister also said the federal government approved N3,197,127,22.72 for the procurement and installation of Taxi Waylights and Photometric Patterns in three airports and some other equipment all over the country.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Extraordinary Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Sirika explained that the equipment would be installed in Port Harcourt, Lagos, and Abuja airports.
He said, “So today in council, something very significant has happened in the world of civil aviation. As part of our roadmap, the aviation leasing company has been established and approved by the council.
“A second memo was also a contract for procurement, an installation of taxi way lights in the system and photometric pattern in Port Harcourt, Lagos, and Abuja and some other equipment all over the country.
“And this contract is in the total sum for the photometric and taxi way lights system N3,197,127, 22.72 billion with an eight-month period and the contractor Mssrss KSR3 Global Ledger Limited,” the minister said.
Showing the approval, the minister said, enterpreneurs in civil aviation will have access to these equipment at affordable rates in Nigeria, and this is part of the roadmap, adding that, the roadmap is gradually coming to 100 per cent completion.
*Okays online varsity, 36 others
Also briefing, the Minister of Education, Adamu said the Council approved 37 new universities, adding that the number has brought to 72 the total number of universities licensed by the Buhari administration since 2015.
Although he did not name the universities, he revealed that one of them is an online university, the first of its kind in Nigeria, and owned by a woman from Bauchi State, with the expectation that it will cater to the likes of northern Muslim women who feel reluctant or are restrained from attending physical campus education.
Asked by journalists if the additional universities are expedient given the funding challenges of existing ones, Adamu explained that these are all private, with enough funds to run them and they should not be denied the opportunity to exist.
Besides, he said Nigeria needs more universities as the available ones are not adequate to take up all those aspiring for higher education.
