The Federal Government and Nigeria‘s National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC Ltd, signed a N621 billion Memorandum of Understanding on Tuesday to fund the construction of critical road infrastructure across the country.
The Tax Credit MoU that was signed in Abuja by Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Works and Housing, on behalf of the Federal Government, the General Manager of International Energy Relations, Garba Hadejia, who represented the Managing Director of the NNPC Group and the Secretary Executive, The Federal Internal Revenue Service, FIRS, Muhammed Nami, had to update Executive Order 007.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Fashola said Executive Order 007 was a strategic partnership with the private sector, which he claimed was used to address the Obajano-Kabba highway and the very difficult Apapa-Oworoshoki highway.
“Of course, when the order expired, we discussed the limitations of the existing order and made recommendations to the president, some of which were to make the roads more diverse in their selection and another was that smaller companies could merge into groups to handle smaller roads.
“All of these were included in the order that President Buhari signed as Executive Order 007 in 2019, the governance structure around it and how requests are made, etc.
“So I think it’s important to make that request clear, because from time to time when policy is made, it gets misinterpreted or requires further clarification, so this is not an order for one person, it is an order for all Nigerian companies. .
“Now we are seeing the oil industry sector intervene safely with more than 600 billion naira to tackle more than 21 roads that cover 1800 kilometers, that is really huge, it is a show of confidence on the part of NNPC.
“We are also seeing interest in the telecommunications sector, and we expect this to continue as a strategic expansion in the interest of the private sector that contributes to the development of Nigerian infrastructure.
“We are also seeing interests in the telecommunications sector, and we expect this to continue as a strategic expansion in the interest of the private sector that contributes to the development of Nigerian infrastructures,” Fashola said.
He added that a governance structure had been put in place to ensure that no contractor requests a price increase and that FIRS has five days to certify all contractor certificates and NNPC has 30 days to pay.
Mr. Fashola said this had given the contractors more confidence in the guarantee of receiving payment and urged them to mobilize their personnel, equipment and supplies back to the site.
He was optimistic that the impact of the financing would be felt before the start of the rainy season.
“Finally let me tell you that as we head into the holiday season there will be a lot of movement of goods, vehicles and people on our roads as the number increases, we are also seeing an increase in speeding and an increase in accidents. .
“And as such, I am calling on the media to convey this message that the maximum speed limit on all federal highways is 100 km / h and should not be a kilometer higher.
“More importantly, there is a growing trend to use the phone while driving and this is an absolute no as it endangers the driver and other road users, and we hope that if these two basic ideas are taken into account, we can really reduce the number of accidents on our roads, ”said Fashola.
For his part, Muhammed Nami, Executive Secretary of the Federal Internal Revenue Service, said the investment in roads was a call to use taxpayers’ income tax to repair critical road infrastructure.
“This is also to support the fact that there is a social contract between taxpayers and the government and that is what the Federal Government is doing using order 007 to give value to taxpayers’ money.
“So this is really necessary for us to fix some of these critical roads because the annual budget allocation for these roads is not only minimal but absolutely insufficient, so the government has to come out with this to make sure some of the roads are built. roads.
“Some of these roads were in the 70s and 80s and are currently in poor condition and need to be repaired so that we can move goods, people and agricultural products from one place to another without any obstruction.
“Second, and most importantly, close the critical infrastructure gap that we face as a country,” Manni said.
Mr. Nami, therefore, praised the corporation for considering it necessary to invest in road infrastructure.
The Group’s Managing Director, National Petroleum Corporation of Nigeria, NNPC, said the condition of the road networks in the country was affecting his business.
“We have the responsibility of supplying the country with petroleum products, which is why most of our pipelines have been vandalized, which has resulted in the transportation of these products through trucks.
“Those who pass through many of these national highway networks and these highway networks have suffered the same fate over the years and it is difficult for our tanker truck drivers to pass safely and easily to put these products on the books. and nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
“So it is in that note that we find this tax credit scheme a very important way by which we can intervene to support the Federal Ministry of Works in the financing of these road networks, we are willing and ready to finance with 621 billion” , He said. .
He thanked the government for the privilege of contributing to the sector with the scheme.
On the occasion he was represented by Garba Hadejia, General Director of International Energy Relations.
