Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the construction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s corporate headquarters in Abuja. The building will be called Agriculture House and will be 10 stories tall, covering a plot of land measuring 1.84 hectares. The project will commence with an initial sum of N6 billion, which will be taken from budgetary provisions for 2022 and 2023.
The minister of agriculture, Mahammad Abubakar, announced that the ministry will source for more funds from the presidency and other sources to complete the project. Nigeria is the largest producer of rice in Africa and to help combat the rising cost of rice, the ministry is constructing 10 rice mills under a public-private partnership, with the president providing intervention to complete them.
Despite a Federal High Court order barring the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority from issuing Nigeria Air an Air Operator’s Certificate, the minister of aviation, Hedi Sirika, has stated that the airline will fly before May 29. The aviation workers’ recent strike was caused by three reasons: the conditions of service for the agencies; implementation of the minimum wage; and the demolition of the headquarters of FAAN in Lagos.
The implementation of the conditions of service and the minimum wage will be looked into, while the FAAN building, which was made of wood and caught fire twice, will be demolished and replaced with offices, shopping malls, cinemas, and other amenities that befit Nigeria and the city of Lagos.
