FG Approves Nigeria’s First Maritime Varsity
FG Approves Nigeria’s First Maritime Varsity
The Federal Government has approved the first Nigerian Maritime University.
The Minister of Information, Patricia Akwashiki told State House Correspondents after day’s Federal Executive Council meeting that there was a ratification of approval of a provisional licence for the establishment of Nigerian Maritime University, at Okerenkoko in Delta State.
Akwashiki said the Council also took other decisions concerning harmonization of taxes, development of small businesses, and production of e-passport booklets among others.
“There was also approval of a report of the ministerial implementation committee on harmonisation of taxes and levies across the federation, because we have the issue especially of service providers, who when they move from one state into another they are also levied by the new state and also by the local government,” she said.
On the e-passport booklets, Minister of Interior, Abba Moro who was also at the briefing, said “the contract for Irish Technology was renewed for a period of four years and the production of 10million e-passport booklets in their various categories: 32 page, 62 page, and their counterpart of diplomatic and official passports.
“The renewal is as a result of subsisting agreement between the ministry of interior and the Irish Smart Technologies limited which an indigenous company that has been since 2007 involved in the production of e-passport and related travel documents for the Nigerian Immigration Service even before I became the minister of interior.
“I am not sure that it is because no other organization can produce that is the reason for the award of the contract to Irish Technology. They have performed very well and we have looked at all the perimeters of the agreement and agreed that I’m the period under review, they have performed very well.
“Within the period, they have been able to generate N51billion onshore and within the period under review, they have been able to generate for the government of Nigeria through the sale of passport and ancillary travel documents the sum of $5million offshore.
“Nigerians dealing with the NIS are satisfied by our survey that they performed very well and on the part of government in terms of revenue generation and quality of travel documents and the international identity and integrity of travel documents, they have done very well, that is why we renewed the contract which is completely contractor financed” each production cost N693.8kobo.”
