A decision to purchase plastic waste bin for
Abuja was
taken
at one of the Federal Executive Council,FEC
meetings in September at the Council
Chambers of Aso Rock,Abuja.The meeting
was chaired by Vice President Namadi
Sambo.According to insiders,the federal
government finally approved the
purchase of 60,000 sixty thousand units of
240- litre British
plastic waste bins commonly called dustbins
for use
in Abuja.It is according to official
accounts to
be supplied to Abuja Environmental
Protection Agency in order to help keep the
environment clean.The case for the waste
bins was
made by Bala Mohammed, the minister of
federal capital territory at the
council meeting. The memo
to this effect was one of the several others
deliberated upon bordering on contract
awards .
Newsdiaryonline learnt that the contract for
the waste bins is
estimated
to cost N927,600,000 ( Nine hundred and
twenty seven million, six hundred thousand
Naira).The winner of the contract is said to
bear the name Pentagon Group of companies
believed to be British.
But the approval for the purchase waste bins
from
Britain for
Abuja did
not come easy.Newsdiaryonline learnt that
even at the Federal Executive Council
meeting the idea of purchasing waste bins
from Britain was controversial and it was
hotly debated as some ministers and
top government officials who contributed to
the deliberations disagreed with the idea .
Some top notchers up till now believe
it is not a patriotic move. A highly
reliable source revealed that some ministers
questioned the rationale behind buying such
waste bins from Britain when local
manufacturers of the same products abound
with equally
commendable quality.
Newsdiaryonline learnt
that
the arguments by the chief economic adviser
to the president was quite outstanding.The
Professor from University of Ibadan
was
said to have warned the council that the
idea of going Britain to import dustbins
will certainly attract condemnation from
critics of the government.But the FCT
minister defended his memo
and the concept of the waste
bins from Britain.He anchored his logic on
the need to have quality dustbins for the
FCT.Not everyone was convinced though.
But the FCT minister had his way.Despite all
the reservations
and observations by some members of the
council, however sources said the FEC
proceeded
at the behest of the Vice President
Sambo
to
approve the contract for the supply of
60,000
units of 240 litre plastic waste bins
from Briatin for use in Abuja.
Comments
Femi :It's
our dream in Nigeria to build our local
manufacturing sector and achievement of
MDGs/Vision 2020 while those behind the
progress at upper level are killing the spirit.
It is discouraging that @50 Nigerian leaders
are still taking decision to import plastic
dustbins from Britain. That means we don't
have local industry do the job.From me, it
is wrong decision and big shame for our
nation.
Zainab:These people are
bereft of any good ideas to move Nigeria forward.Their only
preoccupation is how to share the nation's
resources
Lome Palanka (USA):Did
I hear someone say that we are striving to
be one of the world's top 20
economies by the year 2020? Gosh! How are we
going to do that if by 2010 we can't
even manufacture dustbins that the FCT can
use? We must be jokers. Haba!
uche maduemesi:This is
just a sampler. We have not got leaders yet
but a bunch of unpatriotic
businessmen. Trace it, one of them has
interest in the deal.
Eunice Igbode:We don't
need dustbin from UK to keep Fct clean we
need the mindset of the people to
change.However the dustbin can be bought in
Nigeria we have our plastics industries
in Lagos, Ogun,Kano.That will exact what the
minister wants.
Zainab:Buying dustbin from UK? doesn't it sound so bizarre. why didn't they get the
standard they wanted and charge the Nigeria plastic industry to produce same. well
we all know their reason behind the approval. they just want to share the money. we
need our industries to grow, but we are killing same by importing from outside. sad
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