FG Approves Upgrade, Expansion of Five Airports

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday approved the upgrade and expansion of five airports in the country.
The aim is to equip the airports with facilities for cargo handling to ease the export of agricultural products from the country.
They are Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos; Nnamdi Azikwe, Abuja; Aminu Kano in Kano; Yobe and Port Harcourt airports.
President Goodluck Jonathan said this when he declared open the second Africa and Middle East Conference of Building and Wood Workers International (BWI) in Abuja.
Represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Jonathan said agriculture would henceforth be considered as a business opportunity and not a programme which has not enjoyed any value in the last 30 years.
"The government is therefore providing 100 irrigation schemes and take decisive steps to address the value chain of agriculture in Nigeria," he added.
Although he did not provide a timeline for the attainment of the 5000mw, the President said efforts were being made to expand and upgrade existing substations and to ensure that the hydro, solar, coal and wind power generation projects work.
He called on the union to embrace a needed shift in engineering approach towards building and development of the rural areas as statistics have shown that 65 per cent of the nation's population would be resident in what is currently considered rural areas in the next 10 years.
He expressed the readiness of the Federal Government to partner with the union and its affiliates to certify middle level artisans and engage them in property development while the union pays attention to quality control.
The President of the National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW), Samuel Adeoye, in his address  lamented that the over N100 billion government debt profile is crippling the sector
He appealed for payments to be made, adding that it would help contractors who have been put out of business due to the huge debt profile to get back on their feet.
Adeoye condemned recent killing of mine workers in South Africa and urged governments to ratify the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) conventions on occupational health and safety.
"We are grieved by the massacre of the 37 mine workers, who are bona fide members of BWI by virtue of their constituency in National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) of South Africa," Adeoye said.
"This is man inhumanity to man, we cannot condone what the police did, this is uncalled for. The use of excessive force on the vulnerable workers is totally unacceptable. We wish to use this medium to condemn in strong terms the action of the police."
Construction workers from 23 African and Middle Eastern countries are in attendance at the five-day conference.