The council gave the approval during the weekly meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, while speaking with reporters after the council meeting, said four memoranda was approved for the ministry totalling N16,697,742,839.

According to him, the projects to be executed in the contracts include construction of Wachakal Airport in Yobe State at N6.3 billion; post-construction services for the same airport at the cost of N219.8 million. It also includes the procurement of eight airport rescue and firefighting vehicles at the cost of N9.5 billion; and a contract for the deployment of sniffer dogs to the Lagos and Abuja international airports at the cost of N658.8 million.

“FEC approved four memoranda from civil aviation. One of it is the approval for the construction of Wachakal Airport in Yobe State and at the contract sum of N6,284,065,056,” he said.

“Even and in our drive to develop the sector and ensure connectivity within our region and also improve on our security architecture and also attend to the various needs of civilization, we found this airport and many others that are coming across the country useful.

“The second was a post-Consultancy Services for the construction of the same airport, Wachakal Air stripe which is very close to Nguru in Yobe state. So, first Consultancy Services is given to Kafe Engineering at the sum of N219,782,500 only. This will include seven and a half percent VAT.