Fayemi Denies Spending N700m on Web Portal

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, yesterday refuted claims making the rounds in the media that he spent the sum of N700million creating a website for himself, adding that what the Ministry acquired with the said sum is an integrated Information Technology (IT) infrastructure which comprises two Data Centres.

Fayemi in a statement by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mohammed Abbas, noted that the ministry considered it incumbent to react swiftly to misrepresentation and to set the records straight

“When, last Thursday, 9th November 2017, our Ministers led other officials of the ministry and sectoral stakeholders to unveil the IT Integrated Automation & Interactive Solid Minerals Portal (IAISMP), we were really fulfilling one of the short-term pledges listed in our roadmap.

“These assets form critical pillars of our agenda to reform the mining and minerals sector, particularly as a key step towards our vision to lead the sector to shared mining prosperity where we make significant contributions to GDP in the country.”

The statement read in part: “in realising aspects of this project as a turnkey solution, we have been careful to follow all laid down processes. Since the cost of implementing the project is above ministerial limits, we sought and obtained the concurrence of the Federal Executive Council after a detailed presentation in January 2017.

It is important for clarity to state that what the Ministry has acquired with the said sum of money is an integrated IT infrastructure which comprises two Data Centres, an off-site recovery centre, civil and environmental works on the Centres, running of the Centres till end of first quarter 2018, training of over 225 officials locally and internationally amongst other cost components of the entire infrastructure and programme. It is indeed disingenuous of anyone to reinvent and reduce all of these into an expenditure on a website.