National Assembly’s Rehabilitation Will Gulp Additional N21bn, Says FCT Minister

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Muhammad Bello has said additional N21.029 billion would be needed to complete the rehabilitation of the National Assembly Complex.

He stated this yesterday when the Senate Committee on the FCT went on an oversight tour of some projects in the capital city.

The minister noted that the National Assembly Phase II popularly known as, “the White House” was built and completed between 1996 and 1999 by ITB Nigeria Limited.

He added that no major rehabilitation works had been carried out on the building over the years.

He said the contract which was awarded on December 30, 2021, for 16 months has a contract sum of N30, 229, 290, 830.35 while the amount paid was N 9, 200, 000, 000.

“The commencement date is April 16 and is expected to be completed on August 15, 2023.”

The Minister listed other priority projects embarked upon by the administration to include rehabilitation of Federal Secretariat complex, construction of southern park way from Christian Center to ring road.

Others he said were the rehabilitation of expansion of Outer Southern Expressway, provision of engineering infrastructure for Wuye District, rehabilitation and expansion of Outer Southern Expressway Villa Roundabout and completion of B6, B12 and Circle Road in Central Area.

He explained that the ministry gave some projects in the city priority over others due to scarcity of funds.

He said, “What we did was because of the scarcity of funds, we prioritised key infrastructure projects to get them completed.

“And in deciding to the ones that fit into that category, we looked at the ones that will give the maximum benefit to the maximum number of people.

“All the four projects we visited, you find that they are all road projects that are meant to link one section of the Abuja city to another and that is the whole idea.

“The masterplan has been designed in such a way that they complement each other.

“So if you finish one portion and you don’t do the other one, then you don’t get the full utility of that particular road.”

Bello further said it was the intention of the ministry that as the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration rounds off, a number of projects would be completed.

“Some of them we intend to develop them to a level whereby the next team should be able to do it.

“Ultimately, the objective is to make Abuja a vibrant city; a city where people will feel comfortable; where there wouldn’t be traffic gridlock and where facilities will work,” he added.

He said working together with the Senate, the ministry would be able to achieve the completion of the projects.

Bello, however, said running a mega city was a huge challenge noting that demographically, Abuja had changed tremendously.

“So the main challenge is to be able to fast tract the provision of infrastructure at a pace that will be able to match with population growth.”

On his part, Chairman Senate Committee on FCT Sen. Tolu Odebiyi who led the committee members said “what we have seen is quite impressive.

“We believe that in the twilight of this administration, in the next month, it is important we catalogue all the projects that are being done and prioritise the ones that must be completed before the end of this term.

“This is so that we can also make sure we provide the adequate funding and budget for it.”