The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, shut down the international conference centre on Monday for eight months to enable renovation works to go on smoothly without disruptions.
The minister, who announced this after inspecting the facility, declared that all events and activities booked at the venue were therefore cancelled.
While expressing disappointment at the state of the facility during the inspection, Wike asked why the contract for the maintenance of such an edifice meant for international events would be handed over to an incompetent firm.
He lamented that on several occasions, the nation has faced avoidable embarrassments before the international community while using the facility as a result of power outages, a poor cooling system, and facility decay.
He therefore announced that, with immediate effect, the contract for the comprehensive renovation of the International Conference Centre had been awarded to Julius Berger for a period of eight months.
The minister added that the facility will be handed back to Abuja Investment Company Limited after the completion of the renovation works.
He said, “It is very unfortunate; so many leaders meant well, but those of us who have the opportunity to be among those who will benefit at the end of the day set back the whole essence of good leadership.
“I told you we came here for the Ecowas inauguration last week with Mr President; no right-thinking human being would like to see an international location of that nature; they would see the state of this facility and be happy.
“In fact, during that inauguration, Mr. President drew my attention to the fact that the system was very poor. We have gone around, and you and I know that it cannot be accepted. There is no way we can accept this as an international conference centre because there is no standard to compare.
“We can’t endure this embarrassment anymore; we are sorry to announce that every booking meant to be used here will be cancelled as we start the immediate rehabilitation of this centre to maintain our international standard.
“So we have contacted the original contractor that built this place, which is Julius Berger, to come back because if we had bought a new contractor, it would take us time, but since they have the designs and the drawings, they can come here.
“We believe that in the next seven to eight months we will be able to do something that people will appreciate; that means FCTA will take over the rehabilitation with Julius Berger and Abuja Investment Company Limited, but it will be a different system now.”\
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