It was meant to be a worthy edifice housing the Vice President and one of the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration’s star projects. But, with N7billion already spent, the number two citizen’s official home now seems abandoned, subdued by weeds.
The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) has abandoned the project, following the refusal of the 7th Senate to accept the inflation of the contract sum by N9 billion.
The builders have not been fully paid despite the release of the N7billion. Why they were shortchanged was not clear yesterday.
The project is yet to reach 80 per cent completion, contrary to the facts presented to the Senate by the FCDA.
The contract was awarded in 2009 at N7billion. But in 2012, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Sen. Bala Mohammed, came with a request for N9billion more to complete the project.
The variation was expected to accommodate a helipad. There was public outrage.
FCDA Executive Secretary Adamu Ismail later told the Senate Committee on FCT that the proposed additional N9 billion was slashed to about N6 billion by the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).
He said the variation was also meant to provide furniture, fencing, two additional protocol guest houses, a banquet hall and security gadgets.
The then Senate Committee on FCT, led by Senator Smart Adeyemi, however, rejected the request for the variation, which was more than 100 per cent.
BADLUCK AND HIS WASTE.
So then, the National Assembly approved the building in 2012 for a princely > USD 46 million?
This is certainly beyond Jonathan’s wo/men’s thievery. There’s got to be something seriously wrong with the process that approved the initial sum.
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