By Ben Adoga, Abuja
Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, yesterday officially closed down the Abuja International Conference Centre (ICC) to effect maintenance on the dilapidated facility.
ThisNigeria had earlier reported the cancelation of the management contract of the ICC.
Details of the move were disclosed when the minister visited the facility for inspection.
The newly appointed Managing Director of the facility, Ambassador Maureen Tamuno, while briefing the Minister, told him that for three years, the management had not remitted any payment to the FCT Administration, while the facility had been booked till 2005.
ThisNigeria gathered that the contractors, Interested Facilities Management Limited, have been managing the facility for 19 years while the edifice which was built as a state-of-the-art facility by the military deteriorates.
A representative of the contractors admitted that the management contract was awarded to them in 2005 and was renewed in 2020.
The Minister, however, disclosed that the President drew his attention to the decay when they were attending the inauguration of the ECOWAS parliament.
Wike, who was visibly angry, said, “We came here for the ECOWAS parliament inauguration last week with Mr. President. No right-thinking human being will see that international facility and be happy.
“During that inauguration, Mr. President drew my attention to the state of the facility, even the lighting system was very poor.
“We have gone round. You and I know that this is not acceptable. We must restore the standard to an international standard. Though, we’ve decided that we can’t continue to be embarrassed this way.
“We are sorry to announce this: Every booking made here is cancelled because we will start immediate rehabilitation of this facility and transform it to an international standard.
“We have called the original contractors, Julius Berger. They have the design and the drawing. When they are done they will hand over to the FDA which will hand over to Abuja Investment Company Limited.
“When the job starts, we will not allow anybody to use it for about seven to eight months till the job is finished.”
