The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has suspended all events at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.
Wike announced the suspension after he inspected the centre in Abuja on Monday, April 8, 2024.
The minister noted that the suspension was to enable Julius Berger to carry out holistic rehabilitation of the centre.
He had earlier terminated the contract of Messrs Integrated Facility Management Services Limited assigned to manage the centre.
The Director of Press, Office of the Minister, Anthony Ogunleye, who announced the development on April 4, added that Julius Berger had been contracted for the immediate renovation of the centre.
After going round the facility, Wike described it as a mere conference centre, saying: “There is nothing international about the centre.
“When we came here for the ECOWAS inauguration sometime last week, with President Bola Tinubu, no right-thinking human being would see the state of this facility and be happy.
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“In fact, during the inauguration, Tinubu drew my attention to the rot. Even the lighting system was so poor.
“This is unacceptable. There is no way we can accept this as an International Conference Centre.
“You cannot call it a conference centre but not international, because there is no standard compared to any international conference centre.”
He added that the FCT Administration would not continue to be embarrassed by the poor state of the centre.
The minister said: “So, we are sorry to announce this; every booking made here is cancelled.
“We will start immediate rehabilitation of the centre to meet up with international standards.”
Wike further disclosed that Julius Berger had been given eight months to complete the total renovation of the centre.
The goal, according to him, is to transform the facility into a befitting International Conference Centre that Nigerians will be proud of.
He said Julius Berger was called back to rehabilitate the centre because it was the company that built the edifice.
“We believed that in the next seven to eight months, the company would do something that Nigerians and the international community would appreciate,” he said.
