Opinion
N16bn PDP National Secretariat almost completed—- Ayu
Iyorchia Ayu, national president of the Popular Democratic Party, PDP, has assured that he will explore all the avenues to complete the new national secretariat of the party in Abuja.
Mr. Ayu said this when he spoke to reporters when he led members of the PDP National Working Committee on a tour of the premises of the unfinished 11-story building in Abuja on Tuesday.
He described the building, located in the Central Business District, CBD, as solid and a good initiative from the party.
“The information I have is that, the work actually reached the final stages, and most of the critical components were on the ground, they were moved to another location for safekeeping.
“Therefore, after so many years, we have lost a lot of income. The building has 11 floors; two underground floors and nine floors above ground.
“The idea that I understand is that the PDP will occupy three floors and the rest will be marketed to generate income for the party and this is the Central Business District, so not completing it means that we have lost a lot of income.
“As a party at Wadata House, we faced the challenge of a lack of adequate office space. So the party will now discuss with all party stakeholders and explore the necessary path to complete this building, ”he said.
Mr. Ayu added: “We believe that, in addition to critical party stakeholders, we will seek other ways, including expert advice, to analyze business considerations.
“If it is an individual who has come this far, I think it is possible to look for ways within the commercial sector to complete this building.
“It is a building that must be finished, it must never be allowed to be thrown away as it is. So the next way forward is to explore all possible avenues to complete this building. “
When asked if the options included the commercialization of the building, Mr. Ayu said that the option of completing the building would be considered to generate income for PDP.
The secretariat construction was conceived in 2008 by a former national president, Ahmadu Ali, to address inadequate office space in the current secretariat, Wadata Plaza, in Wuse Zone 5.
The contract awarded to BNL Construction and Engineering Company was revised up from N11.5 billion to N16 billion.
Although the project was billed to be completed in 126 weeks, the company withdrew from the site in 2014 due to the party’s inability to raise money for the work.
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