By Daniel Tyokua
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike has shut down the Abuja International Conference Centre (ICC) for the period of eight months.
He made the announcement after inspecting state of facilities at the Centre with some senior officials of the FCT Administration on Monday.
Wike said shutting down the place for eight months was to pave way for its renovation to international standards.
The minister who was visibly angry over the poor maintenance of the place, asked Julius Berger Nigeria Plc to take over renovation of the centre which he said would last for seven to eight months.
Wike had few days ago, terminated the contract of Messrs Integrated Facility Management, former managers of the centre and contracted Julius Berger Nigeria Plc for a comprehensive renovation.
He explained that the project had been duly handed over to the original designers of the facility, Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, to renovate, before it is handed over to the Management of the Abuja Investment Company Limited.
“We have gone round; you and I know that it is unacceptable. No way we can accept this as an international conference centre.
“You can call this a conference centre, but not international. We cannot continue to be embarrassed in this way. So, we are sorry to announce this, every booking meant to be used here is cancelled. Because we will start immediate rehabilitation of this centre, to meet up with international standard.
“We have called the original contractor that built this edifice, that is Julius Berger, to come back, because if we had brought a new contractor, it would take us time. We believe that in the next seven to eight months, we will be able to do something that people will appreciate. And then that means the FCDA will now take over the rehabilitation with Julius Berger, and then hand over to Abuja Investment Company”, he said.
The Minister also stated that he would not probe the previous contractor on their handling of the facility and warned that he would “wave the big stick” over the new Managing Director of the AICL if she failed to meet up with what was required of her job.
“I’m not here to probe anybody, I don’t want to begin to find excuses why the jobs are not doing well. The Managing Director of Abuja Investment Company knows what to do, mine is to give the country a befitting International Conference Centre. And if she does not do it well, we have no choice but to wave the big stick, but I believe she has the capacity to run it well”, Wike said.
