Anger greets presidential wing’s N9.8bn rehabilitation vote

Some civil society organisations have condemned the N9.8bn contract for the rehabilitation of link roads and other facilities at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

The Executive Council of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, on Friday, awarded the contract to Julius Berger Plc.

The Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, Shehu Ahmad, who briefed the press after the 9th Executive Council meeting held at the FCT Secretariat in Abuja, explained that the contractor had six months to complete the project.

Ahmad added that the contract included the rehabilitation of the link road, access road to the presidential kitchen, rehabilitation of the hangar housing the presidential aircraft, and the holding centre for visiting presidents.

“The second memo presented from the side of the FCDA has to do with some rehabilitation, the construction of the existing link road from Bill Clinton Drive to the Presidential Wing. If you have plied that road, you know that that road is in a state of disrepair, and then there are other facilities within the Presidential Wing.

“These have shown signs of distress and dilapidation, so they are going to be rehabilitated. There is a presidential kitchen, which is founded within the Presidential Wing. There is no access from the road that is coming from the main road into that place. We will rehabilitate that road.

“These are some of the facilities that are to be done, and then there are some lights, the runway lights, on the side of the presidential wing. And then there’s a guest house, a holding center, we call it, for visiting presidents, and of course, for the other usage”, he said.

Reacting to the award, a civil society organisation, the Democratic Socialist Movement, described it as frivolous and insensitive.

According to DSM, the award is another pointer to President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s insincerity in reducing the cost of governance.

The National Secretary of the group, Peluola Adewale, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH, said, “It is generally about Tinubu’s government. While he has Nigerians to tighten our belts, he does not care about us as he continues to live in opulence. He does not reduce his luxury lifestyle.

“We should not forget the billions of naira spent on the rehabilitation of the vice presidential villa, and the purchase of a new jet among other luxurious lifestyles, when the majority of the people are languishing in poverty and hunger. Tinubu don’t care about the people, we can see that in his anti-poor, pro-rich policies.

“The N9.8bn presidential wing rehabilitation contract is a misplacement of priority, frivolous and insensitive.”

Also, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights questioned the necessity for the project, describing it as another ‘unnecessary project’.

“People are hungry and dying because they don’t have money to buy food and drugs, yet, the Tinubu’s government prioritises a luxurious lifestyle against the welfare of the people,” said the CDHR Chairman in Osun State, Emmanuel Olowu.