The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Iyorchia Ayu, on Tuesday, disclosed that eight floors from the party’s national secretariat in Abuja will be commercialized to generate revenues.
“The idea that I understand is that PDP will occupy three floors, and the rest will be commercialized to generate revenue for the party, ” Mr Ayu told journalists while he led members of PDP National Working Committee on a facility tour of the uncompleted 11 storey building in Abuja.
“The briefing I have is that work has actually got to finishing stages, and most of the critical components were on the ground, they have been moved to another location for safekeeping.
“Therefore, after so many years, we have lost a lot of revenue,” he said, listing components of the building as 11 floors; two underground floors, and nine floors off the ground.
“As a party at Wadata House, we are challenged by lack of adequate office space. So the party will now discuss with all stakeholders of the party and will explore the necessary avenue for completing this edifice,” he said.
Mr Ayu added: “We believe that apart from the critical stakeholders of the party, we will look for other ways including advice from experts to look into commercial considerations.
“It is a building that must be completed, it must never be allowed to remain wasted as it is. So the next way forward is to explore all possible avenues to complete this building.”
The construction of the secretariat was conceived in 2008 by a former National Chairman, Ahmadu Ali to address inadequate office space at the present secretariat, Wadata Plaza, in Wuse Zone 5.
The contract awarded to BNL Construction and Engineering Company was reviewed upward from N11.5 billion to N16 billion.
Though the project was billed for completion in 126 weeks, the company withdrew from the site in 2014 due to the inability of the party to raise money for the work.
(NAN)
