The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has suspended all events at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

After inspecting the centre on Monday, Mr Wike explained that the suspension was to enable Julius Berger to carry out a rehabilitation on the facility.

The minister had terminated the contract of Messrs Integrated Facility Management Services Ltd., assigned to manage the centre.

Anthony Ogunleye, the minister’s spokesperson, who announced the development on April 4, added that Julius Berger had been contracted for the immediate renovation of the centre.

After going around the facility, the minister described it as a mere conference centre, stating, “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.

“In fact, during the inauguration, Mr 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,” the minister said.

He added that the FCT Administration would not continue to be embarrassed by the poor state of the centre.

“So, we are sorry to announce this; every booking made here is cancelled, and we will start immediate rehabilitation of the centre to meet international standards,” the minister said.

He said Julius Berger had been given eight months to complete the total renovation of the centre.

Mr Wike said the goal 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.

On the management of the centre, if the rehabilitation is completed, Mr Wike said the managing director of Abuja Investment Company (AIC), Maureen Tamuno, knows what to do.

He explained that he would not probe anybody on what led to the rot of the centre, but to move on, get the job done, and give the country a befitting international conference centre.

Ms Tamuno, an experienced public officer, entrepreneur, and diplomat, was appointed as the new head of AIC on April 4.

She was the Nigerian High Commissioner to Jamaica, Belize, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. 

(NAN)