The National Assembly Complex located in the Three Arms Zone, Abuja, houses the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as the management of the apex legislature. In recent times, the complex has shown signs of decay, leading to leakages whenever it rained. This led to a budget of about N37 billion for its renovation. The whopping suma however, provoked a public outcry, which led its reduction to N9 billion. However, work on the complex did not begin for several months after the contract for the job was awarded by the Federal Capital Development Administration (FCDA). TONY AKOWE, SANNI ONOGU and NICHOLAS KALU report
When the National Assembly resumed its summer vacation in September 2022, the lawmakers could not resume plenary inside the comfort of their various chambers as a result of renovation work inside the two chambers as well as the Assembly complex. For the first time in the life of the current democratic dispensation, the annual budget presentation took place at a makeshift chamber in the House of Representatives. Gaining access to the National Assembly has become problematic even before they went on break as a result of the closure of the main entrance into the complex for a complete reconstruction of the gatehouse, which is expected to be completed by the end of December. While many expected that the rehabilitation work would be completed on time, it was discovered that very little progress has been made by the contractors especially in dealing with the chambers of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The need to rehabilitate the Assembly complex had been of concern to the lawmakers for a long time especially when part of the building housing the chambers began to show signs of decay by often leaking each time it rained. Many times, the lawmakers had to resort to using their order paper to fan themselves as a result of the faulty central cooling system. Before the renovation started, the Assembly was almost becoming an eyesore because whenever it rained, Nigerians are treated to the shameful spectacle of a flooded National Assembly foyer with cleaners seen working frantically with mops and buckets to get rid of water from inside the building. So, workers, especially those in the White House building housing the two chambers heaved a sigh of relief when the contractors moved to the site and commenced work months after the complex was handed over to them.
Inspecting ongoing renovation work in the House, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila confirmed that the Chamber may not be ready even for the inauguration of the 10th Assembly. He however spoke of the need to speed up the work. He said that speedy completion of the work must however not compromise the quality of the work to be delivered, adding that though the renovation, which began in August 2022, had progressed well, he would still ask the project managers to speed up the pace and beat the deadline.
At the chamber, Gbajabiamila was briefed on the details of the upgrade and the adjustments to be made to the sitting areas for lawmakers, chamber staff, the Presiding Officer, the Press Gallery, the roof and the adjoining rooms to the chamber. At the end of the renovation and rehabilitation work, the chamber would have been expanded to about 600 seating capacity. He said the changes introduced were impressive and would greatly assist the lawmakers in their legislative duties in line with global standards.
He added: “This work started in August, a few weeks behind schedule, but for a good reason. So far between August and now, giant strides have been made; you can see the whole chamber has been ripped apart, and the innovations are going to be state-of-the-art. We will be proud to have a chamber that matches the best standard all over the world; so, I am quite impressed with the work so far. I would encourage them to double the pace because, as it is, this is not for the benefit of the 9th Assembly but for the benefit of the 10th Assembly. The whole chamber isn’t going to be ready until sometime in August next year; so, we are talking about close to a year, and that tells you the level of work that is going on.”
The situation caused the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu to express fears about the safety of members during the plenary on September 22, 2021. While complaining about the state of the complex at one of the House sittings, Elumelu once said: “I come under privilege on what is happening in this Chamber. Mr Speaker, if you look around, we are surrounded by water especially because our Chamber is leaking and I am worried that if something is not done to address it, nobody holds one’s life but we never can tell what can happen. Coming into this place, you can see the cleaners, they are busy packing the water that is coming down from this Chamber and to me, it is dangerous for our continuous participation in our day-to-day representation of our people, and speaking for our people for good legislation. I think Mr Speaker that something needs to be done to address these leakages within this chamber. This is my submission.”
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru had, while reacting to the uproar that trailed the earlier renovation budget of N37billion and the rains that soaked the chambers, described the complex as a national monument which falls under the purview of the supervision and maintenance of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA). Basiru who spoke against the backdrop of public outcry in 2021 regarding the approved budget for the renovation said: “It must be reiterated that the National Assembly Complex is a National Monument which falls under the purview of control of the Federal Capital Development Authority.
“In essence, the FCDA is responsible for its maintenance as well as renovation and not the leadership of the National Assembly as being falsely bandied about. The leakages witnessed at the foyer of the National Assembly justify the apprehension of the leadership of the National Assembly and the FCDA and further underscore the need for urgent intervention in revamping the dilapidated structures within the complex before it falls into further dilapidation with the attendant huge cost of a possible replacement.”
Basiru added: “Contrary to the widespread falsehood being peddled both in the mainstream and online media as a fallout of the reported incident of the leaking roof of the National Assembly Complex after a heavy downpour on Tuesday, 21 June 2021, it is pertinent to inform the general public that the National Assembly and its leadership is not responsible for the maintenance and renovation of the National Assembly Complex and they have not received a sum of N37 billion or any amount for the renovation of the Complex.”
Also reacting to leakages in the complex in 2021, the Public Relations Officer of the FCDA, Richard Nduul, attributed the leakages in the Assembly to blockage of drainages leading to seepage of water through expansion joints in the roof slab. He said: “Full waterproofing of the roof of the White House building is a major aspect of the proposed renovation of the National Assembly Complex. The management of the National Assembly approached the FCDA in 2019 for total rehabilitation and upgrading of the National Assembly Complex to bring it in tune with parliamentary buildings around the world,” He assured the project will be executed meticulously to ensure that the nation gets value for the funds that will be expended as “this had been the tradition with every other assignment which the Authority has undertaken.”
The Nation had reported that while renovation work was ongoing inside the chambers, lawmakers will reconvene and conduct plenary in temporary chambers already prepared at Hearing Room 022 for the Senate and Hearing Rooms 028 and 231 for the House of Representatives, which had been redesigned to accommodate Senators and members respectively. Senate President, Ahmad Lawan had during an inspection of the extent of work done at the temporary plenary chambers at the Senate Wing before the Senate resumed from its annual vacation, expressed satisfaction with the level of work inside the complex.
Lawan said: “This is going to be our temporary chamber for some time, some months and I’m aware that it will be here that we will conduct the business of the Senate up till next year by the grace of God. That is not an issue. The way this place is renovated to accommodate Distinguished Senators is what matters to us. The chairs here and everything here will be temporal. Ours is to remain focussed on what our jobs and tasks are. I am happy so far that the renovation here, providing this environment, is going on smoothly. There are few issues that I feel should be attended to but these are not major issues.”
Upon resumption at the temporary chambers in the House, Gbajabiamila said: “So far, so good; we are happy and this temporary site where we will be sitting for the next nine to 10 months, is a far cry from where we used to be. This used to be a hearing room to a legislative chamber. A lot of adaptations and a lot of innovations have been made and we are quite pleased with the work so far; so, we are ready to go.”
He said the 10th Assembly would most likely be inaugurated in the temporary chamber, except the project managers would be able to complete the renovation of the main chamber months before the scheduled deadline.
Aside from the renovation work, the National Assembly complex is currently a construction site with work progressing steadily on the Assembly Library and the permanent site of the National Assembly Service Commission estimated at N11.6 billion. Federal Commissioner of the National Assembly Service Commission who is supervising the project, Bassey Olusegun Etuk said the project will put an end to the commission operating from a rented apartment and far from the Assembly it supervises.
Etuk said: “This project is the permanent site of the National Assembly Service Commission and the reasons we are moving here are various security, proximity to the service targeted functions. Here we have enough space, we are presently at an occupied rented apartment and here we cater for all our needs, a handful of parking spaces, we have offices for all the functionaries, management team and staff, a clinic for staff welfare and most of all, we will be very close instead of staff coming from Utako when they have issues, we are very close to them here.”
Findings show that the price of an original smith baggage scanner which is supposed to be fitted in the complex ranges between N20million to N25million per machine while a walk-through body scanner costs between N9million to N10million. If all the entry and exit points of the National Assembly Complex were to be fitted with both baggage and body scanners, at least, 30 machines made up of 15 baggage and body scanners each would be required. In all, 15 baggage scanners at the price of N20million would cost N300million while 15 body scanners at N9million each would amount to N135million.