Civil servants in Abuja yesterday shunned work after the two days’ public holidays declared by the Federal Government to celebrate Christmas.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that activities at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja were low, with few workers at the complex.
NAN said most of the major roads linking the secretariat, which were usually busy during week days as well as the car park, were scanty.
Some civil servants blamed the low turnout of workers after the holidays on salary delay by the Federal Government.
Mr Simon Olajide, a civil servant, said government’s delay in salaries was one of the reasons for low turnout of workers after the holidays.
”Most of the civil servants that are yet to resume work may have spent all they have for the celebration and may not have money to come to the office.
”My appeal is that government should always put the interest of its workers in mind, especially in times as this to encourage them to put in their best in return,” he said.
Mrs Hanatu Ibrahim, another civil servant, attributed the low turn out to the fact that some workers were on annual leave.
She said experience showed most workers preferred taking their leave during festive periods to stay with their families.
”As you can see, the secretariat is scanty and the reason is that most workers are on annual leave and may have travelled to their communities for Christmas celebration.
“It is normal and expected that activities here will be low considering the fact that people are always travelling during seasons as this,” she said.
Ibrahim hoped activities at the secretariat would pick up after the New Year celebration.
The police yesterday prevented thugs from attacking the secretariat of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State.
The attack was allegedly sponsored by supporters of the embattled Senator Shehu Sani.
According to Acting State Secretary, Yahaya Pate, the hoodlums arrived at the secretariat about 11am just as officials were meeting to ratify Sani’s suspension as announced last Thursday.
Sani, who represents Kaduna Central, had been engaged in a running battle with the party’s leadership in the state.
A detachment of armed police were said to have dispersed the mob.
Pate said: “About 11am, some hired thugs wearing t-shirts and fez caps with Senator Sani’s portrait and carrying sticks came to attack people at the secretariat.
“We had to alert the police who came and dispersed them and security was beefed up”.
Meanwhile, the state executives have affirmed the indefinite suspension of Senator Sani.
Publicity Secretary Salisu Wusono said the decision taken by Sani’s ward was in order.
“We, as APC state executives, today confirm the resolution taken by his Ward 6 for his indefinite suspension. We are telling the public and the world that we have confirmed the indefinite suspension of Comrade Shehu Sani by the APC Ward 6, Kaduna South,” he said.
According to him, Sani was suspended for alleged “betrayal of the party” as well as “attempts at causing divisions within the party in the state by sponsoring frivolous petitions and trouble making”.
Aggrieved members of the Ondo State All Progressives Congress (APC), under the aegis of Movement Against Imposition (MAI), yesterday apologised to the party’s national leadership for sealing off of the chapter’s secretariat last Tuesday.
The secretariat was sealed off during a protest against the state Chairman, Isaac Kekemeke, in Akure, the state capital.
Besides, the party supporters said they would reposition the party for victory, stressing that the development would not hinder its success in November 26.
Speaking to reporters in Akure on the outcome of their meeting in Abuja, a member of the State Executive Committee (SEC), Mr. Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, said he voluntarily stepped down as the purported acting chairman of the party. He added that the state Deputy Chairman, Ade Adetimehin, should run the APC affairs in consonance with Article 17, subsection 5, page 70 of the party’s constitution.
He said the state executives submitted the sack letter to the APC National Secretariat, stressing that the alleged act of impunity in Ondo APC has gone.
According to him, 24 aspirants backed the removal of Kekemeke because of alleged anti-party behaviour.
Ogunleye said: “Truth must be told; majority APC stakeholders are not comfortable with Kekemeke’s style of leadership. We have been tolerating him for long. His continuity in office will spell doom on the fortunes of the party.”
A statement in Akure by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Omo’ba Abayomi Adesanya, said Kekemeke’s removal was in accordance with the spirit and letter of the party’s constitution (Article 21).
But Kekemeke insisted he remains the APC chairman, stressing that his removal was illegal.
According to him, the aggrieved members, who signed his sacked letters, were angry because he had not allowed them to loot the party’s treasury.
A report that the governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state, Olusegun Abraham, sponsored thugs to disrupt a protest at the party’s secretariat has been debunked. The Director-general of the Olusegun Abraham Campaign organization, Prince Olu Adegboro said the report is false and ridiculous.
Adegboro described the report “ a desperate lie aimed at berating a finished work. Firstly, Olusegun Abraham is not a violent man at all, a very sophisticated man focused on the ideology of peace, a loyal party man who will never subscribe to the option of violence at any instance. So, any spurious report bandied around by some desperados is simply false and ridiculous; and is aimed at distracting the entire delegates from focusing on a free, fair and credible primary election”.
He recalled that a pocket of aggrieved party memebers 4 laid siege on the party’s secretariat on Monday to express their displeasure over the rumours of candidate imposition by a national leader of the party.
Adegboro noted that the rumour turned out to be false, as the APC National headquarters has insisted in a statement that the primary election will be free, fair and credible.
The Olusegun Abraham Campaign Organisation absolved its principal from thuggery. It said: “Olusegun Abraham is a longstanding progressive loyalist who will never contribute to any anti-party activity that will dent the party in anyway or deny the unity of the party. Olusegun Abraham remains focused on the upcoming free, fair and transparent primary election that will be conducted the our great party in Ondo state”.
The struggle for leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is growing.
The police yesterday took over the party’s secretariat, preventing people, including journalists, from entering the premises.
The blockade, party sources said, was to prevent ousted Chairman Ali Modu Sheriff from entering into the secretariat or the chairman’s office.
He was on Saturday deposed in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, venue of a botched national convention organised by his loyalists, spearheaded mainly by Governors Ayo Fayose (Ekiti) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers).
But Sheriff is fighting back, insisting that he remains the chairman. He could not enter the secretariat yesterday for a scheduled news conference he planned to address.
The police blocked the 70-metre public access road to the two gates leading to the secretariat with trucks at both ends, forcing Sheriff to change the venue of the briefing.
He is fighting the battle alongside the National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, who had been fighting through the courts to retain his position a few days before the botched convention.
The Concerned PDP Stakeholders, a body being coordinated by a former Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana is challenging the choice of a former Kaduna State governor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, as chairman of the interim caretaker committee.
The committee, which was hurriedly cobbled together by the party’s governors at the botched convention grounds in Port Harcourt, is meant to run the affairs of the party and prepare the ground for the conduct of an acceptable convention.
But the Gana group has faulted Makarfi’s appointment, saying it was a violation of the PDP’s constitution. Citing the constitution, the group, insisted that the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) is the only body vested with such powers.
A former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, who co-chairs the Concerned Stakeholders group, had called on the governors to allow the BoT assume the responsibility.
Speaking at a media briefing, Mantu said: “It is now time for the BoT to step in and take charge. It is there in our constitution that in a situation like this, the BoT, which is the conscience of the party as well as the father of the party, should step in immediately.
“In this situation, therefore, the BoT leadership must take up responsibilities for the running of the affairs of the party and bring all members back home for us to sit down and find a way forward as members of one family.”
Efforts by our correspondent to get the reaction of the BoT chairman, Senator Walid Jibrin, failed.
A meeting between Sheriff and Oladipo was still ongoing at the time this report was being filed at 6.35 p.m. on Sunday.
The Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) has opened its national secretariat office in Lagos.
The office, on Moshood Abiola Crescent, Ikeja, was inaugurated by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde.
The event, which took place last week, was witnessed by top echelon of Nigeria’s Integrated Marketing Communications sector, including egg-heads of sectorial regulatory bodies, the media and member firms of PRCAN.
Ayorinde, who was the special guest at the commissioning, said the current level of integration and cooperation among the marketing communications sectorial bodies would further deepen professionalism in the industry to the greater benefit of the society.
“What can I say today than to congratulate PRCAN. Everyone here is a friend or colleague. One of the great things that one can hope to accomplish as an association is to have integrity, unity and focus. I am glad that you (PRCAN) now have a place called home, though we are not there yet; but this is close to home; and I believe at no time, you will soon have a permanent place you can call your home. The state government is proud of you and we wish you all the very best,” Ayorinde expressed.
The various groups were led by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) whose president, Dr Rotimi Oladele, was the chief host.
The Uchenna Madu-led faction of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has accused ousted leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, of plotting to attack its secretariat at Okwe, Onuimo council in Imo State, in order to restore himself as the group’s leader.
The group warned Uwazuruike to stem the plan as it will resist such attempts, even as it appealed security agencies to come to its aid.
“Uwazuruike is under pressure because he never fought for the Igbo cause. That is why we are appealing to security agencies to come to our aid as our demonstration for Biafra is peaceful. We will resist Uwazuruike fire-to-fire if security agencies fail to arrest him.
“We will not watch him take over our headquarters. He has mortgaged our future to politicians,” Madu said.
The group reiterated its insistence for the release of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM), Ben Onwuka, and other Biafra activists in detention.
When it was built in 1976, the Federal Secretariat, Lagos, was not only a signature of architectural masterpiece, its sheer opulence also stamped on global consciousness the country’s arrival into the oil boom era. But its glory was consigned to the trash can of history in 1991 when it was abandoned following the relocation of the country’s capital to Abuja. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes that 24 years on, it has become a long tale of neglect.
Trees of all shapes and sizes seem to be competing for height with the abandoned 15-storey tower buildings which was once the heartbeat of the nation and the structure that gave Ikoyi its elitist tag. The Federal Secretariat, Ikoyi, Lagos home of Nigeria’s federal civil service when Lagos was a federal capital territory, majestically stands as a monument of waste.
The two buildings painted in brown texcote, consisting of twin towers each, lay in ruin, buried by an emerging jungle, amid surrounding opulence.
Opposite this “princely jungle” was Dodan Barracks that used to be the seat of power and home to most of the country’s military Heads of State, until the self-styled evil genius, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) shifted the country’s capital to the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.
Ironically, while the hub of the country’s bureaucracy lay in ruins and fast becoming a jungle, the impregnable Dodan Barracks seems to have lost nothing, preserved to attend to the needs of guests who frequently visited its banquet halls and warmed its beds.
Apart from the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), which temporarily occupied one of its wings, no firm had used it since 1991. NAFDAC left soon afterwards, when its office was gutted by fire.
One of the federal projects started by Gen. Yakubu Gowon in 1975, the controversy that led to the nation’s pricey property’s sad end started in 2006, when Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, the then Minister of Works and Housing under President Olusegun Obasanjo, concessioned it to Resort International Limited (RIL); a private firm owned by Dr. Wale Babalakin (SAN) for N7.2 billion.
Babalakin’s idea was to convert the entire complex into a high rise housing complex and hope was on the rise that about 480 housing units might soon be added to resolve the shortfall in the nation’s housing stock.
Going by Obasanjo’s government’s calculation, RIL was expected to convert the complex to four, three and two bedroom flats, among others.
But the plan did not materialise with the Lagos State Government, led by a cream of its prominent sons vehemently opposed the idea of converting the complex from its original function to a residential area. Led by Lagos monarch Oba Rilwan Akiolu and former Governor Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State Government argued that the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) ought to have reverted to it once the reason for its take-over ceased to exist.
They obtained a court injunction barring anyone from carrying out any further activity within the complex, a situation responsible for its present state.
One of the tricycle operators Wahidi Ismail who plies the Ikoyi-Obalende route said the mechanics have turned the Federal Secretariat first gate area into a mini-mechanic workshop. According to him, the mechanic yard had been in operation for about five years, without any molestation from any one since then.
Though its investment as a concessionaire still subsists, RIL is being frustrated to embark on the project because of the court injunction and the state government’s non-disposition to approve the complex to be developed as residential area.
The state faulted the sale on the premise that the complex was too large to be used for residential purposes, especially because that was not the original plan when it was built in 1975.
Babalakin was once quoted as describing the situation as a major threat to the public private partnership (PPP) initiative and the concession option as an alternative to economic growth. He said all stakeholders, the concessionaire and banks, which have all invested a great deal in the project have lost hope. He explained that the project was conceived to convert idle Federal Government’s assets to viable structures.
A source at the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development said the structure must be reverted to its original use as encapsulated in the law.
But health and safety experts maintained that leaving such a facility abandoned for years is a threat to the environment. Thomas Adedeji said were it not for the police who have mounted surveillance at the facility, it would have been overtaken by miscreants and criminals.
“When a building has been abandoned for long, it starts to collapse gradually because human beings give strength to the building. The moment people stop using the building, structural defects begin to take place and the building may collapse.
“If you take it from an insurance point of view, if there are offices around the building, the insurance firm can increase their premium because part of the risk of their business is the building, which is prone to collapse. People are also prone to defecating around the structure, which can cause environmental hazards; people
around will inhale malodorous air that could make them fall sick.
“In my view, instead of leaving it to rot away, it should have been turned into flats for residents and offices which will generate a lot of money for the Federal Government. That building is in a beautiful location and it shouldn’t be wasted. The problem with us as Nigerians is that we always mismanage government’s property,” Adedeji said.
Adedeji’s fear resonated recently when news made the rounds that the complex had been overtaken by miscreants and criminals. But facts soon emerged that this was a false alarm, as those regarded as miscreants were, indeed, family members of the 24-member Mobile Policemen posted to guard the premises since the complex was locked up by the courts.
Taking the Executive Secretary of Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Hon. Ms Toyin Caxton-Martins, round the premises recently, a Police Inspector, who heads the 24-member team at the premises, said the policemen who were posted from Maiduguri, Yobe and Adamawa states had to bring members of their families as a result of the fear of Boko Haram insurgents.
The Inspector, who implored the council chief to assist in weeding the bushes and cutting down the trees that had sprouted in the last 24 years of the premises’ abandonment, said his men had been cutting the bushes themselves to ensure their safety.
Caxton-Martins
Ms Caxton-Martins, who promised to make the environment more livable for the policemen said she is satisfied about the security situation of the abandoned complex, adding that the only time civilians are allowed into the premises was only on Fridays when the Moslems living around the secretariat were allowed to come to the mosque within the premises to pray. She said she will deliberate with officials of the council on how to assist in reducing the pains of the officers posted to guard the complex.
It was cheery news when it was announced that a new secretariat was to be built for Enugu workers. The secretariat was to replace the colonial buildings erected in the 1920s. It was a state of the art structure which on completion would house all the ministries and parastatals in the state.
But shortly after the cheery news, a controversy reared its head. Residents of Enugu, on learning that the colonial buildings and those built by the legendary Michael Okpara administration would be demolished to pave way for the new secretariat, they frowned at the idea.
There was the insistence that those buildings should be allowed to stay as historic monuments and be converted to other use. It was suggested that the new secretariat should be sited at a new location. But these suggestions fail on deaf ears as the then Governor Sullivan Chime was determined to go on with the demolition and building of the new secretariat at the old site.
However, a wiser counsel was applied. Chime decided to spare some of the colonial buildings. But those built by the Okpara administration in the First Republic were marked for demolition, and work began in earnest.
The construction of the new secretariat was awarded to Arab Contractors to be delivered in 18 months. The initial cost was put at N13 billion. Former Governor Sullivan Chime had told reporters that the amount involved would be sourced from internally generated revenue. Although the amount later on jumped higher, one is not sure of exactly the figure.
Nonetheless, the last Enugu House of Assembly, in the tail end of its tenure, fell out with the former governor and a faction of the House initiated impeachment process of the then governor. It was during the ensuing imbroglio that it was revealed that the figure had been inflated from N13 billion to N22 billion. It was one of the allegations against Chime.
Although the impeachment process could not sail through and the Speaker of the House lost his seat in the process, nothing was heard of the “inflated” amount. And the new secretariat was commissioned on the eve of the departure of Chime from the Government House.
Observers see the commissioning as hurriedly done as they argue that the project was incomplete. Whether complete or not, the workers are already moving into the edifice. Various ministries in the state have already taken positions in the new secretariat.
While the movement of workers continues, it was discovered that the architectural “masterpiece” has some defects. For example, it is only in the ground floors of the five-storey buildings that the conveniences are located. Anyone pressed would have to come downstairs to ease him or herself.
It was also discovered that the electrical installations were limited to some sections. Some of the workers are already grumbling.
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, after inspecting the edifice recently, said he was not happy with what he saw. From outside, the buildings look every bit like masterpieces but their interiors are far from measuring up to their outer beauty.
Ugwuanyi then decided to approve the sum of N260 million for necessary corrections and provision of some missing facilities. The approval was made penultimate week during the state executive council meeting. The amount is meant to take care of the first phase of the provision of electricity and toilets in the edifice.
But the move has sparked protests among concerned indigenes who believe that the project has consumed far more than its fair share of the state’s resources after the billions expended on it by the previous administration. Petitions have also been written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) regarding the execution of the project.
In reaction to the protests and petitions, the EFCC has already invited some government officials in the last dispensation in the state for interrogation. But while the outcomes of the interrogations are being awaited, the Ugwuanyi administration is at a crossroads on whether to halt further expenditure on the project or commit more funds to see to its conclusive end.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has received a notice to vacate its secretariat, following unpaid rents.
Power supply to the building has been disconnected by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) due to unpaid bills.
Party leaders and members are embarrassed that the party in government will soon become “homeless” as they would soon be thrown out by the aggrieved landlord, Ropo Adesanya.
Adesanya, a two-term PDP state chairman, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) a month ago.
Adesanya, who said the party should pay him N1.5 million for rents owed, added that he was shocked when he (Adesanya) was allegedly issued a dud cheque.
Factional said the Chairman Tunde Olatunde said the situation degenerated because “Fayose refused to fund the party”.
Olatunde chairs a faction, which has 14 State Working Committee (SWC) members, who form majority of the executive.
He described the situation as “very embarrassing”.
Olatunde said Adesanya had petitioned the commissioner of police on the alleged dud cheque, which he (Olatunde) claimed was “stopped for no just cause”.
He said the cash could not be drawn from the party’s account, although the account has a balance of N17 million.
Olatunde said: “The truth is that our party was ejected for not paying rent by our landlord, Chief Ropo Adesanya, a former party chairman and the man, who produced Mr. Governor in his first term.
“We owe the man N1.5 million and we issued him a cheque to be drawn from our account that has about N17 million but mysteriously, the cheque was stopped for no just cause.
“Chief Adesanya has petitioned the commissioner of police on the dud cheque and the police have confirmed that there is money in that account.
“The twist in the story is that Mr. Governor is saying that Adesanya bought the house nearly 10 years ago when they sent him (Fayose) on exile.
“In fact, the power supply to the secretariat has been disconnected and we are suffering, despite the fact that our party is in power.
“This party has been in power for almost one year now, the government has not funded us. The state exco members have not been receiving their honorarium and the activities of the party have been grounded.”
When asked if the exco talked to the governor about the situation, Olatunde said Fayose was indifferent.
Olatunde said the governor had been operating with the Faleye faction at the Government House, which he described as an illegality.
He said it was against the party constitution to be running the party from the Government House.
