Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has halted all activities at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.
Following an inspection on Monday, Wike clarified that the suspension was necessary to facilitate rehabilitation work by Julius Berger on the facility.
The minister also revoked the contract of Integrated Facility Management Services Ltd., which was responsible for managing the centre.
Anthony Ogunleye, the minister’s spokesperson, announced on April 4 that Julius Berger had been enlisted to carry out urgent renovations at the centre.
After going around the facility, the minister described it as a mere conference centre, stating, “There is nothing international about the centre.”
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“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.
