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FCTA to expend N39bn to rehabilitate Abuja International Conference Centre – Wike
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said the FCT Administration is expending N39 billion on the rehabilitation of the Abuja International Conference Centre.
Wike revealed this in Abuja on Wednesday, when he inspected the ongoing renovation of the centre being executed by Julius Berger.
The minister recalled that President Bola Tinubu had described the centre as an eyesore when he inaugurated the sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament on April 4, 2024.
He added that, thereafter, Tinubu directed that the centre should be shut down and mandated the FCTA to carry out a total rehabilitation of the conference centre.
Following the directive, Wike on April 8, 2024, ordered the suspension of all activities at the centre to enable the contractor to begin the rehabilitation.
He explained that the rehabilitation was necessary to give the country a befitting international conference centre
He explained that the poor state of the centre had reduced it to a mere conference centre and not an international centre.
“We are giving Nigerian the best and we thanked President Bola Tinubu for supporting the rehabilitation of the conference centre,” he said.
Wike, who said that the rehabilitation had reached between 70 and 80 per cent completion, expressed confidence that the facility would be ready for public use in May.
According to him, all the materials needed to complete the rehabilitation have been imported and are on ground.
“I am happy with what is going on. The contractor had promised to complete the renovation at the cost of N39 billion.
“I can say that they are between 70 to 80 per cent completion and they have assured us that the project would be completed and hand over to us in May.
“We are happy with the pace of work, and I am confident that in May, the centre will be one of the projects that will be inaugurated to celebrate Tinubu’s 2nd year in office.”
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, on Friday announced the release of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, results.
The board disclosed that it is withholding the results of 39,834 candidates over issues relating to examination irregularities.
Recall that over 1.9 million applicants participated in the just-concluded exercise.
JAMB also disclosed that 80 suspects across the country are currently under interrogation for examination fraud, with Anambra State leading the pack with 14 suspects.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, stated this on Friday while officially releasing the 2025 UTME.
He also disclosed that while 467 underage candidates met the prescribed minimum score, 50 were engaged in cheating scandal.
A press conference to this effect is ongoing.
Details coming…
The Oloba of Oba-Ile in Akure North Council Area of Ondo State, Oba Joseph Oluwadare Agunbiade, Otutubiosun 1
has joined his ancestors.
Oba Agunbiade who passed on Friday morning reigned for 39 years .
He was aged 84 years.
Sources told newsmen that traditional announcement of the monarch’s demise is however being awaited.
Details shortly…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that Nigeria has completely settled the $3.4 billion in COVID-19 financial assistance received through the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI).
However, the government still owes approximately $30 million to the multilateral organisation for Special Drawing Rights (SDR) charges.
This $30 million, equivalent to ₦48.2 billion, will be paid annually over four years as fees associated with the loan, totalling over ₦190 billion.
we work towards reducing the totality of our debt exposure especially external debt because from all indications, external debts are much more difficult to manage and service than domestic debts.”
According to him, the focus must be on doubling down on both domestic and external debt.
“So the payment of these components of debt is a welcome development, it will in some sense reduce the burden of outstanding debts and we need to do a lot more of that and going forward, as much as possible, we should reduce our exposures, especially to foreign debts,” Yusuf stressed.
“And utilisation of debts is also essential, debts must be committed to projects that would enhance the productivity in the economy and that should be our priority, and that is speaking largely to our infrastructure stock.
“We should prioritise infrastructure investment in our debt exposure, which is extremely important. I am also hoping that our fiscal consolidation objectives will be improved and better achieved with the current tax reform.
“We expect that the revenue administration would be much more efficient without necessarily putting additional burden on the citizens or businesses. If we are able to do that, then the pressure to incur more debt would reduce. We need to ensure that the cost of domestic debts is as low as it can be as well,” he concluded.
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