By Laide Akinboade, Abuja

The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike on Wednesday said the ongoing projects of the International Conference Center (ICC) costs about N39 billion.

Wike stated this while fielding questions from journalists after making a supervisory visit to some of the ongoing projects in Abuja.

He said the renovation of ICC is about 80% completed adding that the contractors led by Julius Berger, have already assured that the project would be ready on or before the 2nd Anniversary of President Bola Tinubu in May.

Wike said, “We are here now at the International Conference Center, you recollect that when Mr.

“We are happy with the state of work going on. We believe by May ending, this is one of those projects that Mr. President will commission in his second year in office.

“I was reading IBB’s book and while I was reading the book, I came to how this ICC was conceived, the importance of this International Conference Center. In fact, for what the narrative of the former President, head of state, he said they were supposed to have Organization of African Unity, OAU meeting at Addis Ababa, and that time, it does appear that there was a communist government in Ethiopia, and then they got a security report that they were going to be attacked, and the only option left was for Egypt and Nigeria to make sure that OAU meeting held.

“Unfortunately, Cairo had a problem, and the only option now was Nigeria and so it was a big problem for them how to make sure they host the OAU meeting. And then this idea came up, they must build an International Conference Center, that would be befitting for conferences, meetings of other countries that would be coming, and so they had to do what we call “oil swap” for this construction, that’s how ICC came up.

“It’s unfortunate like I’ve always said, after that period, the whole place died. This was given to one senator, who was making money out of it, but killing the edifice.

“We of course, had to take a drastic decision. Ethnicity came in, religion came in, all because it’s from so-so people, and that’s a major problem in this country. You are not able to make a decision because you are from such a place, but because you worship so and so, and I said No, that’s not my business. He went to court but you can’t stop this.

“So I am happy about what is going on. Julius Berger had promised us that they are going to complete it. This is at the cost of 39 billion naira that we’re spending. 39 billion naira is not 39 million naira.

“Also all the materials are all on ground, and when you want to talk about the percentage of work, you don’t just talk about just work, you also have to have the materials on ground. So I can say that there’s 70 to 80 percent, and they have assured that they would complete it and hand over by May

“To everybody’s happiness that you’re from a country like this, you cannot talk about a befitting conference center. Then what is the essence of Nigeria, the biggest nation? Are we just big by name? We travel all over the world, and we see everything, why should our own be different?”

He continued, “We have also gone to the OSEX to Wassa, where CGC is directly involved, and you have had a contractor say “by the grace of God, by May, we’ll also inaugurate that project”.

“We have gone to N5, where Julius Berger is doing, you can see the quality of work going on there, but I can tell you I doubt the possibility of that being completed by May.

“Yesterday you saw that we were at Gishiri, where we led the demolition of some of these shanties, because that project too is one of the projects that should be inaugurated during Mr. President’s second year in office.

“I can tell you I’m quite very pleased with the quality of work going on by the contractors. You can attest to what you have seen here in the International Conference Center, whether it is the same International Conference Center it used to come”.

While pleading with residents, he said, “We are pleading with residents to cooperate with the various contractors that are doing projects so we can have it on time completed. When the rains come up now, it will be a problem, and then we will begin to say it’s because of the rainy season. Now that we have good weather, let us utilize it for the benefit of the public. So I still employ them, traditional rulers, youths, chiefs, everybody to support what we’re doing”.