Senate to review construction costs of vice president official residence

The Chairman Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Dino Melaye addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday said the National Assembly will review the contract for the construction of the official residence of the Vice-President.

Melaye alleged that the cost of the project may have been inflated, stating that the gatehouse alone costs N250m.

He also alleged that the contractor handling construction of the official residences of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives may have also inflated costs.

He said, “As chairman of the committee, even if the Senate President had not asked that the money (for the project) be removed from the budget, we would have stopped it. You will recall that I was on an oversight function with some of you and we visited these buildings, and I can say that they were built at skyrocketing, over-inflated prices.

“As I speak to you, the mosque that is occupying less than 100 square meters, that is meant to be the prayer place for the Senate President and the deputy Senate President’s residences, and even the Vice-President’s residence, was awarded for over N200m. And it’s a three-bedroomed ‘boys quarterless’ structure.

“The gatehouse of the Vice-President’s residence was also awarded at over N250m. We are going to call for a review of that contract. Julius Berger said they were going to build a concrete building. I went there with a hammer and I hit it on the wall and I saw block. That investigation is ongoing. We want to make sure that government is not being short-changed. So, we are definitely going to call for a review of the contract because this is a rape of the taxpayers’ money.”

The House of Representatives Committee on FCT had however released varying figures in 2016 when it summoned the Minister of the FCT, Muhammed Bello, for spending N55m on the budget.

The contract for the construction of the Vice-President’s residence was awarded by the ex-President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration in 2009 at a cost of N7bn.