N37bn NASS renovation: Show Nigerians quantity surveying papers—Surveyor
Apart from discordant voices rising against the National Assembly humongous approval of N37bn in 2020 budget of the FCT for the renovation of the complex, professional bodies and experts have joined in the rejection.
In a telephone interview on Monday, a top official of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), who pleaded anonymity, has called for public display of the quantity surveying document and approvals that come up with a total budget of N37bn.
The executive said “In any renovation job, there are always several documentations that must be on ground before the total budget is arrived at.
“One of the major documents includes market survey of all materials needed and their comparative costs. Besides, there must be an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report which in the first instance presents facts showing the need for the renovation.
“Nigerians have not seen these documents, rather we are only presented with the total amount needed or budgeted which amounts to an embarrassment on the collective professional intelligence of several housing development bodies in Nigeria by the administration of the FCDA.
“Another annoying issue in the entire brouhaha is the silence of the FCDA in not coming out to defend a budget it sent to the National Assembly before Nigerians. In saner climes, rather than the members of the NASS, it would have been the FCDA that would be making all these unbelievable defends for the renovation scheme.
In his submission, the official of NIQS argued that until Nigerians are presented with the generated data that first advised the need for total renovation, which must contain quantity surveying costs and other supporting documentations, anybody mentioning that N37bn is needed for renovation of the complex, no doubt, has ulterior motive to loot the treasury.
Business Hilights recalls that the complex was constructed at a cost of N10.7bn ahead of the return to democracy in 1999 even as the Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration later expanded the complex to create more offices for lawmakers.
National outcry over intent to use the complex to starch away humongous amount at a time the government is aiming at borrowing to fund the national budget last week when the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was aware of the planned renovation next year.
However, his argument that the complex, built about 20 years ago, was in dilapidated condition, was not well received by Nigerians against the background of other teething national problems that need less amount.
