Senate seeks probe of N7bn Vice President’s residence

Senate has called for a review of the N7 billion contract of the official residence of the Vice President, citing contract inflation. To this end, the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has called for a halt to the project, pending conclusion of investigation.

Chairman of the committee, Dino Melaye, stated this at a press conference in Abuja Thursday, and wondered why the gatehouse would cost over N250 million, describing it as a rape of taxpayers’ money.

“The gatehouse of the Vice President’s residence was awarded at over N250 million. We are going to call for a review of that contract and Julius Berger said they are going to build a concrete building. I went there with a hammer and I hit on the wall and I saw block. That investigation is ongoing.

“And we want to make sure that government is not being raped and short-changed. So, we are definitely going to call for a review of the contract because this is a rape of the taxpayers’ money,” he said.

The contract was awarded in 2009, at a cost of N7 billion but N6.215 billion was paid to the contractors.

In 2012, the immediate past minister of the FCT, Bala Mohammed, submitted a request for additional N9 billion to complete the project.

It was gathered that although the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) reduced the variation cost to N6 billion, the seventh Senate rejected it following an intelligence report that “the request for the additional cost was suspicious.”

But another report claimed that the complex is made up of the followings: VP’s ADC’s house (N258m); Chief Security Officer’s house (N228m); mosque (N95m); Church (N84m); security quarters, (N114m); boys quarters (N288m); gatehouse (N55m); infrastructure (N1.7bn), among others.