The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has resumed its weekly sitting at the renovated Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja.
The Chamber which was upgraded with funds provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had showed sign of disrepair when the present administration came into office in May, 2015, necessitating an upgrade approved by President Buhari to be delivered in 2019.
The development forced the Cabinet to relocate and hold its regular meetings, using the facility in the First Lady’s Conference room also located in the State House, Abuja.
Presenting the facility shortly before the commencement of the FEC meeting on Wednesday, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, stressed that the new equipment installed in the upgraded Council Chamber were comparable to those deployed in other climes, saying “there is nowhere in the world you go that you can find a better facility than what we have here.”
He noted, however, that the project could not be delivered as scheduled owing to the outbreak in 2020, of the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in the global lockdown.
According to him, “the upgrade of the council chambers in the Aso villa commenced under the previous administration in 2011 when the facility that was initially installed by the contractor who constructed this place, began to fall apart.
“Thereafter, a British firm was assigned the responsibility of the upgrade which was done in 2012. But when this administration came to office in 2015, the facilities out of old age began to completely disintegrate, which necessitated even having some quarterly maintenance program attached to it until in 2019.
“Excellency Mr. President, we approached you about the need for this particular upgrade, which you graciously approved, and asked the Central Bank of Nigeria, like they did in 2012, to also fund the process. And the process commenced with the intention of being completed within the year 2019 or the early part of 2020. But due to the COVID pandemic, and the lockdowns all over the globe, it became quite obvious that this project was not going to be delivered at the expected time.
“But we are very grateful, Mr. President, for your leadership and support. And in the process, you directed the Minister of Communications and digital economy and myself to constitute the project management team, which undertook the supervision of this entire process that has brought us to the climax of today.”
The SGF further said “The PTT, which is the project management team, was chaired by the Managing Director, CEO of Galaxy Backbone and other members were drawn from the Office of the Secretary to the government, NIDA, and the Office of the Chief Security Officer of Mr. President, the central bank, Galaxy Backbone and the contractor.
“They started work in April and we have worked assiduously for the last couple of weeks. And we have now gotten to the stage in which we are in having an equipment that is comparable to those deployed in other climes. There is nowhere in the world you go that you can find a better facility than what we have here.”
Mustapha said the new system is an improved version of what the authorities initially set out to do, adding “right now we are linked to the tea room, and we are also linked to the press Gallery.”
He further said the new arrangement presupposes that the President can address the media and interact with them “without necessarily going to the press gallery” as well as hold virtual meetings among others.
