The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has advised the Federal Government to collaborate with the state government to sell the federal secretariat complex in Ikoyi, Lagos State to save the national monument from further deterioration.
“Both governments should reach an agreement on the facility without further delay, Presidential Implementation Committee on the sale of federal government landed property is in a better position to speak on the status of the secretariat,” said The NSE branch Chairman, Mr Johnson Akinwande.
Also Read:FHA in Nigeria digitizes its operations
The federal secretariat complex
The 15-storeyed complex is said to have been abandoned since 1991 following the relocation of the country’s capital from Lagos to Abuja. The NSE branch Chairman, explained that earlier moves by the Federal Government to sell the asset to private individuals failed because the buyer wanted to use it for purposes that contravened the Lagos Master Plan for the area.
The Federal Government had planned to convert the facility into residential accommodation consisting of four, three and two bedroom flats. However, the Lagos State Government, had in 2006 passed the Ikoyi/Victoria Model City Plan Bill, insisting that the secretariat remains an institutional building that cannot be converted to other uses.
The national monument which was built in 1976 and had served as the engine room of the federal civil service was in a ruinous state, stripped of doors, windows and other fittings. A section of the building formerly occupied by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control which was gutted by fire is yet to be renovated. Mr. Johnson Akinwande pointed the need for integrity tests and proper Environmental Impact Assessment of the facility to be done before selling.
