Senator Iyorchia Ayu, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, on Tuesday in Abuja assured that he will explore all avenues to complete the party’s new national secretariat in Abuja.
He spoke when he led members of the PDP National Working Committee on a tour of the uncompleted 11 storey building.
Ayu descried the edifice, located in the Central Business District, as solid and a good initiative of the party.
He said: “The briefing I have is that work has actually got to finishing stages and most of the critical components were on ground.
“They have been moved to another location for safe keeping.
“Therefore, after so many years, we have lost a lot of revenue.
“The building has 11 floors: two underground floors, and nine floors off the ground.
“The idea that I understand is that PDP will occupy three floors and the rest will be commercialised to generate revenue for the party and this is Central Business District, so not completing it means we have lost a lot of revenue.
“As a party at Wadata House, we are challenged by lack of adequate office space.
“So the party will now discuss with all stakeholders of the party and will explore the necessary avenue for completing this edifice.
“We believe that apart from the critical stakeholders of the party, we will look for other ways, including advice from experts, to look into commercial considerations.
“If it is a private individual that has done this far, I think it is possible to look for ways within the commercial sector to complete this building.
“It is a building that must be completed.
“It must never be allowed to remain wasted as is it.
“So the next way forward is to explore all possible avenues to complete this building.”
Asked if the options included commercialisation of the building, Ayu said that it would be considered to complete the building to generate revenue for the PDP.
The construction of the secretariat was conceived in 2008 by a former National Chairman, Ahmadu Ali, to address inadequate office space at the present secretariat, Wadata Plaza, in Wuse Zone 5.
The contract, awarded to BNL Construction and Engineering Company, was reviewed upward from N11.5 bilion to N16 billion.
Though the project was billed for completion in 126 weeks, the company withdrew from the site in 2014 due to inability of the party to raise money for the work.
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