By EMMANUEL OLONIRUHA

Sen. Iyorchia Ayu, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has assured that he will explore all avenue to complete the party’s new national secretariat in Abuja.

Ayu stated this when he spoke with newsmen when he led members of PDP National Working Committee on a facility tour of the uncompleted 11 storey building in Abuja on Tuesday.

He descried the edifice, located at the Central Business District (CBD) as solid and a good initiative of the party.

“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,” he said.

Ayu added: “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 the option would be considered to complete the building to generate revenue for PDP.

The construction of the secretariat was conceived in 2008 by a former National Chairman, Mr Ahmadu Ali to address inadequate office space at the present secretariat, Wadata Plaza, in Wise Zone 5.

The contract awarded to BNL Construction and Engineering Company was reviewed upward from N11.5bilion to N16billion.

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. (NAN)

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