An ex-banker, Etim-Etim, has questioned the ?39 billion renovation cost for the International Conference Centre in Abuja, calling for more transparency in the allocation of funds for federal projects.

“Even if you discount the inflation and all the devaluations, you cannot account for ?39 billion,” Etim said on Channel Television’s Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Friday.

He questioned how the International Conference Centre constructed for under ?300 million in 1991, could now require ?39 billion in renovation costs.

Etim was responding to questions about President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s two-year performance. He sharply criticized what he described as a decline in the quality of governance and a worrying lack of transparency in federal projects and public officials’ conduct.

“The quality of governance has degenerated. People are complaining of authoritarian tendencies, people are complaining about a lack of the rule of law, and a lack of transparency in some of the transactions we’ve seen,” he said.

The International Conference Centre was renovated with ?39 billion and commissioned on Tuesday. The project was renamed after President Tinubu. The renovation cost has drawn wide criticism from different quarters, with many describing the amount as outrageous.

Critics ‘Don’t have good taste’

However, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has defended the project cost, saying the centre needed an overhaul.

“The only thing in that International Conference Centre that was not changed was the block work. Everything in that Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre was changed,” the FCT minister said on Friday at the commissioning of the newly constructed Left-Hand Service Carriageway in the nation’s capital.

“Nigeria, as the Giant of Africa, must not only show that it is the Giant of Africa; people must see what makes you to be the Giant of Africa. Nobody who loves this country would criticise the International Conference Centre.

“They said we did not name the International Conference Centre after someone who built it. Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport was not built by Nnamdi Azikwe. Moshood Abiola International Stadium was not built by Moshood Abiola,” he said.

Wike said those criticising the amount of money spent on the rehabilitation of the International Conference Centre “don’t have good taste”. (Channels TV)

•L-R: President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; FCT Minister Nyesom Wike; President Bola Tinubu; and FCT Minister of State, Mariya Mahmoud at the commissioning of the International Conference Centre in Abuja on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. Credit: X/@PBATMediaCentre