FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike on Monday shut down the International Conference Centre for eight months to enable renovation works without disruptions.
The minister announced this after inspecting the facility and declared the cancellation of all the events and activities booked at the venue.
He expressed disappointment at the state of the facility while querying the award of the contract for its maintenance to a firm he considered incompetent.
He bemoaned power outages and a poor cooling system at the facility.
He also announced the award of the contract for the center’s renovation to Julius Berger, after which it will be handed back to the Abuja Investment Company Limited.
“We have gone round; you and I know that it is unacceptable. No way we can accept this as an international conference center,” Wike said.
“You can call this a conference center, but not international. We cannot continue to be embarrassed in this way.
“So, we are sorry to announce this, every booking meant to be used here is canceled. Because we will start immediate rehabilitation of this center to meet up with international standards.”
