- Safiu Kehinde
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, has decried the abandonment of the Federal Government Printing Press Project situated in Asokoro, Abuja.
Idris, in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja after touring the facilities, described the situation as
“heart-wrenching and colossal waste to the nation”.
The Minister recalled that the foundation stone was laid on 3rd of December 2001, adding that some of the equipment were supplied as far back as 2007.
“It’s so sad that many of this equipment are still living in their crates. No one has made any attempt to even open them to see what is there.
“Some of the technology has become really obsolete already. But at a time that government is trying to preserve what it has, I think this is a time for stocktaking.
“This will enable us to look at what we need to do with this place so that we can bring it back to use for the benefit of Nigerians.
“The Federal Government printing press is an official printer for government; it prints a lot of sensitive documents for government.
“Now sometimes all these documents will have to go out to be printed. Even the official gazette that should be printed by the Federal Ministry of Information cannot be printed here directly.
“It’s heart-wrenching. It’s really very displeasing that we have this kind of edifice in the heart of Abuja and successive administrations have done nothing about it.” Idris lamented.
The minister noted that year after year, applications are made for provision through the budget, adding that these budgetary provisions are not there.
According to him, what this means is that all the investments that were done were unable to be completed.
“Therefore, it’s all waste. We have come here to see things for ourselves, and we will go back to the office, make recommendations to Mr. President as to what we can do with this place to revitalise it.
“The current situation of this place is not acceptable. A lot of money was sunk here, and also the equipment, many of them high grade were imported from Germany and India.
“They are all in their crates. They have not been opened for installation. At that time, we needed just a fraction of money to see this completed. But now, of course, with inflation, we know what that means.
“It’s billions of Naira wasting here. So, we thought that we cannot continue to close our eyes to see this facility wasting further. Therefore, something has to be done,” Idris stressed.
The minister added that the brand new 2000 kva generator provided for the facility in 2011 had never been used.
“This is 14 years now. No one does that. At a time that the nation is trying to look inward to conserve its resources and use it for the benefit of Nigerians, we are seeing this colossal waste here. I feel really very sad”.
According to eports that the foundation stone was laid in 2001 when work commenced, but works later stopped in 2016 and thereafter, hoodlum vandalised equipment in the administrative block and other facilities.
Those in the entourage of the minister included: the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Chinasa Ogbodo, Directors from the Federal Government Press Department, other directors in the Mimistry and aides to the Minister.