Nyesom Wike, the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), has renamed the Abuja International Conference Centre after President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking at the inauguration of the rehabilitated conference centre on Tuesday, Wike said other halls in the facility had been renamed after Vice-President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives; and Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN).
“Today, this Bola Ahmed Tinubu international conference centre can stand any other international conference centre,” he said.
“And in doing that, because the national assembly has also supported us, I have told you that as we were inspecting the project, at the back, we have two halls.
“We have to remember those who have also supported the FCT. The national assembly is one such arm of government.
“So we have named one hall Tajudeen Abbas hall, we have named Godswill Akpabio hall, and your Vice-President, we have named one of these halls after the vice president, and then the CJN, we have also named one of the halls after the CJN. And these are the three arms of the government, working together.
“So, I just said since it is a property under you, and the building is under you, then, it should have small names on those halls, but it should be under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre.
“It is important for the public to understand and to know why today, this is called the Bola Ahmed Tinubu international conference centre.
“This conference centre was built in 1991 under the military government. Since that time, nothing has happened to this international conference centre.”
Wike credited President Tinubu’s leadership in seeing the renovated conference facility through to completion.
“Within eight months Mr President, this is what we have. And I agree that without your leadership, it wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.
The minister said that to maintain the ICC properly, any ministries or government organisations that choose to utilise it will have to pay moving forward.
“How do we sustain this? I want to let everybody know, whether you’re a Ministry, whether you’re an agency, you want to use this, you have to pay something,” Wike said.
“That’s the only way it can be sustained. Nothing like my brother, my sister is going to have a wedding.
“If you want to use a place like this, such a beautiful place, then you must drop something.”
