Minister Flags Off New Secretariat

The minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Amma Pepple,  flagged  off the construction of a N2.5billion Federal Secretariat Complex in Bayelsa State.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms Pepple who said that infrastructural development was part of the efforts of Federal Government aimed at providing befitting office accommodation to civil servants in federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies [MDAs] in Bayelsa State.

Pepple, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Design Department, in the Ministry of Lands, Architect Paul C. Ideozu, lamented the working environment of federal civil servants in the state in Bayelsa, saying that “with the take off of this project and its timely completion before the expiration of 100 weeks, conducive office complex would have been provided to enhance productivity of workers”.

According to her, “there is no singular building in Bayelsa, where you can transact official business activities. Offices of federal ministries and agencies are scattered all over the capital and most of them are in ramshackle condition and that is why the government has resolved to kick start the construction of federal secretariat complexes in various geo-political zones to address accommodation challenges”.

The Minister expressed optimism that “in the next 100 weeks, a modern secretariat complex, housing all the federal agencies and ministries would have been completed and ready for commissioning”.

According to her” part of the features of the four storey structure would include a minimum of 498 offices, equipped with infrastructural facilities that would create enabling environment for the civil servants to discharge their official duties to the general public”.

In his response, the Managing Director of Treneur Nigeria Limited,  King A. J Turner assured that the project would be completed within the stipulated period, stressing that “today is historic as this development has opened vista of opportunities for federal civil servants, who has been working under stifling condition, occasioned by poor office facilities”.