The roof of the National Assembly started leaking after a bout of rain on Tuesday morning. The incident left many astonished especially after billions of naira were earmarked to prevent such issues.
The affected areas included; the main lobby of the legislative complex – between both chambers. These areas had water dripping from the roof to other parts of the building. The Press Centre, where journalists monitor plenary sessions, was also affected.
The incident did not deter lawmakers from proceeding with plenary even as cleaners made efforts to rid the area of water.
Tuesday’s incident comes despite numerous budgetary allocations, amounting to billions of naira, for renovation of the National Assembly complex.
One of such was the approval of N37 billion by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 – an act that sparked outrage among Nigerians.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, had said the allocation was because there has been no major renovation of the complex for 20 years and “many parts of the complex are dilapidated.”
He had also said the renovation will begin with the chambers and the committee rooms in the White House.
Although some repairs were done in the complex, it is not exactly clear how many committee rooms have been renovated, the level of repairs done and whether the roof was among the items scheduled for the repairs. Tuesday’s incident will, however, cause many to question the judicious use of the amount spent on the renovation.
According to reports, the federal government is pushing ahead to renovate the parliamentary complex with another N42 billion for the purpose of carrying out mechanical and electrical repairs in some parts of the building.
