The leadership and management of the National Assembly are worried over the dilapidated infrastructure of the 23-year-old edifice, which has lacked adequate maintenance since it was constructed.
They expressed concern that the edifice could collapse any moment if something urgent was not done to carry out a comprehensive renovation on it.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that structures of the complex were becoming weak with the roofs caving in owing to consistent leaking during downpour.
Also, rodents and reptiles had taken advantage of the cracked walls to invade most offices, destroying vital national documents in the process.
The contract for the construction of the national monument, according to Wikipedia, was awarded to ITB Nigeria on February 18, 1996 through the Department of Public Building, Federal Capital Development Authority, Abuja.
The sprawling edifice which houses both the upper and lower chambers of the federal parliament, was completed in 1999 at a cost of nearly $35.18m (N7bn).
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, raised the alarm last month that the national legislative building could collapse anytime if the relevant authorities failed to fix it.
He said the leadership and management of the National Assembly, having been fed up with years of consistent complainants, has decided to hand over the building to the Federal Capital Territory Authority, which awarded its contract in the first instance.
The Speaker, who stated this when the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, visited him at his office, said the FCTA would henceforth assume its management and maintenance.
“Part of the sundry list is that we are going to be asking that we hand over the maintenance of this building to the Federal Capital Territory because as it is today, the building is almost collapsing,” Gbajabiamila said.
The Speaker sought the intervention of the executive arm of government for the construction of a world-class library.
He said, “You will be amazed that much as we pride ourselves as the biggest country in black Africa, this National Assembly does not have what you can call a library.
“We have more or less what is akin to a shed at the back there, like a bookstore. And it is a tool of our work. We need to make the House fully Information Technology-compliant.
Meanwhile, the management of the federal parliament told our correspondent that the complex was in a state of decay due to poor funding.
The Director of Communication, Rawlings Agada, said in an interview that the running cost made available to the management was grossly inadequate to maintain the structure.
Agada said, “What the management has been doing over the years is to take out of its running cost to carry out some palliative repair works and beautification, including painting.
“The roof leakages in the Dome, particularly in the two chambers, are of great concern to the management. The structure of the place is weak. In other climes, there would be a deliberate attempt to sustain the edifice through constant renovation.
“The other extension being done within has also not been completed. The management already has the picture of what we want. We are creating a centre where everything will be sited. There will be provision for live transmission of plenary sessions. There would be Internet facilities.”
Agada said the original design of the National Assembly did not take into account such modern Information Technology facilities.
“If funding is not improved upon, there is no way we can carry out any useful expansion project,” he said. “That is why the management and the leadership of the National Assembly are making arrangements to hand over the complex to the FCDA.”
He added, “We have archival material dated back to 1841 and we are desirous of properly documenting them.
“People come from far and near to carry out research, but we need to upgrade so that we can meet up with modern techniques.”
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