Federal Government on Wednesday said the planned N2.2bn new Banquet Hall for the Presidential Villa was “absolutely a necessity” and was not in any way a duplication of the existing hall.
It described the deluge of criticisms that had surrounded last week’s announcement of the project as “clear misconceptions and misunderstanding.”
Government’s position was made known to State House correspondents by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Muhammed.
Maku said it became necessary to build the new hall because the existing one was specially built for big national events like concerts that would attract about 2,000 people.
The minister said the government had been encountering difficulties in getting appropriate space for the President to hold his live broadcasts to the nation.
He added that the new facility would serve as a mini multi-purpose hall.
He said, “Whenever Mr. President has a live programme to broadcast to the nation, he has to come to the cafeteria where refreshments are served to hold the programme because there is no space for that kind of live programmes.
“There has also been problems in getting telephones to work in a situation where such programmes are phone-in ones.
“The existing banquet hall is for big events like concerts for about 1,000 or 2,000 people.”
“There is absolutely no space. The President receives visitors in the First Lady’s Conference Room. The new hall is absolutely a necessity, it is not duplication. Events will still take place at the existing banquet hall.”
Muhammed said contrary to the news making the rounds, the new banquet hall was captured in the 2012 Budget.
“The FCT operates two budgets – the National Priority Budget and the FCT Statutory Budget. This project is captured in the statutory budget approved by the National Assembly. It is not true that it is an unbudgeted project,” he explained.
He explained that the new hall would be a multi-purpose hall that would have broadcast facilities for the President to address the nation and lounge for visiting heads of governments.
Source: Punch
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