- The roof of the National Assembly is still leaking despite N30 billion being spent on renovation
- The construction firm in charge of the renovation, Visible Construction Limited, claims that the roof leakage will be stopped soon
- The project engineer, Tajudeen Olanipekun, said that all of the complex’s roofs had been inspected and that specialised chemicals will be applied to the affected expansion joints to prevent leakage
Visible Construction Limited, the construction firm in charge of the National Assembly’s renovation, claims that the complex’s roof is still leaking because repair work is ongoing.
The lobby of the National Assembly was flooded in June 2021 as a result of the leaky roof of the White House, which houses the two chambers.
The incident, described as a “national embarrassment” by some critics, sparked widespread outrage.
According to lawmakers in the 9th National Assembly, the incident confirmed their position that the building needed to be renovated.
As a result of the complex’s deterioration over time, the 9th National Assembly appropriated N30 billion to the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) for comprehensive renovation in the fiscal year 2021.
Visible Construction Limited, which won the contract, will begin construction in April 2022.
However, one year later, the roof of the National Assembly’s White House is still leaking, raising concerns among staff and users about the edifice’s condition despite billions spent on renovation.
Tajudeen Olanipekun, the Project Engineer, told reporters on Wednesday that the roof leakage would be stopped soon because specialised chemicals for the affected expansion joints would be applied.
He stated that all of the complex’s roofs, both at the White House and adjacent structures, had been thoroughly inspected for the discovery of expansion joints requiring water-tight chemicals to prevent leakage.
He said;
The report on roof leakage in National Assembly to us at Visible Construction is like marking script of a student still writing his or her examination.
Renovation work on the entire complex is still being carried out. It is when we have finished the work that report on roof leakage can be written which to us would never happen as the problem would be thing of the past by the time it is handed over to FCDA that gave us the job.
There should be no cause for alarm from any quarters as regards the project since Engineers from FCDA are also with us.