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The Federal Government has embarked on the renovation of the Aso Villa in preparation for Tinubu’s swearing-in ceremony.
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Tinubu is set to be officially inaugurated as Nigeria’s President on May 29th.
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Tinubu will assume office as planned despite ongoing legal battles challenging the legitimacy of his election victory.
EKO HOT BLOG reports that with Bola Tinubu’s inauguration as President-elect on May 29 drawing near, the State House Management has commenced renovation and refurbishment of various sections of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
As part of the preparations, a new layer of white and green paint is being added to the concrete perimeter fence that surrounds the President’s office, official residence, Council Chamber, press gallery, and other administrative offices.
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The Punch’s correspondents observed on Thursday the delivery of new furniture to the green room adjoining the Council Chamber.
Months earlier, the management had carried out a routine upgrade of card readers and installed barricades in areas, which were once freeways.
A senior State House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the maintenance was part of the tasks carried out by the Presidential Transition Council chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.
On February 14, 2023, the Federal Government inaugurated the 22-member Presidential Transition Council ahead of the handover to the incoming government.
The committee comprises Cabinet Affairs, General Service Affairs, Economic and Political Affairs, Office of the SGF and State House permanent secretaries, as well as the National Security Adviser, among others.
In April, the President-elect nominated 14 more persons to join the transition council.
The official said, “The changes and upgrades we are doing are part of broader maintenance works. Some are routine, while others, like the painting, are done when the Villa is to host a new occupant.
“These follow the directives of the transition committee, which the SGF is in charge of. The card readers have since been changed
Those are just routine maintenance done when the old ones have passed their active life.
“Repainting is required because, over the years, the State House wildlife accommodates monkeys that roam free and stain these white walls. The bats we have here also deposit their droppings on the walls.”
Asked for the total amount earmarked for the works, the official said, “We don’t go outside the budget allocated to the State House, but the transition committee is shouldering any special cost.”
Since 2016, N3.05bn has been earmarked for “maintenance services” at the State House. These include maintenance of office furniture, office buildings and residential quarters, among others.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who took to his Twitter page on Friday, posted a photo where a man was seen painting the external wall of the Villa with white and green paints.
He noted that the painting was being done in order to welcome the incoming President.
Shehu wrote under the picture, “Painter at work. Villa wearing a new look for the incoming President.”
In June 2015, Buhari finally moved into the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, almost three weeks after his inauguration.
He could not move into his official residence immediately after inauguration because renovation works were still going on at the Villa.
Before moving into Aso Rock, Buhari had shuttled between the Defence House in Maitama and his personal residence in the Asokoro district.
In August 2017, Buhari, who resumed duties after a 103-day medical vacation abroad, operated from his official residence until the completion of the renovation of his office.
Shehu, had said the President’s office needed renovation because of its devastation by rodents during Buhari’s long period of absence, adding that rodents had caused a lot of damage to the furniture and air conditioning units.
His predecessor, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, had in May 2015 relocated to the Glass House in the sprawling Aso Presidential Villa to allow for its renovation prior to Buhari’s swearing in.
In the 2023 Appropriation Act, a total of N148,168,464,339 was allocated for the Presidency. Out of this, N14,808,479,660 was allocated to the State House headquarters, a sum of N3,441,177,028 was budgeted for State House operation of the President, while N1,555, 447, 054 was allocated on the State House operations for the Vice-President.
A total of N10,108,606,550 was budgeted for projects in the State House headquarters from which a sum of N19, 382, 375 was allocated for the purchase of sporting equipment for the State House Sports Club, while N14, 773, 412 was budgeted for procurement of equipment for the central gymnasium renovation.
For the renovation works on eight blocks of 16 two-bedroom flats at the State House security quarters, N 132,303,624 was set aside, while N87,255,745 was budgeted for the provision of the Electronic Document Management System.
A sum of N150,000,000 was also set aside for the replacement of telecommunications infrastructure at the villa; N25,023,505 for the upgrade of the State House library, and N7,562,000 for digital medical references for the library.
Rehabilitation of animal enclosure/procurement of vet lab equipment took N35,251,776, while the sum of N130,076,825 was allocated for the conversion/upgrade of the villa ranch and construction of wildlife conservation capture.
A total of N16,077,800 was approved for the purchase of plant nursery equipment for the production of local flowers for routine floral arrangement, irrigation and upgrade of helipad grass field, and N35,725,000 for systemic collection and assessment of data about projects and programmes to aid the management to make decisions. But a sum of N1,904,388,461 was also budgeted for the phased replacement of vehicles and spares during the year.
On annual routine maintenance of mechanical/ electrical installations of the villa, a sum of N7,200,045,297 was budgeted to be spent, and N99,656,180 on the purchase of various office equipment for the admin, finance and accounts, works, ICT, procurement, PRS and audit departments.
A sum of N251,084,550 was also budgeted for the purchase of tyres for bulletproof vehicles, plain cars, CCU vehicles, platforms trucks, SUVs, ambulances and other utility and operational vehicles.
The Presidency had proposed N5.23bn for the general rehabilitation and repair of fixed assets in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in the 2022 Appropriation Bill.
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A total of N5,176,045,297 was budgeted for the rehabilitation/repair of office buildings, while N55,056,446 was earmarked for residential buildings.
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