By Ahmed Ubandoma
The President, Africa First Ladies Peace Mission and Nigeria`s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, on Monday inspected the on-going construction of the new permanent secretariat of the Africa First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM) in Abuja, to assess the progress of work at the site.
Mrs Buhari who expressed happiness with the level of work at the site, charged the contractors to speed-up the work to meet the deadline.
While shedding more light on the significance of the visit, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs and Strategy, Mr Sani Zorro, expressed optimism that the project, when completed, will contribute significantly to the development mission.
“Now, we are very happy, the first lady has come and is seeing the progress of work, and we are very happy with the progress of work done so far, it means that all the activities of AFLPM will be held in Nigeria and this is the significance of this project being cited here.
“As you can see, the Nigeria Institute of Legislative Studies is around the location, the base University; you can see the Nigeria Army Training Centre here.
“These particular area is reserved for research institute and for the AFLPM to be sited here; it is now rated in the category of a resourceful institutions that are in the categories of Universities and tertiary institutions of learning.
Zorro explained that, the new permanent site of the AFLPM, which is located along the Airport route, when completed, will provide a befitting office accommodation for the smooth running of the activities of the mission.
“So, the location is appropriate and deserving of a kind of activities that the Africa First Ladies Peace Mission will perform.
“The contractor have assured us that the delivery time and the inaugural period will still be January 2023 and we look forward to making Nigeria a proud nation that will host the secretariat of AFLPM,” he said.
On his part, the Operations Manager of the company, Engr. Chadi Jawish, assured the first lady of their determination to meet with the January 2023 deadline.
“We are doing our best to meet-up with the January 2023 dateline.
“As you know, building has a critical duration period and we are on target to deliver the project by the end of January 2023.
“We are following the programme of design to reach the dateline, now; we reached around 20 per cent of the work so far.
Also speaking, the representative of the federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Arch. Abimbola Assein, said, the ministry was monitoring every aspect of the project to ensure that standard procedure of building is maintained.
“We are checking every step of the work to ensure that the contractor complied with the extant rules of building regulations.
“So, the planning approvals, the soul test, the concrete test and other things that the contractor ought to be doing is doing it well and we are monitoring the work on daily basis to ensure that no rules is flouted,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the new AFLPM Secretariat which foundation was laid on November 2021 is expected to be completed in January 2023.
NAN also recalled that the building which has been under construction on about 2.7 hectares of land along the Airport Road will be made up of five floors, 13 meeting rooms, a recreational park and a section for African Village which will provide the opportunity for the exhibition of African cultural artefacts among others.
The facility is also expected to benefit pupils during the celebration of the day for the African child. (NAN)
