Senate Faults N250m ‘Gate House’ For VP

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Ter­ritory (FCT), Senator Dino Melaye, has said that the Up­per House will not allow any contractor to defraud Nigeria by constructing the gatehouse of the Vice President’s house at the cost of N250 million.

He denied the allegation by a group, Citizen Action to Take Back Nigeria (CAT­BAN) that the National As­sembly leaders collected N630 million from the Fed­eral Capital Development Authority (FCDA) as rents.

Senator Melaye vowed to probe the over N250 million allegedly inflated contracts for the Vice Presidents gate­house.

The Senate President Bu­kola Saraki, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and their deputies were accused by the group of receiving the money as rent for their official accommodation and furni­ture from the FCDA.

Melaye, who briefed jour­nalists at the National Assem­bly Complex on Thursday, described the report as “false and baseless” and challenged the group to come out with proofs against the National Assembly leaders.

He said that investigation is ongoing and the Senate will ensure that government was not being raped and short­changed over the contract.

Melaye said: “I am here to address you on the state of our nation’s history. This has to do with the publication, a story last week by a social me­dia assassin.

“This social media assassin released a very fake report last week that the Senate Presi­dent, the Speaker and their deputies collected over N600 million from the FCT for rent, renovation and accom­modation.”

“As the chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, I am here to put the record straight. The National Assembly lead­ership collected no rent from the Federal Capital Develop­ment Agencies (FCDA).

On the delayed and infla­tion of the contracts within FCT, Melaye said: “I was on an oversight function and I said that, the buildings were built on overinflated prices.

“As I speak to you, the Senate President’s house was awarded for over N200 mil­lion and it is a three-bed­room with a boys’ quarters apartment; the gatehouse of the Vice President, even the Deputy Senate President was also awarded for N250 mil­lion. We are going to call for the review of that contracts,” he said.