Senate Chamber renovation a shoddy job, Ndume laments

The Senate’s Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, claims that the upper house’s renovations were substandard.

The national assembly’s two chambers had undergone around two years of renovations. While the renovations were underway, legislators had to settle with makeshift locations for committee and plenary sessions.

According to reports, N42 billion was set aside and paid for the renovations.

During his Tuesday speech on the Senate floor, Ndume compared the red chamber to a “conference room”.

The senator from Borno South said that the speakers in the chamber could not be heard and that there was no electronic voting machine.

“This is not a chamber, it is like a conference room,” he said.

“You will not even know that it is me, Ndume, that is speaking, so also when the leader was speaking.

“We need to correct this. We need to change so many things. Like the sitting row, if you want to stand up, you will have to use tactics or strategy to stand up or sit down.

“There is no voting device here. If we are to vote electronically, the facilities are not there, but we had that previously.

“There is no clock here for senators to see the time. Okay, they are trying to show me and I am looking for it, it is not even clear. There used to be a big one.

“This is a serious observation. If you play back the record, you cannot identify Akpabio’s voice, you have to listen hard, but the audio is supposed to be very clear.”

Senate President Godswill Akpabio responded by stating that Ahmad Lawan, a former senate president, was in charge when the contract for the national assembly’s reconstruction was given.

“This is not our contract, it was a contract that was awarded in the ninth senate,” Akpabio said.

“It is the FCDA (Federal Capital Development Authority) that renovated it. If we have a complaint, we have to channel it to the FCDA.”

Last week, sitting arrangement in the refurbished chamber caused some senators to engage in a heated debate.