By Edwin Phillip, Lafia
LAFIA: The North Central Development Commission, NCDC, has taken over its headquarters complex donated by the Nasarawa State Government and commenced plans to remodel the facility at a cost of over N400 million.
Speaking after conducting journalists round the facility on Wednesday, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Dr. Cyril Yiltsen Tsenyi, said the remodeling was necessary to create adequate office space and provide a conducive working environment for staff.
Tsenyi said the commission, which was established about a year ago, was determined to commence its development programmes and recruit staff, hence the need to upgrade the facility.
He said: “We don’t have the time. I told you already, we are 12 months old. We don’t have the time and the latitude. So, I want to again use this opportunity to call on the contractors that are going to handle this, because of the time lag and the need for us to hit the ground running.
“We appeal to you that you have to do this job as quickly as possible.”
The NCDC boss expressed appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for establishing the commission, describing its creation as a response to the long-standing demand of people of the North-Central geopolitical zone.
“We wish to use this opportunity to express our profound gratitude, first to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for accepting and creating this commission.
“The North Central Development Commission is one of the newly created commissions in the country. We want to thank him for this rare privilege. It has been the yearning of the indigenes of North Central geopolitical region,” he said.
Tsenyi also commended Nasarawa State Governor and Chairman of the North Central Governors Forum, Abdullahi Sule, for providing the facility housing the offices of the managing director and other directors, as well as the recent donation of another building containing more than 100 offices to the commission.
He said: “I want to again use this opportunity to thank him for this level of hospitality. In fact, he has displayed the leadership that the North Central Development Commission is yearning to also get through.
“Again, let me use this opportunity to thank the board and management for supporting the process of giving out this contract to renovate this place.”
On the cost of the project, the NCDC managing director said the remodeling would cost “N400 million plus,” adding that the work would extend to parts of the managing director’s office.
Tsenyi charged the contractor handling the project to ensure that the work met the required standards, saying the headquarters should serve as a model for projects to be executed by the commission across the North-Central zone.
“They say charity begins at home. If we have very shady headquarters, it means that’s what we are going to do, but God forbid. We insist on the standard of the job that will be done appropriately,” he said.
He further urged the contractor to deliver the project within the stipulated period, noting that the commission would soon commence recruitment and would require adequate office accommodation for its workforce.
“We employ you as contractors to please work assiduously to ensure that this contract is delivered right on time. Because we will soon do our employment, and we cannot afford to keep our staff in the sun or under the sun. So, I am calling on you to do the needful,” he said.
According to him, the project has a completion timeline of 16 weeks, or four months, to ensure that staff are adequately accommodated and able to commence operations effectively at the headquarters.
Also speaking, Executive Director, Projects, NCDC, Princess Atika Ajanah, said the remodeling was aimed at creating an enabling environment for workers.
She said the facility previously accommodated more than 160 staff, while the commission was expected to have at least 100 workers occupying the complex when its establishment was fully operational.
“The office you are seeing here right now, before now, the previous occupants had over 160 staff, and we are looking at housing not less than 100 staff here by the time establishment commences.
“Of course, all the executive directors—we have five directorates in the North Central Development Commission as it stands today—and every directorate has been taken care of. The executive directors will also have their offices here.
“And so, we’re looking at this complex housing 100 and even more people,” she said.
Reacting to the four-month completion timeline, representative of Geo Data World Service Limited, the company handling the remodeling, Engineer Jim Jibril, assured that the contractor would meet the target.
“I can bet you that. So, the schedule has been taken care of. Everything that needed to be done from our own side to kick-start the work has been done.
“As we speak, some of our equipment and machines are on their way to Nasarawa. So, by God’s grace, I’m going to assure you people that in the next three to four months, we’re going to see a new face of this building,” he said.
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