NITEL building: How billions of naira were reduced to rubble

It was a gigantic multiple storey structure abandoned in the middle of its construction after several billions had been expended on it. The building called NITEL property was located in the Central Business District, Abuja. In 2010 Estate Surveyors and Valuers evaluated the property and pegged its market value around N20 billion.
Originally, it belonged to the defunct Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), Nigeria’s one-time monopoly in the telecom sector.
During NITEL’s liquidation, this highly priced piece of land (area of about 80,000 square feet) together with its structure was put aside. The property which was put under the care of the Ministry of Communications was later acquired by a private property developer who then sold it to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Over the years, efforts to get details of how the property passed from the private firm to CBN did not yield much result as the deal remained clouded. Now CBN wants to convert the place to an international conference centre.
Last week, calls to the CBN Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Ugo Okoroafor for details were unsuccessful as he promised speaking on phone but ended up not doing so.
The building was brought down by blasts causing panic among residents and passers-by. Those who got information of the planned blast were however not taken unawares. They sat and watched from a distance and listened to the countdown before the charges around the base of the building were detonated.
When Daily Trust visited the site on Tuesday, a senior official of ITB Nigerian Limited, a construction firm contracted to do the demolition exercise explained that the use of explosives was the best for the structure because it was all concrete. The building was constructed through modular construction technique.
The official who did not want his name mentioned said prior to the use of explosives to bring down the building, announcements were made on both radio and television to intimate residents of an impending “controlled demolition” in the area.
He noted that the exercise was successful while assuring that there will be no more use of explosives because that aspect had been completed.
When asked about the cost implication of pulling down the building, he said, “We work according to the instruction and specifications of our clients. The old building needs to be pulled down so that the new design can be built.”
He however said iron rods salvaged from the site can be recycled and put to use.
At the time of our visit, the site was barricaded with caution words, “heavy machines on duty,” conspicuously placed at the entry point. Heavy trucks and bulldozers were seen working on the rubble, all to clear the place for a new building.
It was gathered that the old NITEL property was acquired during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Many described the process that led to CBN acquiring the property as far from being transparent.
Some top government officials were accused of being part of underhand deals that characterised the sale of the plot and the uncompleted structure thereon. But in his response in October, 2011, Mohammed Abdullahi who was then Head of Corporate Communications, CBN when the deals were consummated wrote saying the board of CBN in approving the purchase of the property was guided by the advice of professional Estate Valuers regarding the value of the property at the time of purchase in December 2010.
No doubt, the blast of the structure that Saturday brought back to mind the waste that characterised NITEL all the years it held the telecom market in Nigeria captive. Those who sought phone lines when NITEL was NITEL will testify.
Though it was difficult putting down the value of the structure, an Abuja-based estate valuer, Mr Udosen Imeote said consultancy fees prior to the commencement of work on that site alone might have gulped half a billion naira. Now, if one puts together the cost of the huge metal, cement, sand and the expertise expended on this site, billions of naira might have been wasted.
Chairman of Nigeria Institute of Building in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Musa Yakubu who was on the committee that looked into NITEL’s assets described the development as one of the bad legacies of Obasanjo government. He promised to speak on the matter but later declined.
This is not the only property the old telecom giant might have wasted. Similar ones like offices, staff quarters and even equipment have been left to decay across the country in like matter.