In a gesture that may appear as a deviation from what that has been obtainable in the State, the Commissioner for Housing and Urban Renewal, Prince Enobong Uwah has failed to contract Construction firms to take charge of the remodeling of a new four storey complex known as the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service Secretariat Annex.
According to him, "What we have done differently is that we did not give the project to any company, we used direct labour. We engaged staff of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal to do most of the job. By so doing we have retained the cost of labour in the State and boost on- the - job capacity of our staff".
Expressing his determination to build what he described as a pool of human resources, Prince Uwah pointed out that with the gesture, more revenue will be generated for government within the Ministry.
He added " I want to make the ministry productive. That is why we had to use our architects and technicians to do this job. We did that deliberately to build a pool of professionals in the ministry whose services can be sold to the public",
He said the standard of quality delivered on the job by staff of the ministry and locally sourced labour could measure up with what expatriates could haves done.
Commenting on the current harsh economic wind blowing across the country, Prince Uwah, said, he has repositioned the Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal in a way that, it can generate revenue to the State government.
"We are going to use the pool of professionals that we have in the Ministry (of Housing and Urban Renewal).
For instance, anyone who is building a house needs an architectural design. And since we have best hands in the Housing and Urban Renewal Ministry, we are going to be advertising.
And, since this is public service, those who want to build their houses will get their site plan as well as architectural plan at a very cheap rates from the Ministry's professionals and that money received will definitely go to government coffers. That way, the Ministry will be in a better position to maintain our facilities with small earnings that comes in through legal professional services".
The building which will be commissioned Tomorrow, Saturday 28/05/2016 by Governor Udom Emmanuel was to serve as 10th Anniversary Hotel but however abandoned for over a decade, turning the place into a comfortable hideout for criminal activities.
The abandoned project has today experienced what many may describe as extensive remodelling as it currently houses 304 offices, studios and laboratories, four conference rooms with video conferencing facilities, three lifts, and a large lobby.
The Secretariat Annex to be occupied by the Ministry of Housing and Urban, Works, and Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs has a traditional rulers chamber with conference room and two lounges and an office for the chairman of the State Council of Chiefs.
Added to the building are staff clinic, ambulance bay, ophthalmology unit, X-ray rooms, two observation rooms, and staff restaurant.
It was observed that the Secretariat has been designed in consideration to the people with special needs even as it has modern fire fighting outlets and emergency exits on each floor coupled with 2000 capacity parking lot.
The commissioner urged members of the public to visit the site of the project to feed their eyes with the taste of quality delivered.
When the three Ministries move in to the secretariat annex, other ministries including the Ministry of Special Duties, Bureau of Political and Legislative Affairs, Bureau of Technical Matters and Due Process currently housed in rented apartments will relocate to government properties thus will reduce the State government's annual recurrent expenditure.
The Commissioner also disclosed that a total of 2 billion naira was budgeted in 2015 as well as 2016 fiscal year for the contract and was poised on returning possible excesses if realized at the end of the project.
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