REVENUE loss to Nigeria due to abandonment of old Federal Secretariat Complex, Ikoyi, Lagos State has hit N87.8 billion in 27 years, Nigerian Tribune’s estimate has shown.
The cumulative amount takes its roots from the N72 billion estimate arrived at in 2018 by the Professor of Building at the University of Lagos, Professor Olumide Afolarin Adenuga. The estimate was hinged on the proposal to convert the entire complex to 480 units of residential apartments, and the assumption of year 1995 base rent of N5 million per annum and 10 percent rent increment every four years.
Based on the evaluation carried out by the university professor on the abandoned Federal Secretariat complex, it showed that N72 billion would have been generated as revenue from rents between 1995 and 2018 (23 years after).
Taking it further, calculations by Nigerian Tribune based on the 10 percent rent increment in every four years, showed that the cumulative revenue loss to the abandonment of the edifice between 1995 and 2022 is now in the tune of N87.840 billion.
This is an addition of N3.960 billion annually to N72 billion estimate arrived at by Professor Adenuga in 2018.
This shows a cumulative revenue loss of N75.960 billion in 2019; N79.920 billion in 2020; N83.880 billion in 2021; and N87.840 billion in 2022.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune on Sunday, Professor Adenuga said the economic loss of the building to the Federal Government has continued to rise since nothing was done to convert the complex to luxury residential apartments as proposed by the Wale Babalakin-led Resort International Limited (RIL).
He recalled that the proposal was to convert the complex to 480 units of luxury residential apartments following the concession of the complex to the firm in 2006.
Explaining how he arrived at the estimate in the University of Lagos’ Inaugural Lecture series 2018 with the theme ‘Building Maintenance: An a Posteriori Culture in Nigeria – The Quest for Economic Sustainability’, Professor Adenuga assumed that if the building had been converted to 480 units of apartments as proposed prior to its abandonment, using 1995 as a base year, “the estimated revenue that could have been generated till 2018 will be N72 billion.”
Adenuga lamented that apart from the N72 billion that could have been generated from the operation and maintenance of the complex, the utilisation of such building would have contributed to reducing the shortfall in the nation’s housing stock.
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Built by the Yakubu Gowon-led administration to serve as office accommodation for the then country’s administrators, the abandoned Federal Secretariat complex, Ikoyi, Lagos is today an eyesore, having been neglected for almost 31 years.
The 15-storey Federal Secretariat Complex was abandoned since 1991 following the relocation of the country’s capital from Lagos to Abuja.
Since its planned conversion/redevelopment into two, three bedrooms and condominiums suffered setback in 2006, the complex now serves as home for rodents, reptiles and hoodlums.
The most pathetic issue is that 16 years after its planned redevelopment by Resort International Limited (RIL) was stopped by the Lagos State government in 2006, parties involved are yet to reach an agreement on how to turn around the abandoned edifice from its present state of dilapidation as a result of exposure to weather elements.
Recall that the bid process for the sales of the old secretariat complex spanned almost two years with the Federal Government setting up about three committees to verify the bids.
At the end of it all, RIL emerged the preferred bidder and paid N7 billion for the property in 2005.
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