Senator Bala Muhammed, FCT Minister

Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has proposed the construction of new residential quarters for   four principal officers of the National Assembly. 

President of the Senate, David Mark; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole as well as their deputies are  to benefit from the  new arrangement. The quartet  would have to vacate their present official residences located at the Apo Legislators Quarters as soon as the new houses are ready.

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed said the new abodes   situated in the Maitama Extension Area of Abuja had become necessary following growing security concerns at the Apo Legislators Quarters. Mohammed disclosed this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on FCT to defend the  2011 budget as well as justify the implementation of the 2010 Appropriation Act. The new arrangement, the minister said, will guarantee maximum security for these principal officers of the parliament since the National Assembly Quarters at Apo has been sold to the public and now inhabited by “all sorts of people”.

“Our decision is taken out of share sense of responsibility. But with responsibility comes the issue of security, the issue of the latitude and leverages which officers holding certain offices must have. The National Assembly is the highest democratic body we have apart from the presidency. And the National Assembly complex has been sold out to the public. The place is being inhabited by all sorts of people,” he said.

“We were there on inspection and so we cannot guarantee the safety and security of principal officers of the National Assembly who take decisions on very serious and sometimes critical issues that may impinge on the sensibilities, perception and feelings of others. We

must as a government protect the principal officers of the National Assembly.

“Leaving them there will expose them to the vagaries of the society. And anybody can be a principal officer, so whoever is there and you leave him there you are not being fair to him. That is why government decided that as a second tier of government we will go to an area where it is secure and safe for our principal officers to live,” Mohammed said. THISDAY learnt that contracts for the new residential quarters have been awarded to a construction firm but the cost could not be ascertained as at press time.