The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, has raised alarm over the long-abandoned Federal Government Printing Press Project located in Asokoro, Abuja.
Speaking with journalists on Thursday in Abuja after an inspection of the site, Idris described the state of the facility as “heart-wrenching and colossal waste to the nation”.
He recalled that the project’s foundation stone was laid on Dec. 3, 2001, noting that some of the machines were delivered as early as 2007.
“It’s so sad that many of these equipment are still living in their crates. No one has made any attempt to even open them to see what is there.
“Some of the technology has become really obsolete already. But at a time that government is trying to preserve what it has, I think this is a time for stocktaking.
“This will enable us to look at what we need to do with this place so that we can bring it back to use for the benefit of Nigerians.
“The Federal Government printing press is an official printer for government; it prints a lot of sensitive documents for government.
“Now sometimes all these documents will have to go out to be printed. Even the official gazette that should be printed by the Federal Ministry of Information cannot be printed here directly.
“It’s heart-wrenching. It’s really very displeasing that we have this kind of edifice in the heart of Abuja and successive administrations have done nothing about it.”
The minister further explained that requests for funding had been made annually through the budget, but the required allocations were not provided.
According to him, the lack of funding meant that the project was never completed despite heavy investments already made.
“Therefore it’s all waste. We have come here to see things for ourselves, and we will go back to the office, make recommendations to Mr President as to what we can do with this place to revitalise it.
“The current situation of this place is not acceptable. A lot of money was sunk here, and also the equipment, many of them high grade were imported from Germany and India.
“They are all in their crates. They have not been opened for installation. At that time, we needed just a fraction of money to see this completed. But now, of course, with inflation, we know what that means.
“It’s billions of Naira wasting here. So, we thought that we cannot continue to close our eyes to see this facility wasting further. Therefore, something has to be done,” Idris stressed.
He also disclosed that a 2000 kva generator procured for the printing press in 2011 remained unused till date.
“This is 14 years now. No one does that. At a time that the nation is trying to look inward, to conserve its resources and use it for the benefit of Nigerians, we are seeing this colossal waste here. I feel really very sad”.
The construction work on the project began after the foundation was laid in 2001, but activities eventually ceased in 2016, after which vandals damaged equipment in the administrative block and other parts of the facility, according to News Agency of Nigeria.
Members of the minister’s entourage during the visit included the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Chinasa Ogbodo, Directors from the Federal Government Press Department, other directors in the Ministry, as well as aides to the minister.
