President Muhammadu Buhari will be leading other West African leaders to do the ground breaking of the new headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja.
The ground breaking event for the $31.6million worth new ECOWAS headquarters, which is located along the airport road has been slated for 5th December 2022.
The fund of the project is a grant from the Chinese government.
It would be recalled that China did a similar project with the building of the African Uniion Headquaters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the project was signed between the ECOWAS Commission and the Chinese authorities on 14th March 2018.
The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun and the Vice President of ECOWAS Commission, Damtien L. Tchintchibidja, were at site on inspection your and also to discuss the knotty issues surrounding the take off of the project which is to be delivered in 2024.
Ambassador Jianchun who revealed the 5 December 2022 date said there are no ulterior motives behind the gesture.
The Chinese ambassador also said that creating a good relationship with Africa was very important to China, adding that the building will create a platform for West African governments to sit and deliberate on ways to develop the region.
He therefore added, “So really we are happy that we will make a groundbreaking ceremony December 5. So today is a very important meeting that we are trying to identify the problem.”
He also called for a monthly physical inspection of the site by ECOWAS authorities in conjunction with the embassy.
The Chairman of SCEGC, the Chinese company in charge of the project, Yan Yongjun, said temporary infrastructures have been provided for site workers already.
While saying the building design was also ready, Yongjun lamented that the FCDA was yet to grant approval for the construction work to begin.
He called on government officials to fast-track the process of approval for the company to meet the deadline to deliver the project.
Speaking, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, Musa Nuhu, said the regional body was trying to get a waiver which delayed the approval of the building design, adding however that all issues had been trashed out for the project to commence.
“I called them [FCDA] this afternoon [Friday] and they assured us that we will get the approval in the next two days.”
He called for more coordination among the bodies involved in the project in order to address issues immediately as they emerged.
Speaking on the site, Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, Damtien L. Tchintchibidja, said the regional body would provide all support needed for the project to go on smoothly.
Currently, ECOWAS’ operations are spread across three buildings in the Nigerian capital.
Tchintchibidja said the project is important, adding that a good office space would give the body a conducive atmosphere to make decisions that will support its over 420 million people in West Africa.
She said President Muhammadu Buhari would perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the project.
