PH
Hoodlums and religious faithfuls have taken over the once bubbling federal secretariat located in Ikoyi, Lagos, Punch reports.
This old secretariat complex was abandoned 24 year ago, following the relocation of the federal capital to Abuja.
A commercial driver operating in the area said the only activity that goes on here during the day is that Muslims pray in a makeshift mosque inside the complex on Fridays but there are also rumours that some criminals also go there at night.
The complex comprising three towers of 12-storey buildings was conceived by the Gen. Yakubu Gowon-led military government in 1975, to cater for its administrative needs when Lagos was still the federal capital.
The cost of the concession was put at N7.2bn. Upon completion, the building was expected to house 480 families.
The development was, however, halted when the Lagos State Government later passed the bill of the Ikoyi/Victoria Model City Plan in 2006, and insisted that the secretariat remained an institutional building, and could not be converted to other uses.
