State House Clinic's VIP section one of Buhari’s legacies

The presidency has described the newly constructed VIP wing of the State House Clinic as a major legacy of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

The State House Permanent Secretary, Tijjani Umar, said the completion of the hospital on record time is a miracle and comes off as one of the President’s iconic legacies for the country.

Mr Buhari had in November 2021 approved a site for the construction of a VIP wing of the State House clinic within the precinct of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Mr Umar said the president granted approval to engage Julius Berger Plc to review and develop the concept design and proceed with the construction of the project as a turnkey contract.

In 2020, N416.6 million was budgeted for the project and N1.06 billion in 2021, which Mr Umar said has already been paid in full.

In March, the Permanent Secretary indicated that out of the N20.8 billion budgeted for the project in 2022, the federal government had paid N8.5 billion.

Project inspection

Mr Umar, on Friday, led a team of presidential aides on a pre-handover inspection of the clinic.

A statement issued and signed by a director of information at the State House, Abiodun Oladunjoye, said the permanent secretary was accompanied by the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Domestic Affairs, Sarki Abba, and the Chief Personal Physician to the President, Sanusi Rafindadi.

Speaking after the inspection, Mr Umar said a lot of progress has been made with the unpacking and installation of equipment ongoing.

‘‘This has provided an opportunity to assess what has been achieved till date. This inspection also affords us an excellent opportunity to make observations to the contractors on what we have seen,” he said.

Mr Rafindadi described it as ‘‘world-class and state-of-the-art facility with the capability to carry out several medical procedures.”

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He expressed satisfaction with the state of the project, commending the management team for tirelessly working on the signature project.

In his remarks, Mr Abba commended Julius Berger for delivering on schedule, less than a year after the foundation laying ceremony was performed.

In his project description, the Director, Maintenance, Joshua Apagu, said the project which is a Specialised/Intensive Care Centre dedicated for the exclusive use of the President, Vice President, and other VIPs, is situated on one suspended floor and basement.

The Centre contains Executive Suites, VIP Suites, Emergency Rooms, Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory, Operating Theatres, Conference room for emergency meetings, among others.