Dr. Aganga’s Ministry of Industry, T&I abandons N15 m/year fully equipped office for over a year

Dr. Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga is the current Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment

The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is headed by Dr. Olusegun Aganga. One would expect the minister who worked at Ernst & Young in London UK, and Goldman Sachs International amongst many respectable organisations, to bring the culture of prudency that guide these global brands to bear. This does not appear so. Information available to Omojuwa.com indicate that the Ministry has currently left to waste its office at the last floor (12th floor) of the iconic Bank of Industry building Central Area, Abuja. It costs some $95,000/year (about N15,000,000.00) to rent an apartment at that level of the building. The said office is fully equipped and ready to use as we speak but has been abandoned by the Ministry.

Locked! Not open for trade

A visit to the12th floor of the Bank of Industry building on a regular work day will confirm this – considering this report does not send them running to make amends. One of our roaming citizen parrots was there to confirm this and staff of other companies in the building confirmed that the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment’s office has been abandoned for at least a year. Considering the rent and the exorbitant price it must have cost the nation to equip this office, this is just another way to put our so called inadequate resources to waste. N15,000,000.00 + cost of equipping said office may sound inconsequential in the scheme of waste and corruption that has bedeviled Nigeria but they all count and add up to the mess that is this nation.

Note the ceremonial portrait of the Minister and the President

Imagine the many productive hours that could have been invested by a serious entity. One can imagine things like this happening in an environment where public officials hold public service in high esteem. The said apartment is one of the prime locations in the whole of the Federal Capital Territory because it affords you a bird-eye view of the city. Why would anyone who knows the time value of money abandon such? One hopes that when those in charge see this report, they’d not rush to offer a denial because this has been confirmed. It would help their cause to rent the office to another company that’d find better use for the space. One can only imagine how many of such abandoned offices are left empty by the many inefficient government ministries and agencies. If these agencies and departments have no use for these offices, they can please indicate because there are many young people looking for office spaces just to express their business acumen. We could make a globally renowned hub of businessmen and women out of these abandoned offices littered all over the city of Abuja.