The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the construction of the ministry of agriculture and rural development’s corporate headquarters.
Mohammad Abubakar, minister of agriculture and rural development, told journalists following the council meeting (led by President Muhammadu Buhari) on Wednesday that an initial figure of ₦6 billion will be utilized to begin building of the new headquarters.
Abubakar stated that the proposed headquarters will be a 10-story structure dubbed “Agriculture House.”
He said “the memo we presented was for the construction of our corporate headquarters here in Abuja. Since the relocation of the ministry to Abuja over 30 years ago, we have not had a corporate headquarters.
“We are currently using an office of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration which is just about three floors and cannot accommodate the entire ministry.
“We have about four departments which are outside the main ministry.
“So, the FCT administration has allocated a plot to us in the cadastral zone, totalling about 1.84 hectares at a very strategic place for the construction of a 10-storey building which we will call Agriculture House.”
Abubakar stated that while the ministry had already purchased a building in Abuja, it was insufficient for the services required.
As a result, the building will be sold, and the proceeds will be added to a projected allocation of ₦6 billion (2022 and 2023) to begin the project, according to the minister.
He also stated that the ministry will seek additional funding to complete the project through presidential intervention and other means.
Speaking about the rising cost of rice, Abubakar stated that much is being done to ensure its supply and further reduce its price.
“There are 10 rice mills that are being constructed under a public-private partnership arrangement and the president has given us intervention to complete those mills and we will commission some of them before the end of this administration,” the minister said.
