The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has affirmed the injection of N21 billion into upgrade of the Presidential Villa Clinic in Abuja.
This was brought to the limelight by Tijani Umar, the Permanent Secretary of the State House after a pre-inauguration inspection of the presidential wing of the House Medical Centre by Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF.
Reportedly the SGF was accompanied by Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance and Clem Agba, the Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Recall that during the presentation of the 2022 budget, Tijani had told members of the Senate Committee on Federal Character that President Buhari had endorsed the building and equipping of the Villa Clinic with 14-bed space at the cost of N21 billion.
According to him, the construction was to be carried out by Julius Berger Nigeria, JBN, with the physical construction slated to commence on 1 November, 2021 and inaugurated on 31 December, 2022.
The permanent secretary further explained that the presidential clinic would contain about 14-bed facilities with a total area of around 2,700 square meters.
He added that there would be a first floor, underground, two number Executive Suite, two number operating theatre, two VIP, two isolation and one-number of six-bed isolation area in the said building.
He also pointed out that there would be a healing garden, laboratory, X-ray facility and pharmacy in the clinic.
“The project was conceived in 2012 by previous administration and the brief was produced. Most of the preliminary work has been concluded and Mr. President has approved the project. We have gone to Bureau of Public Procurement to get Certificate of No Objection,” Tijani said.
He also told the committee that the clinic would be made accessible to other African countries for healthcare.
