From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
Despite a N38 billion renovation project, the National Assembly’s White House, housing the Senate and House of Representatives chambers, continues to face concerns over persistent roof leaks.
Heavy rainfall on Friday, April 25, exposed flooding in the chambers, raising fresh questions about the quality and value of the renovation work completed between 2022 and 2024.
However, Olalekan Adebiyi, Managing Director of Laralek Ultimate Construction Company, parent company of Visible Construction, denied reports of roof leakage in a telephone interview with National Assembly correspondents on Saturday.
An online report had claimed the storm overwhelmed the renovation, citing unnamed staff who alleged that the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) compromised standards by awarding the contract to Visible Construction instead of an experienced firm like Julius Berger Nigeria Plc.
Adebiyi dismissed the report as baseless and driven by malice. “The report to us is unfounded and, simply put, bad belle because if it were Julius Berger that carried out the renovation work, no such fake report would be written against it,” he said. He insisted that an internal inspection confirmed the roof’s integrity, attributing the flooding to water ingress through smaller windows near the top of the building, not a failure of the roof.
Moreover, Adebiyi highlighted the use of Amothene, a waterproof material imported from the United States, which he claimed remains intact. “We checked and found out that it was an ingress of water that came through the smaller windows at the upper part of the chamber building that flooded the floor and not roof leakage,” he explained. He criticised the report for lacking photographic evidence, calling it “unprofessional and unethical”.
“The report is fake, as there was no leakage from any point on the roof. We did a good job and stand by it, and shall surely be vindicated as more and more rain will still fall in the coming weeks and months,” Adebiyi added.
The FCDA awarded the N38 billion contract in 2021 to address ongoing issues, including roof leaks, outdated air conditioning, poor chamber furnishings, and faulty audio systems. Yet, Friday’s downpour revealed that many of these problems persist, fuelling public debate over the project’s effectiveness and oversight.