The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called for the conversion of the controversial multi-billion-naira official residence of Vice President Kashim Shettima into a General Hospital for poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
HURIWA said the continued non-use of the residence nearly two years after it was commissioned had vindicated its earlier opposition to the project.
The rights group said it was unacceptable for government to spend billions of naira on a presidential-style residence while millions of Nigerians were struggling with poverty, insecurity and lack of access to basic healthcare.
The residence, originally awarded in 2010 at about N7bn, was abandoned for several years before being revived and completed under the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
HURIWA said reports indicated that about N22bn in additional public funds was committed to the project and associated works.
The facility was commissioned in June 2024. However, Shettima has continued to use Akinola Aguda House as his official residence.
Reacting to the development, HURIWA National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, said the situation had raised serious questions about the huge expenditure on the project.
The organisation recalled that it had earlier described the decision to spend billions on the residence as an “intolerable error of judgment”, especially at a time Nigerians were facing the effects of fuel subsidy removal and naira reforms.
HURIWA said the continued non-utilisation of the building had made its earlier concerns more compelling.
“If the funds committed to the project covered everything necessary to make the building suitable for the Vice President to move in, then the continued non-use of the facility raises legitimate questions about the adequacy of the project execution and the management of the public funds committed to it,” the group said.
It warned the Federal Government against committing additional funds to the residence without first explaining what happened to the billions already spent.
HURIWA said Nigerians deserved a full account of the original contract sum, variations, additional allocations, total expenditure and the scope of work executed on the project.
The organisation also said any claims about the project’s suitability should be subjected to transparent verification rather than becoming a basis for further spending.
“If it is still considered unsuitable for the Vice President after the enormous expenditure already incurred, that would raise serious questions about the prudence and judgment behind proceeding with the project in the first place,” HURIWA said.
The group, however, offered an alternative to allowing the massive structure to remain underutilised.
It advocated converting the residence into a General Hospital serving low-income earners, unemployed Nigerians and vulnerable residents of Abuja.
According to HURIWA, the conversion would allow Nigerians to derive a direct public benefit from an asset on which enormous taxpayers’ resources had already been spent.
The rights group stressed that its proposal was not targeted at Shettima personally but was aimed at ensuring that public assets serve the wider public interest.
HURIWA said that rather than allowing the controversial facility to remain an expensive, underutilised structure, the Federal Government should consider turning it into a healthcare facility capable of serving thousands of Nigerians.
The organisation maintained that no additional public money should be spent on the residence without a transparent explanation of the expenditure already incurred.