Abuja's Millennium Tower is 40% built after 21 years, and finishing it may cost ₦400 billion
Nigeria hired Salini Nigeria in 2005 to build Abuja's 170-meter Millennium Tower for about ₦53.12 billion by 2009. A BusinessDay investigation finds the complex stalled at about 40%, roughly ₦36.77 billion paid, and the contractor seeking ₦300 billion to ₦400 billion to finish it.
The contract was signed on Nov. 17, 2005, under President Olusegun Obasanjo, with completion due in April 2009, BusinessDay reported on Nov. 4 after a month spent on budget reports, contract papers and GovSpend payment entries. A first revision raised the sum to ₦69.35 billion and moved the deadline to October 2014. A government record seen by the paper tied part of that increase to doubling the parking from 600 to 1,200 spaces and to changes in the tower's base and structure. The 2015 budget implementation report put the work at 40% and said it had stopped for lack of funds.
The paper counted about ₦36.77 billion paid: ₦35.75 billion that Salini says it received by December 2015, plus ₦1.02 billion in three transfers between 2018 and 2022. The currency risk was written into the 2011 agreement. Salini is paid in naira, but 70% of the contract sum moves with the exchange rate, and the euro reference rate rose from ₦351.78 to ₦956.89 by December 2023. A third revision to ₦114.5 billion cleared the Bureau of Public Procurement in 2021, yet the Federal Capital Territory Administration never sent it to the Federal Executive Council because no budget covered it. Salini now wants another review and has rejected a 50:50 split of foreign and local currency, arguing the remaining work needs about 85:15.
Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory, said in July that the contractor was asking ₦300 billion to ₦400 billion, more than the territory's budget can carry, and that he had asked President Bola Tinubu to fund the tower as a national project, Premium Times reported, citing the News Agency of Nigeria. BusinessDay points out that ₦400 billion is a request to restart work, not an agreed contract value. A culture ministry official told the paper, without being named, that the ministry wants to take over the project; BusinessDay could not confirm this, and Wike's office did not answer. On site, few workers were present and the Central Bank of Nigeria was using the basement car park.
Why it matters: On long contracts with imported materials, check who carries the currency risk and whether escalation is capped. In Abuja, a clause tying 70% of the price to the exchange rate, plus years without a budget line, turned a ₦53.12 billion contract into a request for up to ₦400 billion.
Sources
- Why we may not complete Abuja's Millennium Tower project – WikePremium Times, Jul 30
- N36bn Millennium Tower exposes Nigeria’s costly culture of abandoned projectsBusinessDay, Nov 4