A three-month power outage is forcing staff of the Ministry of Tourism, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and other civil servants whose offices are located in Block C, Federal Secretariat, Phase II, Abuja, to work outside the building.

According to a source who spoke with FIJ, life in the building as a civil servant has become challenging due to the persistent heat and the difficulty of completing daily tasks without electric power.

The source revealed that the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Sustainable Development Goals attempted to address the issue at one point but the maintenance department, under the head of service, obstructed its efforts, insisting that repairs should be routed through their department.

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“For the past four months, there has been no electricity, and no action has been taken to resolve it. The entire eight-storey building is without power. This has led to decreased productivity, and employees are now forced to use the stairs,” the source told FIJ.

The source further disclosed that some agencies housed in the building have procured generators for their senior officials, while other staff resort to leaving the premises during working hours to find alternative locations with electricity to carry out their tasks.

“Often, we are compelled to work outside the office premises. We now abandon our workstations and seek places with power supply to continue our tasks. While directors and senior officials have access to generators, the rest of us are left to find our ways,” the source lamented.

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FIJ learned that an explosion occurred in the electrical utility room on the third floor of the building, which was being utilised as a solar and inverter room by the current occupant, the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, on December 2.

When contacted on Monday, Muhammed Ahmed, the Director of Communications at the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, acknowledged that repairs were underway but couldn’t provide specific details on the progress made.

He suggested that if the reporter visited the building on Tuesday, they could liaise directly with the repair team for updates.