Amidst Nigeria’s ongoing economic hardship and rising inflation, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government has allocated N5 billion for renovating the vice president’s official residence in Lagos State.
In November 2023, a N2.17 trillion supplementary budget was passed, earmarking N3 billion for renovations at the vice president’s Lagos residence and another N2.5 billion for refurbishments at his official quarters in the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
An analysis by The PUNCH, using data from GovSpend, a civic tech platform tracking government spending, revealed that a total of N5,034,077,063 had already been spent on the renovations at the Lagos residence by May and September of this year.
The breakdown of expenses showed that on May 31, 2024, the State House paid N2,827,119,051 to Denderi Investment Limited, an engineering firm, for renovation work at the vice president’s official Lagos quarters.
On September 5, 2024, the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President paid the same firm an additional N726,748,686 for more renovation work and N1,480,209,326 for Phase 2 of the project.
It is also notable that, in November 2023, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) announced plans to spend N15 billion on building a new “befitting” residence for the vice president in Abuja.
FCT Minister Nyesom Wike made this announcement while defending the FCTA’s N61.5 billion supplementary budget before the House of Representatives committee.
These expenditures have drawn significant criticism from advocacy groups. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) condemned the allocations, stating that they violate the Nigerian Constitution and the nation’s international anti-corruption and human rights commitments.
Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP’s Deputy Director, emphasized that the N15 billion budget for the vice president’s residence breaches public trust, especially considering that the government plans to allocate 30 percent (N8.25 trillion) of the N27.5 trillion 2024 budget to debt servicing.
Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, also criticized the administration, highlighting that it has failed to fulfill its promise of reducing the cost of governance. He pointed out that budgetary allocations over the past 16 months show a lack of genuine effort to cut costs.
Debo Adeniran, Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, added that without a new constitution to regulate government spending, Nigeria will continue to experience wasteful expenditures in governance.