It has emerged that the Nigerian government has splashed out a whopping N5 billion on the renovation of Vice President Kashim Shettima’s residence.
The funds were raised from the country’s public coffers.
This is according to data available on GovSpend, a civic technology platform that tracks and analyses Nigerian government expenditure.
The platform revealed that a total of N5,034,077,063 was spent on the renovation of the Vice President’s residence in Lagos in May and September this year.
A monthly breakdown of the amount shows that as at 31 May 2024, the State House of Assembly paid N2,827,119,051 to engineering firm Denderi Investment Limited for the renovation of the Vice President’s residence in Lagos.
On September 5, 2024, the Office of the Chief of Staff paid the company N726,748,686 for further renovation works of the Vice President’s Villa in Lagos.
On the same day, the Office of the Chief of Staff paid the company N1,480,209,326 for the second phase of renovation works of the Vice President’s Villa in Lagos.
Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory Authority, Abuja, also announced that it would spend N15 billion to build a “befitting” official residence for the Vice President in Abuja.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, made this known while appearing before a House of Representatives committee to defend the Federal Capital Territory’s 2023 supplementary budget of N61.5 billion.
The revelation caused widespread outrage among affected Nigerians and organisations. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) opposed the spending as a fundamental violation of the Nigerian Constitution and the country’s international commitments in fighting corruption and human rights.
“The Senate’s approval of a plan to spend 15 billion naira on a ‘suitable residence’ for the Vice President while the Federal Government spends 30% (i.e. 8.25 trillion naira) would be a serious breach of the public trust and constitutional oath of office. Of the country’s 2024 budget of 27.5 trillion naira, 27.5 trillion naira must be spent on debt repayment,” said Kolawole Oluwadare, Deputy Director of SERAP.
Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, said the current government is not sincere in its stance on cutting government expenses. If she was honest, she would have cut various budget allocations in the last 16 months.
Debo Adeniran, chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, said government waste cannot be eradicated until a new constitution is drafted to regulate government spending.