NAIJA NEWS
Amidst economic hardship and rising inflation in Nigeria, the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government has allocated N5 billion for the renovation of the vice president’s official residence in Lagos State.
In November 2023, the Federal Government passed a N2.17 trillion supplementary budget, which earmarked N3 billion for renovations at the vice president’s Lagos residence and N2.5 billion for refurbishing his official quarters within the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
However, an analysis conducted by The PUNCH through GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks government expenditures, revealed that a total of N5,034,077,063 was spent on the Lagos residence renovations in May and September of this year.
A breakdown of the expenditure shows 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 quarters in Lagos. On September 5, 2024, the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President made additional payments to the same firm—N726,748,686 for further renovation work and N1,480,209,326 for Phase 2 of the project.
It is worth recalling that in November 2023, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) announced plans to spend N15 billion on constructing a “befitting” residence for the vice president in Abuja.
This announcement was made by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike while defending the FCTA’s N61.5 billion supplementary budget before the House of Representatives committee.
