In the span of three months, the Federal Government spent approximately N701m to fund the foreign trips of the country’s First Lady, Remi Tinubu, to five countries, according to a published report at the weekend.
Recall that in 2023, the Federal Government allocated N1.5bn for the procurement of vehicles for the Office of the First Lady. This budgetary allocation was outlined in the N2.1tn supplementary budget for 2023 approved by the National Assembly.
A breakdown of the budget shows the government planned to spend N2.9bn on sport utility vehicles for the Presidential Villa and another N2.9bn to replace operational vehicles for the Presidency. However, former Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, , claimed that the N1.5bn budgeted for vehicles was for the Presidency and not for the First Lady’s office.
However, checks using GovSpend, a civic tech platform which tracks and analyses Federal Government’s spending, showed that the government paid out the sum of N700,707,532 over three months for the First Lady’s foreign trips to five countries, including two African nations.
On November 17, 2023, the Government, through the State House headquarters transit account, released the sum of N77,659,888 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($94,314) for the First Lady’s trip to the United States. Also, on February 24, 2024, the government, through the State House headquarters transit account, paid the sum of N149,794,284 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($152,831) for the First Lady’s trip to France on January 4, 2024.
On March 15, 2024, the sum of N202,386,198 was also paid by the Government through the State House account for the purchase of foreign exchange ($126,834) for the First Lady’s trip to Mozambique that month. On the same day, it paid N144,571,785 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($96,118) for the First Lady’s trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 9, 2024.
The Government, through the same State House account, paid out the sum of N126,295,377 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($83,967) for the First Lady’s trip to London that month. Additionally, the Government spent a total sum of N314,231,472 on six programmes of the First Lady within four months.
On May 24, 2024, Rock of Ages Total Events Centre Ltd received the sum of N131,921,786 for full-scale decoration of State House events for the First Lady’s programmes for women, youth, and children. And on May 29, 2024, the State House paid N107,630,000 to Makeway Nigeria Limited for the provision of multimedia and related services during the First Lady’s programmes for women, youth, and children.
This indicates that a total sum of N1,014,939,004 has been spent by the Government on the First Lady’s trips and programmes over seven months altogether.
Reacting, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership said it was out of place to spend such a humongous amount on the First Lady’s office, which isn’t recognised by the constitution.
In a published interview, the Executive Director of CACOL, Debo Adeniran,
said the complacency of the National Assembly has criminally empowered the executive to spend the national treasury on frivolities, and the only way Nigerians can stop the ugly trend is to consistently speak out against it.
He noted that the frivolous spending by the government has given the masses no reason to believe the numerous promises of lifting them out of the current hardship.
Also reacting, the Director of the Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekper, said there is no law in the country that supports the First Lady’s office, and it is grossly illegal for the Federal Government to deploy scarce national resources for any activity related to the office.
