No to VP’s N15 billion mansion

The 10th National Assembly with Senator Godswill Akpabio as its Chairman has been presented with a major litmus test, with the request for approval of N15 billion for the construction of a mansion for the Vice President.

This outrageous request is contained in the 2024 Federal Appropriation Bill tabled last week by President Bola Tinubu at the joint session of the federal parliament in the chambers of the House of Representatives. A couple of days later, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, appeared before the Senate to defend his ministry’s budget.

Wike said the approval was necessary because the project was earmarked some 13 years ago at the sum of N10 million but was abandoned. According to him, the contractors have revised the budget for the project to N15 billion, and his administration is determined to deliver it by the middle of 2024.

Already, opposition to the spending has sprouted in many quarters. The Socio-Economic Rights and Advocacy Project, SERAP, for instance, has threatened to sue the National Assembly if it fails to exert its constitutional oversight power by stopping the spending.

We wonder why the Federal Government deems it fit that such a humongous expenditure is a priority at this period when the same government confessed that over 90 million Nigerians are starving. The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has disclosed that over 140 million Nigerians are languishing in multidimensional poverty, with about 20 million of our children out of school. Nigerians are smarting from the petrol subsidy removal which has worsened the poverty ratio.

Why would a responsible government earmark such a huge amount to build a residence for a Vice President who is already comfortably installed? Why at this time? The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, had on October 20, 2023, announced that the Bola Tinubu administration was only managing to pay salaries, as there was “no money anywhere”.

Also, the Federal Government intends to borrow N7.8 trillion out of its 2024 Federal Appropriation Bill of N27 trillion. From this, N8.25 trillion will be reserved for debt servicing. The president has been overheard several times describing the financial crunch confronting the nation as a case of a “dry well”.

We wonder why government and its agencies still pander to the opulence and comfort of its officials without regard to the need to reflect the mood of the nation in its spending of public funds. We have seen this in the bloated size of Tinubu’s cabinet and sumptuous palliatives and expensive car purchases for National Assembly members.

We call on the Federal Government to suspend this expenditure and focus more on production at this time, rather than consumption. It is unacceptable for government to live large on borrowed money amidst mass suffering.

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