A report has claimed that the Federal Government spent approximately ₦701 million to fund foreign trips of the country’s First Lady, Remi Tinubu in the span of three months.
Naturenex recalls that in 2023, the Federal Government allocated ₦1.5bn for the procurement of vehicles for the Office of the First Lady.
The budgetary allocation was outlined in the ₦2.1tn supplementary budget for 2023 approved by the National Assembly.
A breakdown of the budget shows the government planned to spend ₦2.9bn on sport utility vehicles for the Presidential Villa and another ₦2.9bn to replace operational vehicles for the Presidency.
Former Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, however, claimed that the ₦1.5bn budgeted for vehicles was for the Presidency and not for the First Lady’s office.
However, a report by Punch showed that the government paid out the sum of ₦700,707,532 over three months for the First Lady’s foreign trips to five countries, including two African nations.
The publication confirmed the development using GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses Federal Government’s spending,
On November 17, 2023, the government, through the State House headquarters transit account, released the sum of ₦77,659,888 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($94,314) for the First Lady’s trip to the United States.
On February 24, 2024, the government, through the State House headquarters transit account, paid the sum of ₦149,794,284 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 ₦202,386,198 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, the government paid ₦144,571,785 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 ₦126,295,377 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 ₦314,231,472 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 ₦131,921,786 for full-scale decoration of State House events for the First Lady’s programmes for women, youth, and children.
On May 29, 2024, the State House paid ₦107,630,000 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 ₦1,014,939,004 has been spent by the government on the First Lady’s trips and programmes over seven months altogether.
