As Nigerians continue to wallow in abject poverty due to the harsh economic policies of the present regime, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima are expected to spend N10.13 billion on meals and travel as revealed by the 2024 budget estimate.
By Ademu Usman Idakwo
The budget proposal of N27.5trn for 2024 is presently undergoing scrutiny at the National Assembly.
The budget has a total revenue estimate of N18.32 trillion and a shortfall of N9.18 trillion (3.88 per cent of GDP).
The financial document proposes capital spending of N8.7trn and recurrent of N18.51trn.
The Vice President estimated that travel expenses will gulp N1.8 billion, out of which N618.4 million is for local journeys and N1.2 billion for international trips.
The provision for feeding, titled ‘refreshment & meal and foodstuff for the offices of Tinubu and Shettima’ was allocated N660.5m.
In this amount, N287.8 million is for the president’s office and N372.6 million for the VP’s office. Further breakdown of the fiscal proposal shows that refreshments and meals for the president will gulp N33.6 million and another N254.2 million for foodstuff/catering materials supplies.
Shettima will spend N35 million on refreshments/meals and N337.5 million on foodstuff/catering materials supplies.
The budget proposal further shows that the feeding of the animals at the Aso Rock’s zoo, tagged “wildlife conservation”, will gulp N201.4 million.
The renovation of the official residence of the president and vice president at the State House will gulp N800 million: N500 million for Tinubu and N300 million for Shettima.
It would be recalled that in the 2023 supplementary financial appropriation bill approved last month, N13.5 billion was voted to renovate President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kassim Shettima’s official residences in Lagos and Abuja.
The approved expenditure was part of the N28 billion voted for State House in the N2.176trn supplementary budget.
The breakdown showed that N4 billion will be spent for the renovation of residential quarters for Mr President; the renovation of Aguda House to gulp N2.5 billion; Dodan Barracks, the official residence of Mr President in Lagos, to gulp N4 billion; and the renovation of official quarters of vice president in Lagos N3bn – all totals N13.5 billion.
In the 2024 financial document proposal, honorarium and sitting allowance for the president and his vice were put at N152.3 million and N67.3 million respectively. Maintenance and fueling of generating set in the State House are estimated to cost N37.9 million, while N260.8 million is pegged for electricity charges.
