The country’s First Lady, Remi Tinubu, travelled to five different nations for three months, and her trips were paid for by the Federal Government, which spent almost N701 million in total.
The First Lady’s foreign travels cost N700,707,532, which the government paid for over the course of three months, according to GovSpend, a civic tech platform that monitors and assesses Federal Government spending. The visits took the First Lady to five countries, including two in Africa.
The State House headquarters transit account received a payment of N77,659,888 from the government on November 17, 2023, for the purchase of foreign exchange ($94,314) for the First Lady’s visit to the United States.
The government paid N149,794,284 (about $152,831) on February 24, 2024, using the State House headquarters transit account, to purchase foreign exchange for the First Lady’s January 4, 2024, trip to France.
The government also paid N202,386,198 through the State House account on March 15, 2024, to purchase foreign exchange ($126,834) for the First Lady’s travel to Mozambique.
The First Lady’s journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on February 9, 2024, required the purchase of foreign exchange, which the government paid N144,571,785 ($96,118) for on the same day.
The government paid N126,295,377 ($83,967) for the purchase of foreign exchange for the First Lady’s travel to London that month using the same State House account.
Furthermore, during the course of four months, the government spent a total of N314,231,472 on six of the First Lady’s programmes.
For the full-scale decoration of State House events for the First Lady’s programs for women, youth, and children, Rock of Ages Total Events Centre Ltd was awarded N131,921,786 on May 24, 2024.
The First Lady’s programs for women, youth, and children required multimedia and related services, which the State House paid Makeway Nigeria Limited N107,630,000 for on May 29, 2024.
This shows that over the course of seven months, the government has spent a total of N1,014,939,004 on the First Lady’s travels and events.
Punch conducted checks on GovSpend and then produced a report on the expenditures.
Additionally, keep in mind that the Federal Government set aside N1.5 billion in 2023 to purchase cars for the First Lady’s Office.
However, Ali Ndume, a former chief whip in the Senate, asserted that the N1.5 billion allocated for automobiles was for the President’s office and not the First Lady’s.
The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership responded to the amount spent on the First Lady’s travels by stating that it was inappropriate to spend so much money on the First Lady’s office, which isn’t recognised by the constitution.
In an interview with Saturday Punch, 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 said, “It is more than profligacy. It is actually a misappropriation of funds because the office of the First Lady doesn’t exist in our constitution and is not supposed to be appropriated for. So, every appropriation that is made for that office is illegal. It is just because our National Assembly is complacent. They are not performing their oversight functions the way they should.
“Otherwise, everybody who dips his or her hand into the national coffers to fund any project that is not in accordance with the dictates of our constitution has committed an offence. If it is elected government personnel, it is an impeachable offence. So, it is out of place for such a humongous amount.”
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.
“Nigerians cannot reason with the government because they (the government) have not set their priorities right. They spend on frivolities rather than on things that will improve the lives of the people. So, no matter how genuine the government’s intention is in redeeming the economy, they are not showing us those signals as of now. Nigerians should begin to agitate in the right direction, and constitutionality must be a sine qua non in everything the government does,” he added.
