President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has proposed to spend over N6.9 billion on procurement of vehicles for the State House, with the Office of the First Lady getting N1.5 billion for new cars.
This is contained in the Supplementary Budget Tinubu sent to the National Assembly for approval.
Tinubu had on Tuesday asked the National Assembly to approve the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget.
The budget was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its meeting on Monday.
The move to spend an extravagant amount on vehicles comes at a time when Nigerians are being asked to make sacrifices.
This proposed expenditure is also coming at a time when Nigerians are still protesting the decision of the National Assembly to procure N75 billion worth of vehicles.
Some young persons had held protests in Lagos and Abuja over the planned spending by the lawmakers at a time when Nigerians are facing a tough economic situation.
In the proposed budget, the president plan to spend N1.5 billion on vehicles for the Office of the First Lady, an office that is not recognised by the country’s constitution.
Aside from the Office of the First Lady, the government plans to spend another N2.9 billion on Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) for the Presidential Villa, and another N2.9 billion to replace operational vehicles for the presidency.
The government is also proposing to spend N4 billion on the renovation of the residential quarters of the president, and N2.5 billion on the renovation of the vice president’s resident. In all, N28 billion is proposed for the State House.
It is planning to spend N12.5 billion on the Presidential Air Fleet.
The presidential fleet includes Boeing Business Jet (Boeing 737-800 or NAF 001), one Gulfstream 550, one Gulfstream V (Gulfstream 500), two Falcons 7X, one Hawker Sidley 4000, two AgustaWestland AW 139 helicopters and two AgustaWestland AW 101 helicopters.
Meanwhile, the N2.17 supplementary budget has already scaled the second reading at the House of Representatives.
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