In 2023, Oluremi Tinubu said her family does not need Nigeria’s wealth to survive.
Abuja – In the span of three months, the Federal Government of Nigeria spent approximately ₦701 million to fund the foreign trips of First Lady Remi Tinubu to five countries, according to a local report, as the West African country faces its worst economic crisis in decades, even as the First Lady’s office isn’t recognised by the country’s constitution.
In 2023, the FG allocated ₦1.5bn for the procurement of vehicles for the Office of the First Lady. This budgetary allocation was outlined in the ₦2.1 trillion supplementary budget for 2023 approved by the National Assembly.
A breakdown of the budget shows the government planned to spend ₦2.9 billion on sport utility vehicles (SUVs) for the Presidential Villa and another ₦2.9 billion to replace operational vehicles for the Presidency.
A sacked Chief Whip of the Senate Ali Ndume had claimed that the ₦1.5 billion budgeted for vehicles was for the Presidency and not for the First Lady’s office.
Oluremi Tinubu, who turns 64 next week, said in 2023 that her family does not need Nigeria’s wealth to survive.
However, checks on GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses FG’s spending, 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.
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.
Reacting to this report, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) said it was out of place to spend such a humongous amount on the First Lady’s office, which isn’t recognised by the constitution.
In an interview with The 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.
“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,” Adeniran said. “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,” Adeniran added.
Also reacting, the Director of the Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekper, said there is no law in the country that supports the First Lady’s office, and it is grossly illegal for the Federal Government to deploy scarce national resources for any activity related to the office.
According to Onyekper, “The first question you should ask is whether the money is provided in the budget and whether it is proper to make provisions for a purported office that is not recognized in the constitution or any law of Nigeria. I am not aware of any constitutional provision creating the office of the First Lady, nor am I aware of any law creating the office. So, what they are doing is clearly illegal. It is an abuse of office, especially if it is funded from the public treasury unless she brings the money from her private purse. But if it is from taxpayers’ money, it is an abuse of office.”
Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is projected to drop to fourth place this year.
The pain is widespread. Unions strike to protest salaries of around $20 a month. People die in stampedes, desperate for free sacks of rice. Hospitals are overrun with women wracked by spasms from calcium deficiencies.
Although President Bola Tinubu increased the minimum wage — after strike action and months-long negotiations with labour unions — from N30,000 to N70,000, his government has increased spending for officials at a time of nationwide starvation.
For workers earning the new N70,000, or $43, per month minimum wage, capricious inflation and naira value have inflicted too much damage for the changes to make any difference in their lives.
The crisis is largely believed to be rooted in two major changes implemented by Mr Tinubu, elected 16 months ago: the partial removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency, which together have caused major price rises.
A nation of entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens are skilled at managing in tough circumstances, without the services states usually provide. They generate their own electricity and source their own water. They take up arms and defend their communities when the armed forces cannot. They negotiate with armed kidnappers when family members are abducted.
But right now, their resourcefulness is being stretched to the limit.
Prices of petrol tripled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023, from around ₦200/litre to about ₦1000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Amid a lingering fuel scarcity and crisis, petrol is being sold for ₦855 per litre at state-owned petroleum company, NNPCL, cementing claims that the price has been reviewed upward to reflect the nation’s current foreign exchange woes and fuel landing cost hassles.
In recent weeks, the nation has suffered an acute fuel scarcity that led the few stations with fuel to sell at exorbitant prices above N1,000 per litre while black market prices exceeded N1,200.
In August, Amnesty International accused Nigerian security forces of killing at least 21 protesters during a week of economic hardship protests.
Police and other security agencies clamped down on protests after thousands of people joined rallies against government policies and the high cost of living from August 1st to 10th.
Security forces denied responsibility for deaths during the protests.