INVESTIGATION: Despite economic hardship, Wike allocates N10bn for rent, furniture to Akpabio, Tajudeen, two others

The presiding officers of the National Assembly—Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, and their deputies, Barau Jibrin and Ben Kalu – were allocated N10 billion for rent and furniture in the 2024 supplementary budget of the FCT, PREMIUM TIMES investigation reveals.

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The budget item, titled “Renting and Furnishing of Presiding Officers of the National Assembly”, has the classification code 23010309 in the N288 billion supplementary budget President Bola Tinubu transmitted to the National Assembly in September, which was passed within five days by the lawmakers.

Under Nigeria’s bicameral legislative system, there are four presiding officers of the National Assembly: the Senate President, the Speaker, the Deputy Senate President, and the Deputy Speaker.

These four are the latest Nigerian government officials to receive lavish accommodation allowances or new housing projects from the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, whose “generosity” in the last 15 months includes a N21 billion residential mansion for Vice President Kashim Shettima.

The Abuja minister also allocated N25 billion for the construction of houses for 40 judges.

With the planned “rent and furniture” budget, Mr Wike appears to have extended his generosity across the three arms of government—executive, judiciary, and legislature.

The allocations come amidst the current economic hardships in Nigeria, which experts believe is due to the government’s policies of deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector and the devaluation of the naira. Within the last three weeks, dozens of Nigerians have died in stampedes while trying to collect food items.

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The current administration has continued what many describe as “lavish spending” while preaching austerity measures for most Nigerians. Some of these expenditures include a $100 million presidential jet, the botched presidential yacht, luxurious sport utility vehicles for members of the National Assembly, and others.

Mr Wike has in the past been accused of using some of this generous spending on institutions as a subtle means of compromising them, but he has denied the allegations.

Administration of the FCT and ownership of public buildings

According to Section 299 of the 1999 Constitution, the president is the governor of the FCT, while the National Assembly serves as its legislative arm. Also, Section 302 of the Constitution gives the president the power to appoint someone as the Minister of the FCT to act on his behalf.

Mr Wike, a prominent member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was appointed by President Tinubu in what observers believe is a reward for the role the former Rivers State governor played during the presidential election in 2023.

The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) owns several public buildings in the FCT, including the National Assembly Complex and other structures, through the Department of Public Buildings.

Some of the buildings the department lists on its website include the Supreme Court Complex, the Presidential Complex, the Federal Ministry Building, the Assembly Complex, and others.

In 2022, the FCT spent over N42 billion to renovate part of the National Assembly Complex despite public outrage by Nigerians over the expenditure.

In the past, members of the National Assembly, including the four presiding officers, had their accommodations at the legislative quarters located in the Apo area of Abuja. However, the buildings were sold under the monetisation policy that started under Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. Initially, all the buildings were sold except those for the presiding officers.

In the 6th Assembly, under the Umar Yar’Adua administration, the buildings were sold to the four presiding officers: Senate President David Mark, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Speaker of the House of Representatives Dimeji Bankole, and Deputy Speaker Bayero Nafada.

In 2011, the government opted to build new houses for the presiding officers on the outskirts of the city in Katampe Extension, behind the Lungi Barracks. However, the lawmakers reportedly rejected the offer. Later, the Goodluck Jonathan administration started another project just for the four presiding officers. The project is located within the Three-Arms Zone, very close to the main gate of the National Assembly. For years, construction on the buildings has stalled despite several deadlines.

Despite this, PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the government has resorted to renting houses for all the presiding officers of the National Assembly since 2011. According to sources, Senate President Godswill Akpabio lives in a rented apartment in Maitama, a highbrow area of Abuja, while the Speaker lives in the Guzape District.

The 2024 supplementary budget

Mr Wike, in a letter dated 11 September, and addressed to President Tinubu, requested additional spending of N288 billion as a supplementary budget for the FCT.

He listed some of the projects the funds are meant for. Under the capital component, the supplementary budget contains a total of 32 projects.

“The purpose of this letter is to seek the approval of Your Excellency for the second Supplementary Budget presentation to the National Assembly, a Supplementary Budget to the 2024 Statutory Appropriation Act of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in the sum of N288,000,000,000.00, necessitated with a view to accommodate additional inflows from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and Miscellaneous Revenues in the sums of N8,000,000,000.00 and N280,000,000,000.00 respectively,” Mr Wike said in the letter.

The request by the minister was approved by the president, who subsequently transmitted the supplementary budget to the National Assembly for approval. This request was approved by the lawmakers and passed.

Of the 32 projects, 22 were existing ones that received additional funding, while 10 new projects were introduced into the FCT budget. For instance, the N25 billion earmarked for the construction of houses for judges got an additional N5 billion, increasing the budgetary allocation to N30 billion.

In addition to the legislature, the FCT also allocated N20 billion for the renovation of the State Security Service (SSS) headquarters in Abuja.

Unanswered questions

The N10 billion budgetary provision for the presiding officers is vague and raises a number of questions: What kind of rent? What kind of furniture? Why is the FCT paying the rent of these officers when the National Assembly has its own budget? Why is the FCT spending N10 billion on rents and furnishing when there are existing housing projects for these same officials?

The National Assembly has its own budget, and to guarantee the independence of the institution, it receives its funds under the statutory transfer instrument. That is, its budget is given in a lump sum and not broken down.

In the past couple of years, the National Assembly’s budget has continued to grow despite fiscal constraints.

In the current fiscal cycle, the National Assembly has a budget of N344 billion, the highest ever. Ordinarily, one would have expected the federal legislature to use these funds to address all its needs, including the rent for its presiding officers. Why is the National Assembly not paying the rent for its presiding officers despite this record allocation?

Also, there is an abandoned housing project for these same officers that has remained uncompleted for close to a decade.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the buildings, located within the Three-Arms Zone, are intended for the Senate President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and Deputy Senate President. However, these four buildings, which have been roofed and plastered, still remain incomplete over a decade after construction began. Why is the FCT not spending the N10 billion to complete these buildings instead of allocating funds for rent and furniture?

To get answers to these questions, this newspaper submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the office of the Minister of the FCT to seek clarification on the planned expenditure, addressing some of the questions raised. However, the ministry ignored the request.

This appears to be a recurring pattern under Mr Wike’s administration, where the budgets of the FCT are not made public, and requests for information are routinely ignored. PREMIUM TIMES has submitted several FOI requests to the ministry in the past, all of which were disregarded.

Similarly, the spokespersons of the Senate and the House of Representatives did not respond to requests for comments.

Senate spokesperson Yemi Aderamodu neither answered calls placed to his phone nor responded to a text message sent via WhatsApp.

Meanwhile, Akin Rotimi, the spokesperson for the House, initially answered a call placed to his phone and requested that the questions be sent to him via text. However, after the message was sent, he did not answer subsequent calls.

Putting the expenditure in context

To understand the significance of this N10 billion allocated for the four individuals, it is essential to compare it with other similar expenditures.

For instance, in the proposed 2025 budget, the federal government allocated N11.5 billion for the construction of 20,000 housing units under the Renewed Hope Agenda Housing Scheme. While this project could potentially serve 20,000 households, these four individuals are allocated N10 billion for rent.

Additionally, in the proposed 2025 budget, the federal government’s national housing programme (nationwide) has an allocation of N5.3 billion. This amount is approximately 50 per cent of the N10 billion set aside for the rent and furniture of four individuals.

Just before embarking on the end-of-the-year holiday, lawmakers in the lower chamber pooled half of their salaries into a fund to support the government in addressing economic hardship. The total contribution amounted to N704 million, which the House stated would be presented to President Tinubu for distribution to vulnerable members of society. However, this N704 million is just 7.4 per cent of the N10 billion allocated for the rent of Mr Tajudeen and his three colleagues.

This allocation to the four presiding officers underscores what many describe as insensitivity and a lack of transparency in the use of public funds.