. . . Laments Frivolous Allocation Of Over N20bn For VP’s House

Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi has put the proposed 2024 budget of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration under the microscope, lamenting the crazy wastefulness enshrined therein.

Obi claimed that he was still studying the document, which is being hurriedly passed by the National Assembly, took to his verified X handle to express grave concerns that priorities were being misplaced.

He expressed firm conviction that something was fundamentally wrong with the way Nigeria was being led at the moment, drawing examples from the provision for housing the Vice President, Kashim Shettima Mustapha.

According to Obi, “I am compelled to ask: what is exactly wrong with us as a country?”

It beat Obi’s imagination why budgetary allocation for housing Mustapha would cover the cost of annual salaries for 3,000 professors, when Nigeria was in dire need of human capital development, healthcare, while grappling with unemployment and underemployment challenges.

He pointed out that Nigeria, “budgeted the sum of N20.5 billion for the housing of the Vice President,” while maintaining the status of “the world’s poverty capital”, yet “more people are falling into poverty”, at such speed that several “Nigerians not knowing where their next meal will come from”.

Obi pointed to the state of health facilities in Nigeria and level of unemployment and wondered what such a colossal amount could do in such critical areas.

He lamented “that 99.9% of Nigerians can only dream of living in the current residence of the Vice President,” while some even the in employment of the Federal Government are not being paid.

In his analyses, Obi noted that “the salary of a professor in a Nigerian university is about N400,000, which without removing tax is about N5 million a year.

“What we have budgeted for the housing of the Vice President who is already luxuriously housed is, therefore, the annual salary of about 3000 professors!”

He made examples of quality decisions made by past leaders like late Gen Murtala Mohammed, who turned down land allocated for his presidential mansion and ordered that it should be developed into the popular 1004 flats in the Victoria Island area of Lagos.

“We have had leaders that were exemplary in the past.

“Most Nigerians may not know that the popular 1004 flats in Lagos, was a land allocated for the building of a Presidential Mansion for the then Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed.

“He sternly turned down the offer and instructed that the land should be used to build blocks of flats for civil servants.

Below is the full text of what Obi wrote on X in a series of tweets.

Obi wrote, “Even as I am still studying the 2024 fiscal budget as presented to the National Assembly last week, I cannot wait as I am compelled to ask: what is exactly wrong with us as a country?

“I ask this question because it is hard for me to understand some of the recent happenings in our nation, in these critical times. The recent news about a budget provision of N15 billion for the construction of a new residence for the Vice President is both shocking and disheartening, considering the many important challenges facing our nation.

“Just recently in the Supplementary Budget, the sum of N2.5 billion was included for the renovation of the Vice President’s residence in Abuja, which means that he already has a residence.

“Again, during the budget presentation, I heard the sum of N3 billion was allocated for the renovation of the Vice President’s residence in Lagos.

“If we total all these sums, we would have budgeted the sum of N20.5 billion for the housing of the Vice President at this critical time when we are not just the world’s poverty capital, but more people are falling into poverty, with so many Nigerians not knowing where their next meal will come from.

“Our health facilities have collapsed, and unemployment is skyrocketing.

“I am convinced that 99.9% of Nigerians can only dream of living in the current residence of the Vice President. Several people employed in the universities are not being paid.

“Just to give an example, the salary of a professor in a Nigerian university is about N400,000, which without removing tax is about N5 million a year.

“What we have budgeted for the housing of the Vice President who is already luxuriously housed is, therefore, the annual salary of about 3000 professors! This is the finance needed to develop the much-needed human capital.

“The budget of N5 billion for student loans, which is yet to be disbursed is only a tiny percentage of the cost of the Vice President’s new home.

“We are projecting to use four times the amount for educating ALL Nigerian indigent students to house the Vice President, and we are being told there is nothing wrong with us.

“I am sure the major teaching hospitals in Nsukka, Lagos, Ibadan, and Zaria did not receive this much capital vote in the budget this year.

“We have had leaders that were exemplary in the past.

“Most Nigerians may not know that the popular 1004 flats in Lagos, was a land allocated for the building of a Presidential Mansion for the then Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed.

“He sternly turned down the offer and instructed that the land should be used to build blocks of flats for civil servants.

“That is the kind of sacrificial leadership worth emulating. Our leaders must therefore stop the recklessness and insensitivity to the plight of the masses.

“We need leaders who show compassion and are willing to sacrifice for common progress and development. Such compassionate and frugal leaders are critical in our journey to the New Nigeria. –PO”