State House spent N1.7bn on rice, diesel, honorariums – Report
The State House spent approximately N1.7bn on the supply of rice, diesel, and presidential honorariums between March and July 2024, findings have revealed.
Checks by Saturday PUNCH on GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses the Federal Government’s spendings, showed that the State House headquarters paid part of the money through its transit account and other amounts to three beneficiaries, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Retail Limited.
On March 1, the State House paid a sum of N275,633,850 to Samdan Global Construction and Resources Limited for the supply of 1,095 bags of 50kg rice and 4,095 cartons of seasoning cubes.
On the same day, the government paid another N280,590,000 to Victor Adeks Nigeria Limited for the supply of an additional 3,000 bags of 50kg rice.
A sum of N300,000,000 was also paid out through the State House transit account for presidential honorariums on March 15.
Additionally, a sum of N400,000,000 was paid through the same account for presidential honorariums on May 29.
On July 5, the State House paid the sum of N433,575,000 to NNPC Retail Ltd (North Central) for the supply of 315,000 litres of AGO diesel for the powerhouse of the Presidential Villa.
Two days later, the State House paid N358,527,663 to purchase unspecified foreign exchange.
Recall that the Federal Government, through the State House transit account, had spent approximately N701m to fund the foreign trips of the President’s wife, Remi Tinubu, to five countries in three months.
This was in addition to the N2,346,623,000 spent by the government to purchase foreign exchange for President Bola Tinubu’s foreign trips between February 21 and July 19, 2024.
Commenting on the expenses, the Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, said, “We all know that, until now, there is so much profligacy in government. And until we have a new constitution that regulates government spending, we will still be battling with the problem,” he stated.
