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.
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.
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The Abuja minister also allocated N25 billion to construct 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 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.
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.
