The Federal Government has allocated over N30 billion for the renovation of presidential residences, lodges and offices from 2021 to 2024, as revealed in budget documents on the Nigerian Budget Office website.

Since 2021, recurrent allocations have been made for the renovation of the presidential lodge in Dodan Barracks, the Shehu Shagari building and the office wings for presidential aides.

In the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, the presidential and vice presidential quarters at Aso Villa alone received over N7 billion in total budgetary allocation.

FIJ conducted a detailed breakdown and analysis of the expenditure on presidential residences alone, comparing the 2024 fiscal budgets to the allocations of some key ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

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PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL QUARTERS (ASO VILLA)

Budgetary allocation to the presidential quarters at the Aso Villa lies at the centre of the budgetary controversy. President Bola Tinubu has allocated N9 billion for the renovation and construction of his residential palace at Aso Rock since he assumed office in 2023.

Out of the N28 billion allocated for the State House in the 2023 supplementary budget, N4 billion was earmarked for renovating the residence of Mr. President. Another N500 million was allocated for the renovation and repairs of the same residence in the 2024 budget.

Year/Project	2021	2022	2023	2024
Presidential Quarters (Aso Villa)			N4,000,000,000	N500,000,000
Vice Presidential Quarters (Aso Villa)			N2,500,000,000	N300,000,000
Presidential and Vice Presidential Lodges (Dodan Barracks/VP/Ikoyi, etc.)	N205,420,739	N147,130,785	N59,019,697 + 8,000,000,000 (Supplementary Budget)	N5,000,000,000
Shehu Shagari Building	N205,943,606	N400,627,900	N875,231,010	N1,122,231,210
SGF Presidential Aides Wing		N1,057,700,000	N750,568,672	N1,010,881,878

Similarly, the Aguda House, which is the Vice Presidential Quarters at Aso Villa, received N2.5 billion for renovations in the 2023 supplementary budget. An additional N300 million has been budgeted for the repairs and renovation of the same residence in the 2024 budget.

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PRESIDENTIAL LODGES AND GUEST HOUSES (IKOYI, DODAN BARRACKS)

Expenses to renovate/maintain or construct presidential lodges in Lagos have been recurrent since 2021, according to the budget documents available on the website of the Budget Office.

In 2021, N205,943,606 was allocated for the routine maintenance of state house facilities at Dodan Barracks and Ikoyi, Lagos State. In the following year, another N147,130,785 was allocated for the same purpose.

In 2023, the Federal Government allocated another N59,019,697 for the maintenance of the same residences in Lagos. Tinubu also allocated N4 billion solely for the renovation of the presidential quarters at Dodan Barracks in the same year. This figure alone is more than 800 percent higher than the sum of the maintenance cost for the lodge three years earlier.

The cost of renovating the presidential lodges became even higher in the 2024 budget. For one, there is an N82,432,664 allocation for the maintenance of the presidential lodges and state house facilities in Dodan, Ikoyi, and across other places in Lagos State. The renovation of the presidential lodge at Dodan Barracks alone got N5 billion in budgetary allocations

The vice presidential lodges in Lagos are not exempt from the splurge. In the 2023 supplementary budget, N3 billion was also allocated for renovating the official residence of the Vice President in Lagos.

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SHEHU SHAGARI BUILDING

The Shehu Shagari Presidential Complex has received over N2.5 billion for renovations since 2021. Notably, there were substantial increases in renovation allocations in 2023 and 2024 compared to 2021 and 2022.

In the 2024 budget, N1,122,231,210 was allocated for the Shehu Shagari building renovation. This surpassed the total allocation for the past three years by N40,655,067.

The Office of the Secretary-General to the Federation has also received recurrent allocations since 2022. Between the 2022 and 2024 fiscal years, more than N2.8 billion has been allocated for the construction of annex offices for presidential aides. N1,057,700,000 was allocated in 2022, N750,568,672 in 2023 and N1,010,881,878 in 2024.

In the 2024 fiscal year, over N7.9 billion was earmarked for renovating, constructing or maintaining presidential residences, lodges and offices. An extra N10 billion was also allocated for digitising statehouses nationwide.

MDAs Budgetary Allocation Compared to Cost of Renovating Presidential Residences by Timileyin Akinmoyeje

This combined amount surpasses the 2024 budget allocations for key entities like the Police Service Commission, Ministry of Women Affairs, Federal Ministry of Tourism, Federal Civil Service Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission.