Published 6th Dec, 2023

Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, wants to spend N21 billion in the 2024 fiscal year.

This is contained in the N27.7 trillion budget Tinubu presented to the National Assembly last week. The assembly has since approved it.

Out of Gbajabiamila’s allocation, N10 billion is to be spent renovating and reconstructing official residences, and N290 million on official vehicles.

While the CoS has issued a statement countering media reports on how the N10 billion would be spent, he agrees it would be spent on residences.

I have seen social media commentary regarding the 2024 Appropriation Bill, particularly the provisions under the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President. Owing to the erroneous nature of these reports, it has become necessary to clarify that there is no provision in the…
— Femi Gbajabiamila (@femigbaja) December 6, 2023

If this allocation was taken out of his budget, it still would be more than what was allocated a year ago.

The CoS would spend N10.1 billion on computer softwares and N103 million on ‘miscellaneous’. Other items are also budgeted for in Gbajabiamila’s budget.

The total sum allocated to Gbajabiamila dwarfs the amount allocated to his predecessor a year ago.

When Ibrahim Gambari was CoS, his office was allocated N517.95 million to spend in 2023. This means the current CoS would spend more than 40 times the amount Gambari was allocated in his final year in office.

How Femi Gbajabiamila’s N21 billion budget dwarfs Ibrahim Gambari’s N517.95 million budget || Infographic by Daniel Ojukwu/FIJ
Infogram

This is not the only inflation in budget allocations. The presidency gets a N272 billion allocation, which is almost double the N148.16 billion allocated for the same purpose in 2023.

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