Government Ekpemupolo and Tantita Security Services Ltd. (TSSL), his company, may have lavished N81 million on newspaper advertisements in celebration of President Bola Tinubu’s 72nd birthday.

Tinubu had expressed his desire not to hold any flamboyant event to celebrate his March 29 birthday this year due to economic hardship in the country.

He told his well-wishers not to produce any newspaper advertisements in his honour and that whatever funds they had could be donated to orphanages and the poor.

READ ALSO: Despite Paying Tompolo’s Company N48b Yearly for Security, NNPCL Says It Can’t Handle Oil Theft

Tompolo has, however, placed adverts on the front pages of six legacy newspapers to celebrate the president.

The advertisements conspicuously appeared on the front pages of The PUNCH, Tribune, Daily Trust, The Guardian, The Sun and Leadership newspaper today.

FIJ checked to understand how much could possibly have been expended to actualise these advertisements in honour of the president. Notably, these newspapers have different advertisement rates, which could have been informed by factors like coverage, quality, sizes and operational costs.

The advertisements were all of the same size. FIJ understands that they were “special position” advertisements printed on size 10×6 (colour).

According to the rates obtained by FIJ, The PUNCH charges N19 million, Tribune takes N12 million, while Daily Trust charges N14 million.

The Guardian and The Sun’s rates are N13,230,000 and N13,437,000, respectively. Leadership’s print advertisement rates were not available when FIJ checked. However, the advertisement rate for the same size (10×6) is expected to be around N10 million.

These rates include the 7.5 percent value-added tax (VAT) remitted to the federal government.

Sometimes, newspapers concede certain discounts to advertisers for customer retention purposes and some other reasons. Based on these tariffs, Tompolo’s company may have expended N81,667,000 in sponsoring these adverts.

READ ALSO: FACT CHECK: Did Tinubu Promise to Reduce Purchasing Power of Nigerians?

TSSL is a government contractor protecting public oil and gas infrastructure to guarantee steady production and curb asset vandalisation in the Niger Delta area of the country.

FIJ recently reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL), despite paying N48 billion annually to the company, lamented that it could not handle oil theft in the country.