Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio to use his leadership position \u201cto promptly reject the plan by the Minister of the FCT, Nysom Wike to spend N15 billion for the construction of \u2018a befitting residence\u2019 for the Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP urged him to \u201cassert Senate\u2019s authority and constitutional oversight roles to reject the N2.8 billion on publicity for the FCTA and other proposed wasteful and unnecessary spending that may be contained in the 2023 supplementary budget and the 2024 budget proposed by President Bola Tinubu.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the letter dated 2 December 2023 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: \u201cThe plan to spend N15 billion on \u2018a befitting residence\u2019 for the vice president is a fundamental breach of the Nigerian Constitution and the country\u2019s international anticorruption and human rights obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP said: \u201cThe Senate has the constitutional duties to ensure that Mr Wike\u2019s proposed spending is entirely consistent and compatible with constitutional provisions including his oath of office. All public officials remain subject to the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP also said, \u201cThe National Assembly including the Senate has a constitutional responsibility to address the country\u2019s debt crisis, including by rejecting wasteful and unnecessary spending to satisfy the personal comfort and lifestyles of public officials.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter, read in part: \u201cThe National Assembly cannot continue to fail to fulfil its oversight function. The Senate must assert and demonstrate its independence by checking and rejecting all wasteful and unnecessary spending by the executive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office for the Senate to approve the plan to spend N15 billion on \u2018a befitting residence\u2019 for the vice president at a time when the Federal Government is set to spend 30% (that is, N8.25 trillion) of the country\u2019s 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion on debt service costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Federal Government also plans to borrow N7.8 trillion to fund the 2024 budget. Nigeria\u2019s public debt stood at 87.4 trillion naira as of June with 38% owed to external creditors including multilateral and commercial lenders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShould the Senate and its leadership fail to stop wasteful and unnecessary spending and rein in government borrowing, SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to compel the National Assembly including the Senate to discharge its constitutional oversight roles in the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP urges you to refer to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) the allegations of corruption in the spending of the previously approved N7 billion for the construction of a new residence for the vice president.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2018construction\u2019 was reportedly abandoned but the whereabouts of the N7 billion remain unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Senate has the constitutional competence and legitimacy to compel compliance with the Nigerian Constitution and the country\u2019s international obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Senate ought to assert its authority and vigorously exercise its constitutional oversight roles to check the apparently wasteful and unnecessary spending by Mr Wike especially given the growing debt crisis and the indiscriminate borrowing by the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a travesty and a fundamental breach of the lawmakers\u2019 fiduciary duties for the National Assembly to allow the executive to use national budget as a tool to satisfy the comfort and lifestyle of public officials.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNigerians have a right to honest and faithful performance by their public officials including lawmakers, as public officials owe a fiduciary duty to the general citizenry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCutting the N15 billion on \u2018a befitting residence\u2019 from the FTCA budget would be entirely consistent with your constitutional oath of office, and the letter and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution, as it would promote efficient, honest, and legal spending of public money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to our information, the Minister of the FCT, Nysom Wike and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) plan to spend N15 billion for the construction of \u2018a befitting residence\u2019 for the Vice-President, Mr Kashim Shettima.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan is contained in the N67 billion FCT supplementary budget which President Bola Tinubu had on Tuesday transmitted to the National Assembly for approval.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP notes that Mr Wike proposed plan to spend N15 billion on a new residence for the vice president despite the recent allocation of N2.5 billion for the renovation of the current residence of the VP in the federal government\u2019s supplementary budget already passed by the National Assembly and signed by President Tinubu.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe House of Representatives has reportedly approved the plan to spend N15 billion on \u2018a befitting residence\u2019 for the vice president.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Assembly has also approved another N3 billion for the renovation of the vice president\u2019s residence in Lagos State. Mr Wike also plans to spend N2.8 billion on publicity for the FCTA.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe proposed plan to spend 15 billion on \u2018a \u2018a befitting residence\u2019 for the vice president is different from the N100 billion for the FCT contained in the federal government supplementary budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP notes that the Federal Government has also budgeted N8 billion on the two official residences of President Tinubu in Abuja and Lagos.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn top of the planned spending of N15 billion on \u2018a befitting residence\u2019 for the vice president, billions of naira have been allocated for the purchase of cars for the Villa and the Office of the First Lady.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSection 14(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] provides that, \u2018the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder Section 16(1)(a)(b), the National Assembly including the Senate has the obligations to \u2018harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient, a dynamic and self-reliant economy\u2019, and to \u2018secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder sections 59(2) and 299 of the Nigerian Constitution, the National Assembly including the Senate has legislative powers over money bills including the proposed N15 billion, and other wasteful and unnecessary spending by the Federal Government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kolawole Oluwadare
\nSERAP Deputy Director
\n3\/12\/2023
\nLagos, Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Senate President, Mr Godswill Akpabio to use his leadership position \u201cto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4505,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504\/revisions\/4505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}