By Ishaya Ibrahim
Barely a year after the federal government expended N15 billion for renovation works in the Abuja residence of Vice President Kashim Shettima, another fresh N5 billion has been spent to upgrade his Lagos official home.
The N5 allocation for the Vice President residence was contained in the N2.17tn supplementary budget passed in November 2023.
According to a Punch Newspaper report, a total of N5,034,077,063 was spent in May and September 2024 for the renovation of the VP’s Lagos residence.
The report relied on a tech platform, GovSpend, which tracks and analyses government spending.
According to the report, a monthly breakdown of the amount showed that on May 31, 2024, the State House paid N2,827,119,051 to an engineering firm, Denderi Investment Limited, for the renovation of the official quarters of the vice president in Lagos.
On September 5, 2024, the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President paid the same firm N726,748,686 for additional renovation work on the VP’s Lagos home.
On the same day, the Chief of Staff’s office paid N1,480,209,326 to the same firm for Phase 2 renovations of the VP’s Lagos residence.
The money expended on the Vice President Lagos residence is the second major expenditure within a year spent on Shettima’s residence. Recall that in November 2023, the Federal Capital Territory Administration said it would spend N15bn to build a “befitting” official residence for the Vice President in Abuja.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, disclosed this while appearing before the House of Representatives committee to defend the FCT’s N61.5bn 2023 supplementary budget.
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