Tinubu Allocates ₦65B for Office Upgrades and Travel, But ₦57B for Police To Protect 200million Nigerians – Peter Obi

Tinubu Administration Allocates N65 Billion for Office Upgrades and Travel, While Police Trust Fund Receives N57 Billion to Protect 200 Million Nigerians – Peter Obi

The Labour Party’s (LP) 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has criticized President Bola Tinubu for allocating more funds for travel to himself, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and their staff than the amount allocated to the Police Trust Fund in the 2024 budget.

The former Anambra State governor lamented that President Tinubu approved N15.961 billion for trips for his and the Vice President’s staff, adding that it appears the President and VP will spend about N30 billion on travel from the budget.

Obi pointed out that Tinubu also approved N20 billion for the Chief of Staff’s office to renovate the President and Vice President’s offices in Lagos and Abuja and fully “digitize” them, bringing the total for trips and renovation to about N65 billion, while only N57 billion was allocated to the Police Trust Fund to protect over 200 million Nigerians.

He highlighted that this comes amidst rising insecurity in Nigeria, with half of the 5,000+ police stations across the country lacking functional vehicles. He noted that police stations with vehicles receive only N5,000 per day for fuel, forcing them to ask for fuel money to respond to emergencies.

Expressing his disappointment and disapproval of the budget allocations, Obi wrote on his Twitter handle on Friday, “While I await the full details of the 2024 budget to analyze and ensure prioritization for growth, I want to comment on some items already public.”

He continued, “N15.961 billion has been budgeted for the President and Vice President’s staff’s travel. If the staff are spending this much, one can guess that their leaders, the President and Vice President, will spend twice that, which is about N30 billion.”

“This means that in 2024, the office of the President and Vice President, along with their staff, will be consuming over N45 billion just for travel.”

“Furthermore, the office of the Chief of Staff budgeted N20 billion for the renovation and complete ‘digitization’ of the President and Vice President’s offices in Lagos and Abuja.”

“Adding N45 billion, which is the minimum that will be spent on travel, and N20 billion earmarked for renovations, we get about N65 billion, which is more than the N57 billion approved by the Senate last week for the Police Trust Fund, to protect over 200 million people.”

“Join me in figuring out the alternative uses of this amount for truly productive purposes for our dear country, especially in a critical area like internal security.”

“We have over 5,000 police stations and operations across the country. Half of these police stations lack functional vehicles. Even those with vehicles are given less than N5,000 for fuel per day, which is why, if you are lucky, even prominent people like me, when calling the police for emergency intervention, the first thing they tell you is ‘we have no fuel’.”

“Assuming we prioritize our lists and don’t use these resources, as most of the trips and renovations are not valuable for growth and productivity, we can approach local manufacturers like Innoson and others and order 2,500 4×4 trucks which cost about N30 million each as of today.”…[CONTINUE READING HERE]>>