Amid widespread economic hardship and soaring inflation, the Federal Government has allocated N5 billion for the renovation of the Vice President’s official residence in Lagos State.

In the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget passed in November 2023, N3 billion was allocated for the Lagos residence, while another N2.5 billion was set aside for the renovation of the Vice President’s quarters in the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja. However, a review by our correspondent using GovSpend, a civic tech platform monitoring government expenditure, revealed that a total of N5,034,077,063 had already been spent on the Lagos residence renovations in May and September 2024.

A detailed breakdown shows that on May 31, 2024, the State House paid N2,827,119,051 to Denderi Investment Limited for renovation work on the Lagos property. On September 5, 2024, the Office of the Chief of Staff paid the same firm N726,748,686 for additional work, along with another N1,480,209,326 for Phase 2 of the renovations.

In November 2023, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration announced plans to spend N15 billion to build a “befitting” official residence for the Vice President in Abuja, a move that has sparked criticism. Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) condemned the spending as a violation of the Nigerian Constitution and the country’s international anti-corruption commitments.

SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, argued that approving such an expenditure would be a breach of public trust, especially considering that the government plans to allocate 30% of Nigeria’s 2024 budget (N8.25 trillion) to debt service. Civil society leaders, including Auwal Rafsanjani and Debo Adeniran, also criticized the government’s apparent contradiction in its stance on reducing the cost of governance, calling for reforms to address wasteful spending practices.