The Federal Government has reportedly spent approximately N701 million on the foreign trips of the First Lady, Remi Tinubu, to five countries in just three months, according to PUNCH.
It was also revealed that the presidency also spent N131.9 million on decorations for the First Lady’s events and N107.6m on multimedia services.
The spending, which came to light through GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks federal expenditures, revealed that Remi Tinubu’s trips to the United States, France, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and the United Kingdom were funded through the State House’s transit account.
Despite the fact that the First Lady’s position is not recognised by the constitution, these trips have been linked to nearly a billion naira in public spending.
According to the data obtain from GovSpend, on November 17, 2023, the government, through the State House headquarters transit account, released the sum of N77,659,888 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($94,314) for the First Lady’s trip to the United States.
On February 24, 2024, the government, through the State House headquarters transit account, paid the sum of N149,794,284 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($152,831) for the First Lady’s trip to France on January 4, 2024.
On March 15, 2024, the sum of N202,386,198 was also paid by the government through the State House account for the purchase of foreign exchange ($126,834) for the First Lady’s trip to Mozambique that month.
On the same day, the government paid N144,571,785 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($96,118) for the First Lady’s trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 9, 2024.
The government, through the same State House account, paid out the sum of N126,295,377 for the purchase of foreign exchange ($83,967) for the First Lady’s trip to London that month.
In addition to these foreign trips, the government also allocated N314 million for six programmes organised by the First Lady between May.
The events, which focused on women, youth, and children, included expenses such as N131.9m paid to Rock of Ages Total Events Centre Ltd for decorations on May 24, 2024, and N107.6m paid to Makeway Nigeria Limited for multimedia services on May 29. 2024.
Reacting to this development, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) described the spending as “profligacy” and “misappropriation of funds.”
CACOL’s director, Debo Adeniran, stated that the office of the First Lady is not recognised by the constitution and therefore should not be appropriated for.
Adeniran said, “It is more than profligacy. It is actually a misappropriation of funds because the office of the First Lady doesn’t exist in our constitution and is not supposed to be appropriated for. So, every appropriation that is made for that office is illegal. It is just because our National Assembly is complacent. They are not performing their oversight functions the way they should.
“Otherwise, everybody who dips his or her hand into the national coffers to fund any project that is not in accordance with the dictates of our constitution has committed an offence. If it is elected government personnel, it is an impeachable offence. So, it is out of place for such a humongous amount.”
