First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, has reportedly spent a staggering N701 million on foreign trips in just three month, sparking outrage among Nigerians already grappling with economic hardship.
The expenditures have drawn criticism, with many questioning the justification for such lavish spending.
According to a report based on findings from GovSpend, a civic tech platform tracking government expenditure, the funds were used for the First Lady’s travels to five countries, including two African nations. The breakdown of these expenses reveals that the Nigerian government, through the State House headquarters transit account, released over N700 million for the First Lady’s trips between November 2023 and March 2024.
Details show that on November 17, 2023, N77.6 million was paid for foreign exchange ($94,314) for her trip to the United States. In February 2024, N149.8 million was released for her trip to France, and another N202.3 million in March for travel to Mozambique. Additional trips to Ethiopia and London in early 2024 accounted for N144.5 million and N126.2 million, respectively.
Moreover, a further N314.2 million was spent on six programmes related to the First Lady between January and May 2024. These programmes included events for women, youth, and children, with N131.9 million spent on full-scale decoration of State House events and N107.6 million on multimedia services.
The total expenditure on both foreign trips and programmes for the First Lady over a seven-month period surpassed N1 billion, leading to widespread criticism. The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) described the spending as not only extravagant but unconstitutional.
Debo Adeniran, Executive Director of CACOL, expressed disappointment over the National Assembly’s failure to check such expenditures. “The office of the First Lady doesn’t exist in our constitution. Every appropriation made for that office is illegal,” he said. Adeniran noted that such reckless spending, especially when the country is facing economic challenges, erodes public trust in the government’s promises to alleviate hardship.
Similarly, the Centre for Social Justice’s Director, Eze Onyekper, condemned the spending as illegal, arguing that no constitutional provision supports the use of public funds for an office that doesn’t exist in law. “It’s an abuse of office,” he remarked, adding that the funds should be used for pressing national needs rather than frivolous expenses.
This controversy is further aggravated by past instances of questionable budget allocations, such as the N1.5 billion earmarked in 2023 for vehicles supposedly for the First Lady’s office, a claim that former Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, denied, stating that the vehicles were for the Presidency.
As Nigerians continue to voice their frustrations, calls for transparency and accountability in government spending are growing louder, especially when it involves taxpayer funds being spent on what many deem unnecessary luxury.
