Peter Obi Suggests Redirecting 15bn for VP’s Residence to Enhance Police Allowances

The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on Friday, suggested redirecting the N15 billion allocated for the Vice President’s new residence to fuel police operational vehicles

In a post on X, the former Anambra State governor proposed redirecting the N15 billion allocated for the Vice President’s residence to increase police officers’ allowances from N5,000 to N15,000 per day.

He also criticized the budget allocations for the offices of President Bola Tinubu, Deputy Kashim Shettima, and their aides.

According to Obi: “Good morning Nigeria. While I am still waiting for the receipt of the full details of the 2024 budget for examination and to ensure the prioritization of the items for growth, I wish to comment on some of the items that are already in the public domain.

“The sum of N15.961 billion has been budgeted for trips for the aides of the president and the vice president. If the aides are spending this much, one can extrapolate that their principals, the President, and the Vice President, will spend twice as much, which will be about N30 billion.

In 2024, the combined expenses for trips by the offices of the President, Vice President, and their aides are projected to exceed N45 billion. Additionally, the Chief of Staff’s office has allocated N20 billion for renovating the President and Vice President’s offices in Lagos and Abuja, along with their complete digitization

“If you add N45 billion, being the least that will be spent on transportation, and N20 billion earmarked for renovations, it comes to about N65 billion, which is more than N57 billion, being the amount passed by the Senate last week for the Police Trust Fund, to secure over 200m people. Join me in figuring out the alternatives of what this amount can do in real productive terms for our dear country, especially in a critical area like internal security

“We have over 5000 Police stations and operations, across the country. Half of these police stations have no functional vehicles. Even those that have been given less than N5000 for fuel in a day, which is why if you are lucky, for prominent people like me, to call the police for any intervention in an emergency, the first thing they tell you is – ‘we have no fuel’

“Assuming we decide to prioritize our lists and use these resources as most of the trips and the renovations are of no value to our growth and productivity, we can approach local manufacturers like Innoson and others and order 2500 4×4 trucks which as of today cost about N30 million.

“We will be able to get a 20% discount because we are buying in large quantities and paying them upfront. It will amount to N25 million each, which will be N62.5 billion for half of the police stations that do not have operational vehicles today, and which will be taken care of by the money we save from the budgeted travel and renovations

“The N15 billion budgeted for the new residence of the Vice President can be used for fuelling police operational cars by tripling their fuel allowances from about N5000 presently to N15,000 per day, which will come to N13.687 billion.”

Kanyi Daily recalls that Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Projects had raised objections to the plans of the Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, to allocate N15bn for a ‘suitable residence’ for Kashim Shettima.