The Chief of Staff to the President, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, has denied media reports that the renovation of his official residence will cost N10 billion as proposed in the 2024 Appropriation Bill.
Some media reports had inaccurately claimed that the official residence of Gbajabiamila would be rehabilitated with N10 billion as allegedly contained in the budget presented by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly last week.
Some media outfits had claimed that the said N10billion was earmarked for the renovation of the official residence of the Chief of Staff while the reportage had led to condemnation by certain Nigerians who argued that it was wrong for such a spending in view of the harsh economic situation in the country.
But Gbajabiamila said the media reports are fake news, saying that no such fund was earmarked for his office in the proposed budget.
The Chief of Staff spoke on the matter on Wednesday via his verified X platform, (formerly known as Twitter).
He explained that the sums quoted by the media organisations were allocation for the renovations of the Presidential Quarters in Dodan Barracks and the Vice President’s Lodge in Lagos.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives said, “I have seen social media commentary regarding the 2024 Appropriation Bill, particularly the provisions under the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
Owing to the erroneous nature of these reports, it has become necessary to clarify that there is no provision in the 2024 Appropriation Bill for the renovation of any residence for the Chief of Staff to the President. I live in my private residence.
“The sums mischievously quoted by online bloggers and fake news merchants are for renovating the Presidential Quarters in Dodan Barracks and the Vice President’s Lodge in Lagos, to overhaul the information management and communications facilities in the Presidency to meet modern standards and to provide vehicles for the staff of the Presidency. The sums proposed for these projects are clearly stated in the budget proposal and bear no resemblance to the deceptive online commentary.
“This administration welcomes and encourages scrutiny of government expenditure; this is why the budget proposal is publicly available. However, healthy public debate about government actions requires us to be responsible with our utterances and engage based on facts rather than insinuations and falsehoods.”
