First Lady’s Multimillions Foreign Jaunts Drained from Public Coffers Exposed

In a mind boggling discovery, it has come to light that the Federal Government squandered a staggering sum of N701,707,532 on funding the foreign trips of the First Lady, Remi Tinubu, to five countries within a mere three months. This outrageous expenditure is a slap in the face of Nigerians who are struggling to make ends meet.

The GovSpend platform, a civic tech organization that tracks and analyzes Federal Government spending, exposed this egregious waste of public funds. According to their findings, the government’s profligacy knows no bounds, as they splurged millions on the First Lady’s luxury travels abroad.

But that’s not all – the Federal Government had earlier allocated a whopping N1.5bn for the procurement of vehicles for the Office of the First Lady in the 2023 budget.

This budgetary allocation was outlined in the N2.1tn supplementary budget for 2023 approved by the National Assembly. A breakdown of the budget shows that the government planned to spend N2.9bn on sport utility vehicles for the Presidential Villa and another N2.9bn to replace operational vehicles for the Presidency.

Former Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, attempted to downplay the scandal, claiming that the N1.5bn budget was for the Presidency, not the First Lady’s office. However, the evidence suggests otherwise. The GovSpend platform uncovered the following shocking transactions:

N77,659,888 for foreign exchange ($94,314) for the First Lady’s US trip on November 17, 2023,

N149,794,284 for foreign exchange ($152,831) for the First Lady’s France trip on January 4, 2024,

N202,386,198 for foreign exchange ($126,834) for the First Lady’s Mozambique trip on March 15, 2024,

N144,571,785 for foreign exchange ($96,118) for the First Lady’s Ethiopia trip on February 9, 2024,

and a staggering sum of N126,295,377 for foreign exchange ($83,967) for the First Lady’s London trip that month.

Furthermore, the government frittered away a total of N314,231,472 on six programmes of the First Lady within four months.

This raises serious questions about the prudent use of public funds and the prioritization of the country’s needs.