Femi Gbajabiamila Debunks Reports Of ₦10b Budget For Renovation Of Official Residence

Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila has debunked reports on Wednesday suggesting that ₦10 billion had been budgeted for the renovation of his official residence in Abuja.

Gbajabiamila in a statement on X said he has 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,” he said.

“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.

“It is meant 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.”

Gbajabiamila in the statement further explained that the sums proposed for these projects are clearly stated in the budget proposal and bear no resemblance to the deceptive online commentary.

Related: 2024 Budget: Tinubu, Shettima To Spend ₦15.961bn On Local, Foreign Trips

He added that President Tinubu’s administration welcomes and encourages scrutiny of government expenditure; this is why the Budget proposal is publicly available.

However, according to the Chief of Staff, healthy public debate about government actions requires everyone to be responsible with his or her utterances and engage based on facts rather than insinuations and falsehoods.