The Presidency says Peter Obi’s recent comments on the FCT budgetary provision for construction of the official residence of the country’s Vice President is aimed at inflaming a targeted group of Nigerians as well as score cheap political goals, accolades and praises.
Candidate of the Labour Party, LP in the 2023 Presidential election, Peter Obi had criticised the proposed N15.5 billion budgeted by the Federal Capital Territory Administration to renovate the official residence of the Vice President, claiming that the amount budgeted for the project can pay the annual salary of 3,000 University Professors.
Describing Obi’s statement as a frail and futile attempt to paint the President Bola Tinubu administration in bad light after suffering defeat in the last Presidential election, the Presidency says the proposed plan for the construction of the Vice President’s official residence, for which budgetary allocation was made in the 2024 Budget by the Federal Capital Territory Administration did not originate from the current administration as it was awarded by the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
A statement by the media aide to the Vice President, Stanley Nkwocha notes that the project was reinitiated in 2010 and funded by the Jonathan administration, saying appalled by the sorry state of the uncompleted building that was now overtaken by weeds and reptiles over a decade after construction started about 13 years ago, the current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, felt it would be a waste to allow such a project started with public funds to continue to lie fallow.
According to the statement, moves to revisit the abandoned Vice Presidential residence are consistent with the policy direction of the Tinubu administration which has made it a priority to complete all abandoned projects littered across the country to save the country from national embarrassment.
MUST READ: Peter Obi On Hardship In Nigeria
The statement further notes that comparing the amount budgeted for the residence of the VP and salaries paid to Professors is an analogy taken too far by the former LP Presidential candidate, saying the Tinubu administration has repeatedly made it clear that the welfare of lecturers is paramount, adding that the need to increase the budget of the educational sector is a gradual process in the face of the daunting security challenges.
The Presidency lists some of the interventions made by the Tinubu administration in the Education sector to include payment of backlog of salaries owed both teaching and non-teaching staff despite the “no work, no pay” policy, while negotiations for their welfare continues in view of a wage package in 2024.
The statement added that President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima have left no stone unturned since they assumed office in the bid to wriggle the country out of the economic and social problems, saying within a period of seven months, Nigeria’s Foreign Policy process and international relations have been reinforced.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
