A Chronicles Reporters review of the 2025 budget proposal has revealed that N5.4 billion is set aside for renovating the Presidential Villa. This allocation falls under the state house’s annual maintenance, which is managed by the presidency. Additionally, N4.6 billion is planned for purchasing new government vehicles.
The budget document specifies that N3.6 billion will be used to procure operational vehicles for the state house, while N1 billion is designated for replacing SUVs. These repeated expenditures on vehicles and villa renovations continue to draw criticism, especially as many call for a more prudent use of public funds.
In 2024, billions of naira were similarly spent on SUVs and renovations of presidential properties. Earlier reports from Chronicles Reporters disclosed that documents from the public payments portal, Govspend, showed the Nigerian presidency spent N5.1 billion on cars within just three weeks, from August 18 to September 9, 2024.
The Govspend platform detailed that on August 18, the state house paid N3.4 billion for 16 Toyota Prado SUVs (2023/2024 models) for use in Abuja. This translates to N212 million per Prado. On September 9, an additional N1.7 billion was spent on 10 Toyota Camry V4 (2023 models) for the state house.
These expenditures come at a time when Nigeria is grappling with revenue challenges and relies heavily on loans to finance its budget.
Further analysis of the Open Treasury Portal revealed that in May 2024 alone, President Bola Tinubu’s administration spent N3.6 billion on renovating residential buildings. Another N8.5 billion was allocated for constructing office buildings in the same month, bringing the total to N12.1 billion for these projects.
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