The Nigerian government has proposed to spend over N1.4 billion on food and travels for President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in 2019, details of the 2019 budget obtained from the Budget Office have shown.
Of the figure (put at N1.461 billion), over N1 billion (1,001,318,171) has been budgeted for the president’s local and international travels. A breakdown shows that N250 million was budgeted for the president’s local travels while N751 million was budgeted for international travels.
Similarly, for the president’s foodstuff and catering materials supplies, N98 million was budgeted.
For the vice president, N301 million was budgeted for travels for the year, with local travel gulping N83 million while international travels got N217 million.
Similarly for the vice president, the sum total of N62 million was budgeted for materials and supplies. Further breakdown of the line item shows that N6 million was budgeted for office stationeries and computer consumables; N4 million for printing of non-security documents; about N0.5 million for uniforms and other clothing; and N50 million for foodstuff and catering materials supplies.
PREMIUM TIMES observed that for both the president and vice president’s offices, the budgetary figures on food and travels in the 2019 proposal are almost the same with that of 2018 budget.
But there are variations in the 2019 budgetary figures when compared with the 2017 budget proposal.
While the amount budgeted for travels in the 2019 proposal increased when compared with the 2017 budget, the amount budgeted for food and other related concerns recorded relative reduction.
In the 2017 proposal, the total allocation for the president’s travel was put at N978 million, with N239 million budgeted for local travels and N739 million budgeted for international travel and transport. Similarly in the same year, N114 million was budgeted for the president’s foodstuff and catering materials supplies.
For the vice president, however, a total of N306 million was budgeted for local and international travels with the details showing N88 million proposal for local and N218 million for international travels.
Similarly in 2017, for the vice president, the sum of N73 million was budgeted for materials and supplies with the breakdown showing N10 million for printing of non-security documents; N3 million for uniforms & other clothing; N6 million for office stationeries and computer consumables and N53 million for foodstuff and catering materials supplies.
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