State House budget for cars slashed

By Sam Otti

Bowing to economic pressure, the Presidency has cut its N8.09 billion provision in the 2016 budget for the purchase of various brands of vehicles for State House operations. The step, which was seen as drastic to save cost, allowed only the purchase of five BMW cars, jeeps and buses at the cost N1.34billion.

Daily Sun learnt that an undated version of the budget uploaded to the website of the Budget Office of the Federation, indicating an appreciable cut in expenditures by about 83.5 per cent in the total allocation for the vehicles.

Only N1.34 billion was budgeted for five BMW saloon cars and jeeps as well as buses for use by the Presidency this year.

There were other slight adjustments in the previous allocations to various departments and units in the Presidency contained in the original budget.

A total of N7.52 billion was budgetted previously for new exotic vehicles, including BMW cars, including N566million for the purchase of  service vehicles like 16-seater Toyota Hiace Coaster buses for the State House.

Although there were adjustments to the allocations to the various departments and units, the total appropriation of N39.13 billion for the Presidency remained sacrosanct and unchanged in both the previous and current budget versions.

Also, a total allocation of N11.91 billion in the original budget has now been cut by N100 million, as well as allocations for its recurrent costs, overheads, honorarium and sitting allowance as well as miscellaneous expenses.

The purchase of fixed assets, which received N4.57 billion previously has been reduced to about N1.2 billion, while preservation of the environment and wildlife conservation, which got a total of N978.3 million, has been cut to N347.4 million.

The Office of the Chief of Staff to the President had its initial allocation of N2.3 million raised to N22.3 million, while allocation to the Office of the Chief Security Adviser to the President has also been raised from N3.18 million to N28.18 million.

Details of the provision for the two offices include allocation of N25 million each for overhead costs, recurrent and miscellaneous expenditures. Another N25 million has been budgeted for honorarium and sitting allowance for the Office of the Chief of Staff.

The State House Medical Centre has been allocated N100 million for total overheads and recurrent costs.

The State House, Lagos Liaison Office, which had its allocation increased from N126.7 million to N151.7 million, would get in addition N25 million each for recurrent, overhead and miscellaneous costs.

About N2.3 billion provided earlier for the construction and general provision of fixed assets as well as recreational facilities for the State House has now been removed, while rehabilitation and repairs of fixed assets previously allocated N4.48 billion was increased to N13.2 billion.