AMID Nigeria’s economic slump, the president and the vice president will be spending a total of N3.85 billion on feeding and travels in 2023.
According to the 2023 budget analysed by Dataphyte, the president and the vice president will spend N2.49 billion and N846 million respectively on local and international travels.
While the president was allocated N331. 79 million for feeding, the vice president received N176. 92 million for the same purpose.
A breakdown shows that the amount alloted to the president represents an increase of N2.3 billion in 2022, while that of the vice president reflects a rise from N 778 million in 2022 to N846 million in 2023. Analysis reveals a 4.3 percent increase in the cost of feeding for the president and 8.7 percent rise in the feeding cost for the vice president.
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Travel expenses
The breakdown shows that N2.49 billion was allocated as the cost of travel for the presidency. While international travel was alloted N1.63 billion, local travel would gulp N862 million. The Office of the Vice President will spend the sum of N 846 million on international and local travels.
However, analysis shows that there is an increase in the cost of travel for the presidency and the vice president when compared with past travel records.
For instance, in 2020, the sums of N2.4 billion and N801 million were budgeted as costs of travel for the president and the vice president respectively. The same allocations were made in 2021 for the same purpose.
In 2022, there were decreases as the president got N2.3 billion while the vice president received N778 million. These represented a 4.16 percent reduction in the presidential travel budget and a 2.8 percent decrease in that of the vice president when compared with the preceding year’s travel budgets.
The 2023 travel budget for the presidency saw a 4.7 percent increase, with the vice president’s rising by 8.7 percent over the preceding year. Data show that the sum of N2.49 billion was allocated as travel budget for the president while N846 million was given to the vice president for the same purpose.
However, the budget allocation will be shared between President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and the incoming president who emerges victorious at the February 25 general election.
Cost of Feeding
The feeding allowance allocated to the presidency and the vice president is N508.7 million. The presidency got N331.8 million while the vice president received 176.9 million.
The budget analysis shows that the president will be spending N301 million on foodstuffs and catering material supplies as well as N30 million on refreshments and meals.
Also, the vice president will spend N156.6 million on food stuffs and catering material supplies as well as N20 million on refreshments and meals.
The feeding expenses had no increment or decrease in the figure when compared with the allocation of the previous year. The feeding budgets for the presidency and the vice president were the same as those of the 2022 budget.
In 2022, N331 million was allocated to the presidency for the same purpose while N176 million was allotted to the Vice president.
Implications
Analysts say that the next president and the vice president must have the political will to cut down on their feeding and travel expenditures.
“Nigeria is not in the best of times. We have 133 million mutildimensionally-poor Nigerians and a thirds of the country are jobless. Yet, a government that rode on people’s goodwill to come to power in 2015 is spending so much on travels and feeding when the majority of its citizens can neither eat nor afford to travel,” said Ike Ibeabuchi, a human development analyst. “This should be changed by the next administration,” he added.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, “the burden of cost and inflation have become unbearable, which is what the economy is experiencing at the moment. The poverty situation has also aggravated.” He stressed the need for governments at all levels to initiate steps to alleviate the poverty situation in the country rather than aggravate it.