How Aso Rock spent N3.7bn on vehicles, tyres within 10 days

image 140
Share this story

The State House, under the dispensation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has spent over N3.7 billion on the purchase and supply of vehicles and tyres, findings by Daily Trust on Saturday have revealed.

Investigation and data gathered from govspend, a portal documenting government expenditures, showed that the Presidential Villa made four separate payments on May 21 and 31, the week that marked Tinubu’s first year in office, to Laralek Ultimate Limited, and another payment to an unspecified beneficiary, all totaling N3,461,909,471.

The total allocation for the State House is N40.62 billion, with only N28.12 billion of the entire amount for capital expenditure, according to data released by BudgIT, a civil society organisation whose goal is promoting transparency and fostering citizens’ engagement for institutional reforms and equitable society.

Advertisement

To order your copy, send a WhatsApp message to +1 317 665 2180

Over the years, Nigeria has leveraged its borrowing prowess, with its external debt currently sitting at N127.67 trillion as of Q1 of 2024.

How Aso Rock spent N244m on tyres in one day

However, critics have accused the Tinubu administration of “frivolous spending” despite numerous pleas to Nigeria’s citizens over the current hardship and harsh policies largely affecting the masses.

It could be recalled that there was a backlash the last time the president asked Nigerians to make sacrifices for the nation’s progress.

Recently, Tinubu, while addressing journalists after observing the Eid-el Kabir prayer at Dodan Barracks, Lagos, stressed the need for the people to follow the path of sacrifice in order to make the nation great.

Advertisements

The comment elicited numerous reactions from Nigerians, civil society organisations and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Incidentally, 24 hours after some of the payments for the cars and tyres were made, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, apologised to Nigerians over the nationwide hardship.

Speaking during a ministerial sectoral update, he said the policies of the Tinubu-led government were on track despite the currency crisis and inflation, which have frustrated economic growth.

“So what’s the answer to all of these? It’s to restore macroeconomic stability that will ensure that investors, both domestic and international put their faces in our economy once again. And we are all doing this without a blame game. And I apologise for the pain that they may occasion, but they are necessary… Is our strategy, right? Absolutely. We believe our strategy is right, but it requires occasional calibration. Put good money to use,” he said.

Now, Nigeria’s inflation is above 33 per cent, worsening the cost of living – a stance largely attributed to some of the president’s policies.

The data from govspend showed that payments of the sums of N1,904,388,461, N1,200,000,000, N200,000,000 and N63,818,416 were all made to Laralek Ultimate Limited for the purchase of operational SUVs and pool vehicles for the State House, while N93,702,594.08 was paid for the supply of vehicles to the National Centre for the Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism.

Advertisements

The full details of the car brands and models were not written in the narration made for the payments on the portal.

N244m spent on tyres in one day

Advertisements

The sum of N244,654,350 was specifically used for the purchase and supply of car tyres in just one day out of the total N3,706,563,821 spent by the State House, the data further revealed.

The same data from the govspend portal showed that on May 21, 2024, the State House made payments for the supply of an unspecified quantity of a particular brand of bulletproof tyres, another five quantities of a different brand of bulletproof tyres, and a Westlake tyre for the sums of N200,583,390, N38,070,000 and N6,000,960, respectively.

Advertisements
Lennox Mall

A breakdown of the findings revealed that two separate payments were made for the purchase and supply of tyres (no specific quantity) for bulletproof vehicles and another five armoured bulletproof tyres to Obi-Wealth Enterprises Nigeria Limited (RC-640684) for the sums of N200,583,390 and N38,070,000.

However, a quick search on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) website revealed that the company is inactive.

Advertisements

Hommy & Fay Investments Limited, active on the CAC portal, handled the other part of the supply of an unspecified number of Westlake tyres (315/80R22) for N6,000,960.

However, attempts to get reactions from the presidency over the cars and tyre expenditures did not yield results, as several calls to the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, did not go through.

Advertisements
effex

Also, messages sent to him via SMS and WhatsApp had not been replied to as at the time of filing this report.

Daily Trust 

Do you have an important success story, news, or opinion article to share with with us? Get in touch with us at publisher@thepodiummedia.com or ademolaakinbola@gmail.com Whatsapp +1 317 665 2180

Join our WhatsApp Group to receive news and other valuable information alerts on WhatsApp.


Share this story
Advertisements
jsay-school

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

sanya-onayoade

Sanya Onayoade

Continental Editor, North America

SANYA ONAYOADE is a graduate of Mass Communication and a Master of Communication Arts degree holder from the University of Ibadan. He has attended local and international courses on Media, Branding, Public Relations and Corporate Governance in many institutions including the University of Pittsburgh; Reuters Foundation of Rhodes University, South Africa and Lagos Business School. He has worked in many newspaper houses including The Guardian and The Punch. He was the pioneer Corporate Affairs Manager of Odua Telecoms Ltd, and later Head of Business Development and Marketing of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO Plc).

He has led business teams to several countries in the US, Asia and Europe; and was part of an Aviation investment drive in West Africa. He has also driven media and brand consultancy for a few organizations such as the British Council, Industrial Training Fund, PKF Audit/Accounting Firm and Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme. He is a Fellow of Freedom House, Washington DC, and also Fellow of Institute of Brand Management of Nigeria. Sanya is a member of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a 1998 Commonwealth Media Awards winner and the Author of A Decade Of Democracy.
Morak Babajide-Alabi

Morak Babajide-Alabi

Continental Editor, Europe

Morak Babajide-Alabi is a graduate of Mass Communication with a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism from Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He is an experienced Social Media practitioner with a strong passion for connecting with customers of brands.

Morak works as part of a team currently building an e-commerce project for the Volkswagen Group UK. Before this, he worked on the social media accounts of SKODA, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. In this job, he brought his vast experience in journalism, marketing, and search engine optimisation to play to make sure the brands are well represented on social media. He monitored the performance of marketing campaigns and data analysis of all volumes of social media interaction for the brands.

In his private capacity, Morak is the Chief Operating Officer of Syllable Media Limited, an England-based marketing agency with head office in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The agency handles briefs such as creative writing, ghostwriting, website designs, and print and broadcast productions, with an emphasis on search engine optimisation. Syllable Media analyses, reviews, and works alongside clients to maximise returns on their businesses.

Morak is a writer, blogger, journalist, and social media “enthusiast”. He has several publications and projects to his credit with over 20 years of experience writing and editing for print and online media in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Morak is a dependable team player who succeeds in a high-pressure environment. He started his professional career with the flagship of Nigerian journalism – The Guardian Newspapers in 1992 where he honed his writing and editing skills before joining TELL Magazine. He has edited, reported for, and produced newspapers and magazines in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Morak is involved in the development of information management tools for the healthcare sector in Africa. He is on the board of DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited, a company with branches in London, Lagos, and Abuja, to make healthcare information available at the fingertips of professionals. DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited achieved this by collaborating with notable informatics companies. It had partnered in the past with Avia Informatics Plc and i2i TeleSolutions Pvt.

Out of work, Morak loves walking and also volunteers on the board of a few UK Charity Organisations. He can be reached via http://www.syllablemedia.com
Ademola-Akinbola

Ademola Akinbola

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Brief Profile of Ademola Akinbola

Ademola AKINBOLA is an author, publisher, trainer, digital marketing strategist, and a brand development specialist with nearly three decades of experience in the areas of branding, communication, corporate reputation management, business development, organizational change management, and digital marketing.

He is the Founder and Head Steward at BrandStewards Limited, a brand and reputation management consultancy. He is also the Publisher of The Podium International Magazine, Ile-Oluji Times, and Who’s Who in Ile-Oluji.

He had a successful media practice at The Guardian, Punch and This Day.

He started his brand management career at Owena Bank as Media Relations Manager before joining Prudent Bank (now Polaris Bank) as the pioneer Head of Corporate Affairs.

The British Council appointed him as Head of Communication and Marketing to co-ordinate branding and reputation management activities at its Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt offices.

In 2007, he was recruited as the Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy for the Nigerian Aviation Handling company. He led on the branding, strategic planning and stakeholder management support function.

His job was later expanded and redesigned as Head of Corporate Communication and Business Development with the mandate to continue to execute the Board’s vision in the areas of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Branding and New Businesses.

In 2010, he voluntarily resigned from nacho aviance to focus on managing BrandStewards, a reputation and brand management firm he established in 2003. BrandStewards has successfully executed branding, re-branding and marketing communication projects for clients in the private and public sectors.

Ademola obtained a M.Sc. Degree in Digital Marketing & Web Analytics from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2016, and the Master of Communication Arts degree of the University of Ibadan in 1997. He had previously obtained a Higher National Diploma (with Upper Credit) in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

He has published several articles and authored five management books.

He has benefitted from several domestic and international training programmes on Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Change Management and Organizational Strategy.
Open chat
Hello. Do you want to keep receiving our stories via WhatsApp? Send us a message!