The State House Abuja spends just 1.341 million on food and refreshments weekly.

Feeding of presidential bodyguards and other security personnel attracts N262,500 , while refreshment during the fortnightly Federal Executive Council meeting costs N150,000.

Feeding of animals at the State House Veterinary Clinic costs N212,500, while in-flight catering during presidential travels attract N325,000 . Feeding of doctors on call duties, cooking gas, and refreshments at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport, Abuja attract N16,500, N12,000, and N87,500 respectively.


Adeniyi added "I also want to make it clear that budget proposal is not the same as actual spending. For instance, in year 2007, the amount appropriated for the upkeep of the State House (foodstuff supplies) by the National Assembly is N717,595,192.00. Of this sum, N545,949,778.08 has been released. Out of which, to date, only N204,511,585.19 (represen-ting less than 30 percent of the entire budget) has been spent which means about 70 percent of the amount appropriated by the National Assembly will be retur-ned to the treasury by December 31."

--if you have not finishing spending last one, why request for new one??

I don't see that as expensive at all. When I was staying with my family, we spent more than N20,000 on feeding daily and we had no animals, only one house-help and one security guard. Altogether, 7 members of the family and 2 staff expended N140,000 weekly. So if there's going to be any revolution, I suggest it is carried out against private citizens because they spend more on their feeding.

Presidency is a large institution.

Lets be careful not to trivialize the war on corruption, if we take this war to the extent that Nigerians should begin to decide what should be on the President's food menu, then consider the battle lost.

Before now, things like these were never brought to the fore and President Yaradua should not be made to regret his attempt at being transparent.


Though one question I have is: The so called animals are they property of the Federal Government or the President's personal pets??

Jakumo:

It is one thing to decry profligate government spending as you have done in this post, BabaSin, but it is entirely another matter to call for "revolution", as that word does imply violent treasonable overthrow of an existing regime, an offense with has sent quite a few Nigerians to the firing squad in the past.

You're on your own with this idea, buddy. But hey, call me if you succeed in becoming Nigeria's head of state, so that I can organise a few solidarity delegations to visit you at the 'Rock, in return for a righteous ministerial position and some inflatable contracts when the going gets good.

Tee heee  
You wan reap where you no sow abi?

its all part of the game. That amount is over exaggerated. what about the gifts in food and cows that are delivered to the presidency. can't the presidency use some of that food to supplement the budgets?

this is probably why the report says the budget for last year has not been exhausted.

this is probably why the report says the budget for last year has not been exhausted.

why were they requesting new budget, which is also much more than last year?

what happens to the remain budget not spent?

who is verifying this?

babasin:

why were they requesting new budget, which is also much more than last year?

what happens to the remain budget not spent?

who is verifying this?

(Adeniyi added "I also want to make it clear that budget proposal is not the same as actual spending. For instance, in year 2007, the amount appropriated for the upkeep of the State House (foodstuff supplies) by the National Assembly is N717,595,192.00. Of this sum, N545,949,778.08 has been released. Out of which, to date, only N204,511,585.19 (represen-ting less than 30 percent of the entire budget) has been spent which means about 70 percent of the amount appropriated by the National Assembly will be retur-ned to the treasury by December 31."

You posted this, how come you are now throwing the above question to angel101? What other answer do you need? Has your info not attended to your curiousity?

I suggest you go through your post once again.

babasin if you want answer ask all the accounting and finance student in the house. Maybe the left over is been accrued to babas pocket. or there has to be reconciliation at the end of the physical budget.

This topic is just pointless. A Time For Revolution? Just because presidential staff chop belle-full? Abeg, I think N1.3million is very modest. Have you considered the number of presidential guards and staff?

What needs to be done is to divide the total amount by 7 days and you will find out that N200,000 is spent daily. Then you divide that by the total number of people working and living in Aso Rock. If it amounts to about N5000 per person per day, which is the cost of a plate of food in some fancy restaurants, then I think that is fair. But if it amounts to about N50,000 per person per day, then something is definitely wrong somewhere.

Please you people should not attempt to use hunger or malnutrition to assassinate our dear President O!

Just because presidential staff chop belle-full? Abeg, I think N1.3million is very modest. Have you considered the number of presidential guards and staff

we have no business feeding these people!!

They collect their 'salary', so they should use that to feed themselves.

about 70 percent of the amount appropriated by the National Assembly will be retur-ned to the treasury by December 31."

only a fool will believe that. why request new budget, why not transfer that amout for next year!

babasin:

we have no business feeding these people!!
They collect their 'salary', so they should use that to feed themselves.

That's the point! You are absolutely correct. If they are to be fed, then the monetisation policy will be defeated?

babasin:

only a fool will believe that. why request new budget, why not transfer that amout for next year!

There you go wrong! It's a constitutional provision that the money be returned to the treasury, lest it becomes misapplication. The government can only spend from what has been budgeted for a fiscal year.

they are the same people. i am not seeing any form of transperancy that is different from what had.
i am only patient because people are saying yar adua needs time and i want to accept that because he never intended been president so he can take his time.
the adeniyi of a man is only telling nigerians what they want to hear and doing what he and his group want to do.
which house wife will ask money for house up-keeps and at the same time telling the husband that she has only spent 30% of what he gave her the last time.
this is another way of telling nigerians that they are the new and suitable central bank of nigeria where the fg reserves or accounts are kept.

The Aso Rock people shocked me to my bones when I discovered their uncommon appetite for food, as reflected in their budget of about $50,000 per day on entertainment alone

--

A budget of $50,000 a day is humongous. I remember entering the supermarket, TESCO, about two years ago to shop for a party and the bill came up to nearly one thousand pounds, and the store in Brent Cross could not authorise my visa card because, as I later learnt, it was an unusual purchase. Just imagine a budget of $50,000 every day, I will close down several shops and even be assigned a police escort.

--

Yet, nearly 50 years after attaining independence, we are unable to fix our roads, electricity, drinkable water, hospitals and schools. It is very tragic. Our civil servants mercilessly ravage the treasury, while the comatose nation haemorrhages at an alarming rate. Not even the King of Saudi Arabia or the Sultan of Brunei can outspend our public

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=96059

Very nice common should die more in ng and churches should get bigger

My house is a big family, at one point we were over 30 in the house at one time and every week we spent 40,000 on soup/ vegetables/ detergents/ bathing soap and friuts. This excludes foodstuff cos they were bought in bags and meet because we usually slautered a cow which takes us one month.
House keeping is really expensive and in comparism to the large number of people feed by the presidency body guards and all that i dont think its a waste.
In the North we never cook for just the family we always expect visitors and any visitor that comes must be offered something to eat, we can mise anything but not food.

We are speaking of a week here. $10,000 a week?? We are looking at $40,000 a month and it is too small in Nigeria?? By the End of a year, the budget would be at a total close to $500,000 per year, HALF A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR TO FEED THE PRESIDENTIAL PARTY, in addition to the personal salary paid to all those who enjoy these meals. 

Negroids and food, no wonder hypertension is so prevalent

They collect their 'salary', so they should use that to feed themselves.

I can't believe someone said the above. You expect bodyguards and other
aides who are on standby virtually round the clock to go feed themselves.

Ask them oh iyke-D? Is there a restutrant in the Villa? or somewhere close by or should they abandon their duty post to go eat, some jobs are really sensitive.

Iyke-D:

I can't believe someone said the above. You expect bodyguards and other
aides who are on standby virtually round the clock to go feed themselves.

They can pay for their own food out of their salaries though at the canteen right there in the building. It can be at a subsidized price too. But unless you are feeding 10000 people in that place ( which by number will be too much anyway), I still see no way that 10 Grand a week is reasonable in a country like Nigeria.

10 grand a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whoa that must be a lot of monies junkie

Some people got to be kidding? How is spending $500,000 a year to feed
the people that work at Aso Rock excessive? Do you guys think this is a
Mama-put operation?

Without being privy to the number of aides, janitors, or guards, etc. at
Aso Rock, one can easily imagine that number to surpass 250. If that's
the case, are you guys saying spending $2000 a year to feed each of
this staffers is excessive - that is about $170 per month or $43/week?

Iyke-D:

Some people got to be kidding? How is spending $500,000 a year to feed
the people that work at Aso Rock excessive? Do you guys think this is a
Mama-put operation?

Without being privy to the number of aides, janitors, or guards, etc. at
Aso Rock, one can easily imagine that number to surpass 250. If that's
the case, are you guys saying spending $2000 a year to feed each of
this staffers is excessive - that is about $170 per month or $43/week?

Hold up a minute. If we feed them, how much do we pay them a year?? Do we also house them and their families?? How many staff members are we speaking of here

Throwing it over to the side like that is how we got to where we are today. We are the people and we demand information be made available to us not numbers be thrown at us anyhow and we forced to accept it as it is. You may be right that the number adds up but how the heck are we supposed to know that when the government continually throws numbers at us without providing us details on how the money is actually being spent?? Just a week or so ago, I read an article documenting the artrocious amount of money to be spent on electricity bill alone in Aso Rock. When the world is busy trying to save money, my people are throwing it away like it is always going to be there and now this?? We want details. We do not have an unlimited supply to work with here.

Hold up a minute. If we feed them, how much do we pay them a year?? Do we also house them and
their families?? How many staff members are we speaking of here

Throwing it over to the side like that is how we got to where we are today. We are the people and
we demand information be made available to us not numbers be thrown at us anyhow and we forced
to accept it as it is. You may be right that the number adds up but how the heck are we supposed to
know that when the government continually throws numbers at us without providing us details on
how the money is actually being spent?? Just a week or so ago, I read an article documenting the
artrocious amount of money to be spent on electricity bill alone in Aso Rock. When the world is busy
trying to save money, my people are throwing it away like it is always going to be there and now
this?? We want details. We do not have an unlimited supply to work with here.

Nice write up, but I ask again, is spending $40 a week/per person (assuming the head count
here is 250 - I think its far higher than that if you factor security alone) excessive?

I am not talking about electricity, but food for possibly a few hundred staffers and bodyguards.
I personally don't think so. Now if the headcount in question is less than 100, then I may say its
on the high side.

Someone suggested earlier that the staffers and security personnel be made to buy food from
a canteen in Aso Rock. I suppose the staffers will now be punished with buying food from only
one place simply because they work for Aso Rock. Also, how do you go about pricing the food
being sold in the canteen in order to make it affordable to the staffers? At the end of the day,
wouldn't the government be subsiding the canteen as well? Will you rather have a staff and
security that is well fed tending to Aso Rock or one where some of them may be implementing
a [b]1-0-1 or 0-1-1 [/b]eating scheme? I there isn't much to write home about our government, but
that doesn't every single issue needs to be trivialized.

Iyke-D:

Nice write up, but I ask again, is spending $40 a week/per person (assuming the head count
here is 250 - I think its far higher than that if you factor security alone) excessive?

I am not talking about electricity, but food for possibly a few hundred staffers and bodyguards.
I personally don't think so. Now if the headcount in question is less than 100, then I may say its
on the high side.

Someone suggested earlier that the staffers and security personnel be made to buy food from
a canteen in Aso Rock. I suppose the staffers will now be punished with buying food from only
one place simply because they work for Aso Rock. Also, how do you go about pricing the food
being sold in the canteen in order to make it affordable to the staffers? At the end of the day,
wouldn't the government be subsiding the canteen as well? Will you rather have a staff and
security that is well fed tending to Aso Rock or one where some of them may be implementing
a [b]1-0-1 or 0-1-1 [/b]eating scheme? I there isn't much to write home about our government, but
that doesn't every single issue needs to be trivialized.

I work for a corporation. I get paid well. I am also able to buy food from the company funded eatery and able to eat a good meal at reduced cost to me as against if I were to have chosen to go off site to go purchase food elsewhere. Same issue when I worked for other corporations and even for the state of Delaware here. Providing food for personel to purchase at reduced prices off their own salary is not an issue here. They can also be well fed if they purchase the food with their own money. I am sure it is not the same Staff that is there in the morning that are there at night or we will be talking of people being overworked or people who actually live there and are on call 24 hours. Even then, they can still purchase food with their own money so I do not see how this could pose any problem at all. I would rather hear that the workers have that money included in their salaries then. Infact, I would actually feel better knowing the money was actually going in the pocket of the workers for sure that way.

Going on assumption is not going to help the case here. You are assuming there are 250 people there and they are actually just staffers there. For all we care, there could actually be only about 40 to 50 people on staff and even they may not even have access to this food allowance or the food that it is supposedly being used for. That is why again, some of us demand more transparency from the government and not just numbers be thrown around in our faces and we to then figure out how to make sense of it without extra details so we can understand why and how such decisions were made FOR US.

work for a corporation. I get paid well. I am also able to buy food from the company funded eatery and able to
eat a good meal at reduced cost to me as against if I were to have chosen to go off site to go purchase food elsewhere. Same issue when I worked for other corporations and even for the state of Delaware here. Providing food for personnel to purchase at reduced prices off their own salary is not an issue here. They can also be well fed if they purchase the food with their own money. I am sure it is not the same Staff that is there in the morning that are there at night or we will be talking of people being overworked or people who actually live there and are on call 24 hours. Even then, they can still purchase food with their own money so I do not see how this could pose any problem at all. I would rather hear that the workers have that money included in their salaries then. Infact, I would actually feel better knowing the money was actually going in the pocket of the workers for sure that way.

You are comparing working for a corporation to working for a state, not even just a state but working in the
same complex where the national leader lives and work - not the same thing for security and logistic reasons.
I ask again, if you were the president will you prefer a situation where you are relying on people that protect
you to worry about where to go buy food from or knowing that there is place where they can eat within the presidential palace (regardless of their daily financial picture)?

OK - you say you had prefer if a part of the money was paid to them directly so they can pay for their own food.
If that's the case, how much do you think you can save from $500,000 and also having to contend with logistic security issues in Aso Rock? Not sure you will come out any better in the end.

Going on assumption is not going to help the case here. You are assuming there are 250 people there and
they are actually just staffers there. For all we care, there could actually be only about 40 to 50 people on
staff and even they may not even have access to this food allowance or the food that it is supposedly being
used for. That is why again, some of us demand more transparency from the government and not just
numbers be thrown around in our faces and we to then figure out how to make sense of it without extra
details so we can understand why and how such decisions were made FOR US.

I agree going on assumption is not going to help the case, but as shown it makes more sense when you
can say the government spends about $40 a week to feed a staffers or a security personnel at Aso Rock
than to say they spend $500,000 a year on food! In as much as I don't have the exact figures of the staff,
common sense tells me that you will need way over 50 security personnel alone at Aso Rock at any
given time, not even counting other aides.

I can't believes the kind of twisted logic people are spilling here.

Next thing some idiot will say the President should go and feed himself from his salary, some blown will say our police should start fueling their police-cars from their pocket. Well good luck to you all on that day.

Iyke-D:

You are comparing working for a corporation to working for a state, not even just a state but working in the
same complex where the national leader lives and work - not the same thing for security and logistic reasons.
I ask again, if you were the president will you prefer a situation where you are relying on people that protect
you to worry about where to go buy food from or knowing that there is place where they can eat within the presidential palace (regardless of their daily financial picture)?

OK - you say you had prefer if a part of the money was paid to them directly so they can pay for their own food.
If that's the case, how much do you think you can save from $500,000 and also having to contend with logistic security issues in Aso Rock? Not sure you will come out any better in the end.
I agree going on assumption is not going to help the case, but as shown it makes more sense when you
can say the government spends about $40 a week to feed a staffers or a security personnel at Aso Rock
than to say they spend $500,000 a year on food! In as much as I don't have the exact figures of the staff,
common sense tells me that you will need way over 50 security personnel alone at Aso Rock at any
given time, not even counting other aides.

I think I made myself clear enough @Iyke-D. Did you skip the part where I posted on working for the state government and having access to an onsite canteen where we all went in to pay for food ?? Why is that hard to apply in Nigeria?? Why should the government be concerned about what the people eat and not focus more on them feeding themselves and getting the job done?? Have you been to the white house?? You do realize that food is not free, even there?? Why is this idea strange??

I think I made myself clear enough @Iyke-D. Did you skip the part where I posted on working for the state government
and having access to an onsite canteen where we all went in to pay for food ?? Why is that hard to apply in Nigeria??
Why should the government be concerned about what the people eat and not focus more on them feeding themselves
and getting the job done?? Have you been to the white house?? You do realize that food is not free, even there?? Why
is this idea strange??

Great - but you ignored my points as well. It appears you know quiet a bit about how the White House runs its
kitchen and what it spends on food. Do I take it then that everyone (aides and security) that works at the White
House pay for their own food - meaning that it costs taxpayers $0 to feed anyone (other than the president, vp
and their families and guests) at the White House? Every secret service agent that works there pay for their own
meal regardless of the day's events? Have you factored mobility into the equation as I am sure most of the White
House staffers/security can afford either a car or have easy access to subway? How about pay?

I believe I did mention that working for a corporation or a state is not necessary the same thing as working in
the same complex where the nation's leader reside on account of security and logistic reasons. You may have
access to the on-site canteen where you work but do you eat there everyday at work or do you sometimes go
off-site to buy your food? If you do, how far away is the nearest restaurants from where you work? Do you think
public resturants are but a stone-throw away from Aso Rock? Have you considered the length of rotation of the
security personnel at Aso Rock? Are you privy to their configurations?

If you think my argument is flawed, I personally still think you lack enough information to determine whether
$500,000 to feed aides and security personnel at Aso Rock is too much. If that figure was for aides and other
staff alone, that may give me pause, but not when you factor security personnel into the equation.

Nevermind!!!! Seems this is not going to get anywhere since it seems you have already concluded. Carry on!!

Ditto that. Cheers!