The presidency says the recent statement by Peter Obi over ₦15b residence was only meant to arouse anger among Nigerians, less meaningful political achievement and praises.
LP Presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has questioned the 15 billion naira budget for the construction of the Vice President’s residence, saying it could pay the annual salaries of thousands of professors.
The presidency said Obi’s comments were due to the recent loss at the presidential elections and an attempt to make Tinubu’s led government look like a bad one, the presidency further explained that the VP’s budget was not created from the present government, but it was an abandoned project which started at Jonathan’s led government.
A statement released by the vice presidential aid Stanley Nkwocha explained that the project started 13 years ago, saddened by the dilapidated nature of the building which became a home for reptiles and weeds, wike decided to continue with the project in order not to allow the building to continue in it’s abandoned state.
He also explained that the project was in line with Tinubu’s led government policy to complete all partly completed buildings in the country, to avoid national disgrace.
The statement also said that Obi made a wide comparison of the 15b residency budget and the annual salaries of university professors, stating that Tinubu had concerns for the educational systems at heart, an increase to the educational budget allocation will come with time after serious challenges like security have been solved to a great extent.
In its efforts towards the educational system, the federal government is trying to make sure that payments of held salaries to academic and non-academic staff are paid. At the same time, dialogue for their welfare is still ongoing.
The VP’s aid also noted that since the APC government resumed office it has accomplished a lot of accomplishments such as restrengthening the international political relations and presence.