Vice President Kashim Shettima is yet to move into his official residence which cost taxpayers N14 billion to complete, eight months after it was commissioned by the presidency.
The Daily Trust reported on Saturday that only a few plain clothes security operatives were seen manning the residence when it was last visited on January 31. It was also reported that there were no signs of any activity on the premises while the visit lasted.
After the residence was commissioned by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on June 7, 2024, FIJ reported how its completion cost about N14 billion in taxpayers’ money.
READ ALSO: N14b on the Vice President’s Residence? Architect Says It Shouldn’t Cost a Billion
The residence, located at Three Arms Zone, Abuja, was first awarded during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure in 2010 at N7 billion but could not be completed for then-vice president Namadi Sambo to move in.
When Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, he stated that the residence was not a priority, and Yemi Osibanjo, then vice president, remained in the Akinola Aguda House, which served as his official residence for eight years.
In November 2023, the Bola Tinubu-led administration announced that it was planning to renovate and complete the residence at a cost of N15 billion. This decision sparked outrage among citizens and raised questions about government spending. The building was eventually completed in June.
READ ALSO: ‘No Press, No Coverage’ — Journalists Barred From Touring VP Shettima’s N21b Residence
FIJ’s findings revealed that as of December 2012, the earliest time an image of the building appeared on the internet, the building had neared completion and the Senate Committee on FCT matters had rejected Sambo’s request for an additional N9 billion to provide furniture, fencing and a banquet hall, among others, in the residence.
Also, several media reports from 2019 (here, here and here) showed that the residence had reached the finishing stage before Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), began work on the project in November 2023.
The architect and civil engineer FIJ subsequently spoke to after the building was commissioned in June said it should not have cost more than a billion naira to complete it since it was not a new construction.
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