The Vice Presidential Spokesman, Laolu Akande, has again clarified that there is no budgetary allocation for the completion of the proposed new residence for the Vice President in either the 2016 or 2017 budget.
Akande, who made the clarification in a news release on Sunday in Abuja said that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had not failed to express his distaste for the new project.
According to him, Osinbajo has expressed his preference for the existing residence, called Aguda House, to the new complex.
“The incumbent vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, has said publicly that he considers Aguda House, which he currently occupies, a befitting official residence for the Vice President and sufficient for his needs,’’ Akande said.
Akande said that the new project which started in 2010, was initiated and funded by the immediate past administration.
The spokeman said “the project has never featured in the two budget proposals of the Buhari administration, neither in the 2016 nor the 2017 spending plan”.
“We like to clarify that the proposed plan of the immediate past administration to build a new official residence for the occupant of the Office of the Vice President, including the controversial gatehouse preceded this administration.
Any suggestion, therefore, that this project benefits our administration or that it reflects our spending style or preferences is not only misleading but blatantly false,’’ he explained.
Akande noted that while the project was about 85 per cent complete, the Federal Government, in the circumstances, would decide at the appropriate time, the best use for the 14 buildings already on the project site.
Senator Dino Melaye, Chairman Senate Committee on FCT, had told the Upper Chamber that it should call for a review of the contract for the construction of the gatehouse, which he said was put at N250m.
