The Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, has debunked claims of N10 billion provision in the 2024 budget for the renovation of his official residence.
The former speaker took to his official X handle on Wednesday to clarify the fake narrative.
Gbajabiamila, in clear terms, said he still lives in his private residence, clarifying “there is no provision in the 2024 Appropriation Bill for the renovation of any residence.”
This is coming amidst report from various news outlets (Not Persecond News) stating that the country’s 2024 budget, christened”Budget of Renewed Hope” had allocated N21bn to the Chief of Staff, about a 97.5 increase from the N517m provision in 2023.
He said: “I have seen social media commentary regarding the 2024 Appropriation Bill, particularly the provisions under the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
“Owing to the erroneous nature of these reports, it has become necessary to clarify that there is no provision in the 2024 Appropriation Bill for the renovation of any residence for the Chief of Staff to the President. I live in my private residence.
“The sums mischievously quoted by online bloggers and fake news merchants are for renovating the Presidential Quarters in Dodan Barracks and the Vice President’s Lodge in Lagos, to overhaul the information management and communications facilities in the Presidency to meet modern standards and to provide vehicles for the staff of the Presidency.
“The sums proposed for these projects are clearly stated in the budget proposal and bear no resemblance to the deceptive online commentary.”
He added that the Tinubu administration welcomes and encourages scrutiny of government expenditures, pointing out that this is why the Budget proposal is publicly available.
“However, healthy public debate about government actions requires us to be responsible with our utterances and engage based on facts rather than insinuations and falsehoods,” Persecond News quotes Gbajabiamila as saying.
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