Govt to spend N250m on VP Osinbajo’s gate house

Senator Dino Melaye, who chairs the Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)‎, on Thursday alleged that the Federal Government, through the FCT Administration, has earmarked N250 million for the Vice President’s

gate house.

The gate house Senator Melaye referred to is currently under construction. The lawmaker wondered why such an amount will be budgeted for a mere gate house.

Said he, “The gate house of the Vice President’s residence was also awarded at over N250 million. We are going to call for a review of that contract and Julius Berger said they are going to build a concrete building. I went there with a hammer and I hit on the wall and I saw blocks.

“So, that investigation is ongoing. And we want to make sure that government is not being raped and shortchanged. We are definitely going to call for a review of the contract because this is a rape of the taxpayers’ money,” he said.

Reacting to claims made by a civil society organization, Citizen Action To Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN), which alleged that four principal officers of the National Assembly (NASS) stole N630 million by using the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) to pay rent and renovation and furnishing fees to themselves for phony official residences, Melaye told newsmen that they were unfounded.

Melaye said: “This fake brief case NGO called CATBAN claimed that the president of the Senate, the Speaker and their deputies are using FCDA to collect some amount of money as rent for their accommodation.

“We want to state clearly that the four presiding officers of the National Assembly do not collect any money for rent, furniture and renovation from the FCDA or any Federal Government agency for that matter.”

The Kogi West Senator, while fielding questions from newsmen, said the principal officers specifically asked him to yank off the budgetary provision for the completion of their official residences from the 2016 budget.

He said: “As Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, the Senate President asked that the money be removed from the budget. You will recall that I was on oversight function with some of you and we visited these buildings and I can say that they were built at skyrocketing and over inflated prices.

“As I speak to you, the mosque that is occupying less than 100 square meters meant to be the prayer place for the Senate President and Deputy Senate President’s residence and even the Vice President’s residence was awarded for over N200 million. And it is a three bedroom boys quarters.”