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6 August 2011
Under intense public pressure and economic uncertainties, President Goodluck Jonathan has repeatedly been committed to limiting the nation’s perennially outsized cost of governance, proposing austerity guidelines and approving budget cuts.
But critics point out that the president, ironically, currently superintends over some of the nation’s highest relative budget raises in 2011, with the running cost of his first constituency – the State House – reaching a new high.
For more than a decade since the return of democracy – save for a year under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration – budget variations for the seat of government have oscillated between 20 percent and 30 percent. It usually includes footing bills ranging from the maintenance of presidential aircraft, to keeping a safari park.
From the highest at N26.48 billion in 2005 under Mr Obasanjo, the total annual cost of the State House slumped to N10.52 billion in 2009 and rose slightly to N12.78 billion in 2010, according to an analysis of federal budget outlays since 2000.
For this year, the State House is spending N20.01 billion, a 56.53 percent rise from that of 2010, and the highest amount since 2005.
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