Professor Osinbajo condemns building of new VP's official residence as a waste of money

VICE president Professor Yemi Osinbajo has rejected criticised the ongoing construction of a new residence for him calling it a waste of public funds as the current building in which he resides is of adequate standard.

 

Nigeria's vice presidents have always lived at the palatial Akinola Aguda House within the presidential complex but during the last administration, plans were initiated to build a bigger and newer residence. Speaking with pastors and leaders of Fountain of Life Church yesterday, Professor Osinbajo described the new building as unnecessary.

 

According to Professor Osinbajo, the N6bn (£21.5m) already spent on the project is a misapplication of public funds. He added, however, that with the level of construction already done, the government would have to complete the building and find a different use for it.

 

Professor Osinbajo said: “There is no need for a new vice president’s house and it is a kind of waste. We are now in a situation where we cannot abandon it as it has to be completed and used for a different thing.”

 

He added that the controversial State House Medical Centre will be built, however and used for all Nigerians, hence the need to equip it with all the medical facilities available. Pointing out that funds used for many government projects could be put to better use, Professor Osibanjo added that the education sector lacked not only standards but enough institutions, which led to Nigerians sending their children abroad for tertiary education.

 

According to Professor Osinbajo, while 1.8m Nigerians sit for university entrance examination yearly, only about 300,000 are offered admission due to dearth of universities. He said the government was planning to convert many of the existing universities into centres of excellence and support the private sector in the running of universities to enable more Nigerians to have access to tertiary education.