Agba baller
The Nigeria Customs Service budgeted ₦14.39 billion to buy its officers luxury cars
Good morning, Big Brains. I’m super excited about the weekend, but it’s not for the reason you think; I am excited because I’m going to sleep! I have it all planned out and look forward to it like mad. See you on Monday morning.
- Chigor
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Let’s get into today’s edition:
The Nigeria Customs Service budgeted ₦14.39 billion to buy its officers luxury cars
Rivers elders are begging Tinubu to call off emergency rule in the state
The Big Deal
The Nigeria Customs Service budgeted ₦14.39 billion to buy its officers luxury cars
There’s retail therapy and then there’s the big baller cash splash. Having budgeted ₦14.39 billion for luxury car shopping, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has earned its rightful place in the big baller’s section.
If you’re hearing about this cutesy shopping for the first time, it’s because Punch Newspapers publicised it on Thursday, July 3, after its reporter discovered it in the service’s proposed appropriation bill.
If you think the ₦14.39 billion is a lot, you’re in for some surprise because it’s only a fraction of a fancier ₦35.27 billion budgeted to purchase 579 official vehicles.
Confused by the numbers? We’ll untie the knot for you— most of the cars will go to senior officers. The most expensive, AKA, luxury cars (costing ₦44 million to ₦75 million) will also go to senior officers, specifically those at the ranks of Comptroller, Assistant Comptroller-General, and Deputy Comptroller-General, because seniority matters. You’re a hater if you object.
Assistant Comptroller-Generals are supposed to get 20 units of CHANGAN CS95 vehicles at ₦68 million each, while Deputy Comptroller-Generals are to get 15 units of MAXUS D90 SUVs for DCGs at ₦70 million each. The complete breakdown of the brands and prices of other vehicles can be found here.
Why is this a big deal?
This is a big deal for many obvious reasons, but more than anything, it shows how insensitive Nigerian politicians and public institutions are. It also shows that the citizens allow it.
We want to say that the National Assembly will look into this outrageous NCS budget, but the lawmakers over there are also guilty of reckless and insensitive spending themselves. Not too long ago, in 2023, the House of Representatives and the Senate were being criticised for reportedly gifting their members official vehicles, which cost ₦160 million each. This was coming at a time when Nigeria’s minimum wage was a miserable ₦30,000.
There’s this reckless spending, and then there’s Nyesom Wike’s allocation of ₦10 billion to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, and their deputies for rent and furniture. This money was contained in the 2024 supplementary budget of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and was magically passed within five days.
While you chew on that, you might also want to know that the FCT Minister allocated ₦21 billion for Vice President Kashim Shettima’s official residence
This proposed spending by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is nothing short of reckless. Nigerians need to pressure the National Assembly to investigate because it will probably not do it on its own.
In addition to this, the two chambers of the assembly also need to revisit the overall confusion in their spending because, as a lawmaker recently pointed out, it’s baffling that the NCS cannot fully fund its capital projects, overhead costs, and personnel costs even though it surpassed its 2024 revenue projection (₦5.08 trillion) by generating ₦6.11 trillion.
Rivers elders are begging Tinubu to call off the emergency rule
A wise man once said that Nigerian politicians lucked out with the citizenry, and it’s not a lie. The NCS report is proof, and so is this news from Rivers—apparently, instead of changing it for the President for going against the constitution to suspend their democratically elected governor, a group of elders in Rivers State have welcomed the recently brokered peace between FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and suspended Rivers Governor Sim Fubara. They have also begged the President to call off the emergency rule placed on the state.
On Wednesday, July 2, the Rivers Elders and Leaders Forum released a statement welcoming the reconciliation between the two (formerly warring) parties.
Again, instead of questioning why the godfather-godson squabble between Wike and Fubara was allowed to affect the stability and democracy of an entire State, the group appreciated God and commended the two politicians for displaying “maturity and courage” in reconciling with each other after months of rivalry, which destabilised Rivers state.
In case that wasn’t enough, they dropped this priceless nugget: “The political tensions that pitched two of our sons—Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara—against each other deeply wounded the soul of our dear state and cast an undeserved shadow on our collective image.”
“We sincerely thank all parties involved, especially Mr. President, for the role he has played in steering this process to this moment,” they said, calling on President Tinubu to call off the six-month emergency rule placed on the state.
Nigerian politicians probably swallowed bags of four-leafed clovers because they really are a lucky bunch.
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