2017 budget: Presidency to spend N625m on kitchen equipment, feeding

THE Presidency will spend an estimated N625 million on expenses on kitchen utensils, foodstuffs and feeding in the 2017 budget, details of the budget estimates have revealed.

A breakdown of the  N7.2 trillion budget estimates submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 14, 2016, indicated that the different segments of the Presidency will spend different amounts on kitchen utensils, feeding and cooking in the New Year.

The budget estimates indicated that while the Presidency (Headquarters) will spend some specific amount on the said items, the Presidency under the line item (State House Operations) will also spend some other estimated amounts.

A breakdown of the expenditure estimates indicates that the Presidency will spend the sum of N123.2 million on foodstuff/catering materials supplies and another N21 million, six hundred thousand Naira on cooking gas/fuel cost, while it will also spend another N97,200,000 (ninety seven million, two hundred thousand Naira on refreshment  and meals.

Also under the items budgeted for State House Headquarters, the Presidency intends to spend another N108,820,300 (One hundred and eight million, eight hundred and twenty thousand, three hundred Naira only) on Purchase of Canteen/kitchen equipment.

Another N108,820,000 is budgeted for payment of outstanding balance on acquired Canteen/Kitchen equipment for Banquet Hall, Auditorium and Defence House.

In another allocation listed under State House(Office) the Presidency intends to spend the sum of N114,967,140 (One hundred and fourteen Million, nine hundred and sixty seven thousand, one hundred and forty naira only on foodstuff and catering supplies in the office of the President, while it intends to spend the sum of N53,494,992 (Fifty three million, four hundred and ninety four thousand, nine hundred and ninety two Naira only in the office of the Vice-President on the same item.

The above is different from another allocation of N204,485,168 (Two hundred and four million, four hundred and eighty five thousand, one hundred and sixty eight naira for the Replacement of Power Reticulation Cables and switch Gears supplying power to the main House, ADC residence and General purpose kitchen as well as the allocation of N246,000 for cooking gas and fuel cost under State House Operations (Vice-President).

The Presidency had spent the sum of  N325.5 million in the 2015 and 2016 budgets for the purchase of the items classified under “catering and kitchen equipment.”

For instance, in the 2015 budget, the sum of  N237. 4 million was allocated for kitchen items, while another N88.1 million was allocated for the same purpose in 2016.

The National Assembly, which is set to resume on January 10, is set to commence deliberations on the budget after it might have passed the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework(MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), the legal prerequisites to budget passage.