Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum has said that President Buhari’s ministers have no accommodation, confirming an exclusive report by SIGNAL, which detailed how President Buhari walked out on a meeting where Ministers had demanded for decent accommodation.
According to the minister in a video footage, President Buhari has been unable to solve the problem of accommodation bedeviling his ministers. “One issue that we have been unable to solve is finding accommodation for Ministers. We have not been able to find money to do that. I live in my home, I’m sure he lives in his home”, Kachikwu said referring to another colleague who in turn immediately responded that he is squatting in Abuja.
Recall that SIGNAL had exclusively reported that President Buhari walked out on a meeting with a team of ministers who scheduled a meeting with him on behalf of their colleagues to make a case for decent accommodation. The ministers, led by Youth and Sports Minister Solomon Dalung had sought the audience of President Buhari to acquaint him with what ministers in his cabinet were suffering when all of a sudden the President stood up and ‘excused himself’ leaving the ministers dejected and hopeless.
“The ministers have been facing serious challenges with accommodation and they put their heads together to go and see the President hoping that they could persuade him to do something. Dalung was the spokesperson of the ministers, Communication Minister Adebayo Shittu was also at the meeting. Where the problem started was when Dalung started making reference to how ministers got a nice accommodation package under previous governments. He actually said that under Jonathan, ministers were given N20 million each for accommodation. When he said that, Buhari asked if he meant N20 million for all the ministers and Dalung replied that it was N20 million per person. It was at this point that Buhari stood up and said he was taking his leave and leaving Osinbajo to “sort it out” with them”, an informed source told SIGNAL.
The Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu was only recently able to get an accommodation in Abuja after his state governor, Abiola Ajimobi graciously helped him with an extra N2 million, a source who did not want to be named also told this newspaper.
On his part, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung recently secured a low-key accommodation at Gwarinpa district of Abuja where he now resides.
Although, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung denied the report, Kachikwu’s revelation on video tape puts paid to any speculations about the veracity of the initial reports on how President Buhari’s ministers had become homeless and stranded in Abuja.
However, not all ministers are groaning under the accommodation challenge, as a few of them are believed to be wealthy enough to afford any type of accommodation anywhere in the world. Conspicuously absent at the meeting with Buhari were the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and Minister of Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi. The ministers are ex-governors and super ministers in Buhari’s cabinet.
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