FG Bars Journalists From Covering Tour Of VP Shettima’s N21b Residence

• Only top government functionaries, federal lawmakers and Julius Berger team would partake in the guided tour.

Newsmen were not allowed to join the tour of Vice President Kashim Shettima’s N21 billion official residence which was unveiled on Friday.

Eugenia Abu, the moderator of the inauguration ceremony, announced the prohibition of press coverage of the tour of the grand edifice.

She made the announcement on Friday while naming guests who would take a private tour of the residence with President Bola Tinubu.

She stated that the VP’s official residence was private and coverage was prohibited.

According to her, only top government functionaries, federal lawmakers and Julius Berger team would partake in the guided tour.

“The people that will be following the president into the residence for a guided tour. We are going to have all serving national assembly members, all members of the federal executive council, and of course, from the top-ranking position of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President, the Deputy Chief of Staff will also be in attendance, and also the Julius Berger Team,” she announced.

“These are the persons that are going to be accompanying Mr. President into this residence. There will be no press; there will be no coverage. This is the official residence of His Excellency, the Vice President; it is a private space.

“Those who are going to be given the privilege to come along with him are those who have been so carefully chosen. I’d like to advise that we have no press, no coverage, no media.”

In December, the office of the VP attracted criticism after plans to renovate and build an official residence worth N15 billion went viral. However, Stanley Nkwocha, spokesperson of the VP, defended the project and said it was not a wasteful adventure.

During Friday’s inauguration, Nyseom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), stated that the federal government spent N21 billion for the renovation and completion of the residence.

“This project was awarded in 2010, 14 years ago, the vice president’s residence, and 14 years later is when we are commissioning. And it was awarded at the cost of N7 billion in 2010 and was abandoned in 2015,” Wike said.

“It was in January this year that we had a revised budget to make it N21 billion, which is from 7 billion to an additional N14 billion.”