- The Presidency on Wednesday said President Muhammadu Buhari and his entourage spent less than 10 percent of the N2.2 billion claimed by an Abuja-based newspaper, Nigeria Pilot, to have been expended on the recent trip to the United States.
- The newspaper had in its recent editorial estimated the total cost of the trip at N2.2 billion.
- Presidency insiders told newsmen that the trip did not cost the nation more than N61 million, excluding the fueling of the presidential fleet.
- A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said
“Contrary to the newspaper’s assertion, the total cost of the trip to the Nigerian taxpayer was at the most minimal, in line with the policy of this administration to cut waste and extravagance.
- The Presidency said it is very sad that in this age of free-flowing information and in this era of change, a media organisation would make itself available as a vehicle to peddle a lie of such low and ignominious quality.
