{"id":8197,"date":"2025-07-13T18:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T18:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/?p=8197"},"modified":"2025-07-13T18:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T18:18:07","slug":"how-buhari-rejected-n10m-state-house-food-budget-garba-shehu-reveals-in-new-memoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/13\/how-buhari-rejected-n10m-state-house-food-budget-garba-shehu-reveals-in-new-memoir\/","title":{"rendered":"How Buhari Rejected N10m State House Food Budget, Garba Shehu Reveals in New Memoir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu<\/strong> has revealed that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari<\/strong> rejected a proposed \u20a610 million monthly food budget<\/strong> for the State House during his first year in office, emphasizing his austere lifestyle and insistence on fiscal discipline.<\/p>\n

Shehu made the revelation in his newly launched memoir, “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson\u2019s Experience,”<\/em> unveiled in Abuja on Tuesday. The book offers behind-the-scenes insights into Buhari\u2019s eight-year tenure and details how he approached governance, budgeting, and public accountability.<\/p>\n

According to Shehu, shortly after assuming office in 2015, Buhari was informed that the State House food budget<\/strong>\u2014meant to cover the president, vice-president, guest houses, and official banquets\u2014needed to be raised to \u20a610 million.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhen they told him \u20a610 million was needed, he screamed and demanded it be reduced,\u201d Shehu recalled.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Buhari reportedly pointed to his simple meals and asked, \u201cLook at my table, what do I eat? How much does it cost?\u201d<\/p>\n

Buhari\u2019s Simple Lifestyle<\/h3>\n

Shehu described Buhari\u2019s meals as modest and reflective of Nigeria\u2019s lower-income population.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHe mostly ate tuwo, pap, akara, beans, wheat, salads, poultry, and mutton. His diet was healthy and basic,\u201d Shehu wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This no-frills lifestyle extended beyond food. Shehu revealed that Buhari also rejected the purchase of five new customized Mercedes-Benz vehicles<\/strong> worth \u20a6400 million, which had been approved during the final days of the Jonathan administration.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHe asked, \u2018What is wrong with the cars left behind by the former president?\u2019 and continued using them until one broke down on the way to the airport,\u201d Shehu noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Buhari reportedly instructed the Permanent Secretary of the State House<\/strong>, Nebolisa Emodi, to slash operational costs and abolish reliance on Presidential Intervention Funds<\/strong>, insisting that all State House expenses remain within budget.<\/p>\n

Delay in Ministerial Appointments Explained<\/h3>\n

Shehu also addressed one of the early criticisms of Buhari\u2019s presidency\u2014the delay in appointing ministers. He said Buhari chose to spend his initial months consulting with permanent secretaries and agency heads to grasp the nation\u2019s challenges before assembling a cabinet.<\/p>\n

Buhari\u2019s Control Over Public Funds<\/h3>\n

One of the more striking anecdotes in the book involves Buhari\u2019s absence during a medical trip abroad, when then Vice President Yemi Osinbajo<\/strong> served as acting president. Shehu recounted that some officials (not Osinbajo) approached the late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari<\/strong>, seeking access to a security vote<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMalam Abba told them the president kept nothing to that effect,\u201d Shehu wrote, underscoring Buhari\u2019s tight financial controls and transparency.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu has revealed that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari rejected a proposed \u20a610 million monthly food budget for the State House during his first year in office, emphasizing his austere lifestyle and insistence on fiscal discipline. Shehu made the revelation in his newly launched memoir, “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Garba Shehu reveals Buhari rejected \u20a610m food budget, new cars, and enforced strict cost control at State House.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8201,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8197\/revisions\/8201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}