The Presidency has abolished the Office of the First Lady, with plans to replace it with the Office of the Wife of the President. The new office will operate without any government funding, as the Office of the First Lady, which was not supported by the constitution, ran on public funds that Nigeria cannot afford.
Mrs. Aisha Buhari is yet to be assigned an official role according to The Vanguard, but for now the Wife of the President will be working on youth and women related issues across the nation. The Presidency further responded to allegations that the Wife of the President had moved into the Office of the First Lady in Aso Villa. Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Buhari, stated that the allegations were false and even though there is nothing wrong in Mrs. Buhari making use of the Office, she had not done so in her capacity. Shehu stated that the era of First Ladies “issuing oil wells and licenses” was gone and that “all that ostentation, ubiquitousness and arrogance we have come to expect from the office are over and done with. Change has come.” Once Mrs. Buhari’s role has been clearly defined, the Presidency has stated that there will be no access to public funds and it will all be private and voluntary.
Furthermore, Mrs. Sai-Koroma, the First Lady of Sierra Leone, has recently surrendered her position as the Head of Africa’s First Ladies to Mrs. Buhari, inviting her to take up the seat that Patience Jonathan held while Jonathan was in power. However, Shehu further stated that no decisions have been confirmed and things are currently under consideration.