Reps scrap Tinubu’s N4.78bn yacht, pass supplementary budget

 Presidency says budgeted  yacht is just an operational Naval boat

 Following the public outcry, the House of Representatives has  scrapped  the N4.79billion budgetary allocation for a presidential yacht contained in the N2.176trillion supplementary budget for the 2023 financial year transmitted to it on Tuesday by President Bola Tinubu.

 The Presidency has defended the inclusion , saying that  the N5 billion Presidential yacht captured in the 2023 supplementary budget is just a Naval operational boat with specialised operational features and not a cruise ship.

But in  passing the supplementary budget on Thursday, the House moved the sum proposed for the yacht to student loan, bringing the total sum for the scheme to N10billion up from the initial N5.5billion.

Abubakar Bichi, who heads the House Appropriation Committee, stated this while addressing journalists after plenary on Thursday.

“As far as we are concerned, we don’t need the presidential yacht anymore.

“We have increased the student Loan. If you can recall, the student loan was N5 billion in the budget, but now we have increased it from N5billion to N10 billion so that our students will be able to access that facility for them to be able to go to school and to be able to afford them,” the lawmaker said.

Bichi added that the committee increased the budgetary allocation of the Ministry of Defence from the initial allocation of N476billion to N546billion.

According to him, the four-month wage award of N210billion for workers was considered and approved for onward transmission to the President for implementation.

He pledged adequate legislative oversight to ensure 100 per cent implementation.

The sum of N100bn was retained for the Federal Capital Territory as requested.

The lawmaker said, “Today, our committee has submitted our report, and the House after careful consideration, approved our submission and the breakdown is as follows:

“As you know, the budget is about N2.177 trillion and the Ministry of Defence has N456billion but currently, they have the largest share because we know how important our security is. As you are aware, we interacted with them yesterday and they requested additional funding so that they can continue their work.

“So, we have increased their budget from N476billionto N546billion.

 “Then Police Formation and Command, we gave them N50billion while the FCT has about N100 billion. You know FCT is very important to us because we want to make sure FCT can compete with any city in the world.

 “Office of the National Security Adviser, we know how important that office is. Initially, the allocation was N27billion but currently, we have increased their budget to N50billion.

“The initial budget for the State House was N28billion and we still maintain their figure at N28billion as well.

“Ministry of Agriculture, you know how important that ministry is, you are talking about food security, and of course, it’s critical to our people across the nation.

“So, we have maintained their initial figure of N200billion as well.

“You know how serious the housing deficit in this country is and in Mr President’s agenda, he wants to build as many houses as he can. So, we have approved N100 billion for the Ministry of Housing.”

The Thursday approval of the supplementary budget followed the consideration and approval of the report of the Committee on Appropriations.

The report titled, “A Bill for an Act to authorise the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation the total sum of N2,176,791,286,033 for the year ending 31 December 2023” was laid by Bichi.

Tinubu, in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, asked the lawmakers to speedily pass the supplementary budget to aid the government in dishing out palliatives and other essential services to Nigerians.

As a result, the executive bill (budget) was slated for a second reading and it was passed and referred to the Committee on Appropriations for further legislative action.

Out of the total of N2.176 trillion approved, N18 billion is for statutory transfers, N992.8billion is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the sum of N1.165 trillion is for contribution to the Development Fund for capital expenditure.

 But the presidency says the yacht listed in the 2023 supplementary budget is a naval boat and not for President Tinubu’s usage.

This was disclosed in a state house release signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and strategy.

 The statement noted that the term Presidential yacht was used to denote the special military features of the boat and not for use by the President. 

 The statement reads:   “The listing of the yacht in the budget which was passed on Thursday had elicited criticisms from Nigerians who faulted the government’s plan to purchase such for the president despite the country’s harsh economic situation.

“Following public reactions over the provision for what is termed presidential yacht and other line items in the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation presented to the National Assembly, it is important to provide some clarifications.

“First, we need to make clear that President Bola Tinubu’s administration respects the views of Nigerians on all matters of public concern. We thus consider it very imperative to clear any misconception and misunderstanding of the issues.

“1. What was named as Presidential Yacht in the budget is an Operational Naval boat with specialized security gadgets suitable for high profile operational inspection and not for the use of the President. It is called presidential yacht by way of nomenclature because of the high level security features.

“2.  The Naval boat was ordered by the navy under the previous administration. President Tinubu has consistently said that government is a continuum as he inherited both assets and liabilities of past administrations.

“3.  The payment request for the boat was part of the committed obligation submitted by the office of the Chief of Naval Staff to the Ministry of Defence. The total of the submitted requests was in excess of N200 billion out which  N62 billion was approved by the President.

“4. President Tinubu is focused on securing our country and territorial waters. The Federal Government under his leadership is investing more resources  to enhance greater economic output from our oil and gas, marine and blue economy.

“In President Tinubu, we have a leader who understands the economic challenges being faced by the masses. His administration is working very hard to confront and surmount those  challenges. Nigerians will soon get the benefits of the ongoing reforms that will certainly lead to a buoyant and improved quality of life for all citizens. “