The house of representatives on Thursday said it has transferred the budget for presidential yacht to student loan.
Abubakar Bichi, chairman of the house of representatives committee on appropriations made this known on Thursday
Bichi spoke while briefing Reporters after the passage of the supplementary budget.
DAILY GIST reports that the N5.09 billion allocation for a presidential yacht in the Federal Government’s N2.1 trillion supplementary budget had sparked controversy.
The yacht is listed under the Nigerian Navy’s proposed capital expenditure of N42.3 billion.
The president has come under fire for also budgeting N28 billion for the purchase of luxury cars for himself, the first lady, as well as the renovation of the president’s residence among other spending for the state house.
The review of the proposed supplementary budget showed that despite the country’s economic challenge, the government is also planning to spend N12.5 billion on the Presidential Air Fleet.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Bichi said the committee removed the item and moved the money to the student loan section to make it N10 billion.
“As far as we are concerned we don’t have that presidential yatch anymore. We have increased the student loan.”
“If you recall, the student loan was N5 billion in the budget but we have increased it to N10 billion.”he said
Earliet, the Presidency denied report that Tinubu’s administration proposed an allocation of funds in the 2023 supplementary budget for the purchase of a N5.095 billion presidential yacht.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, on Thursday, said the yacht was requested by the Nigerian Navy, and not the president.
“It is important to state clearly that President Bola Tinubu did not ask for a presidential yatch and I doubt he needs one to perform the functions of his office,” Ajayi said in a statement on Thursday.
“From what I know, the request for a yacht, however it is named or couched in the budget is from the Navy and they must have operational reasons for why it is required.
“The budget office should be in a position to also explain to the public why such expenditure should be accommodated now, considering the economic situation of the country.
“I must readily admit that the one reason our budgeting system has been a subject of public attack is the very simplistic way some of the line items are described by civil servants, who prepare the budget.”
