The N5 billion presidential yacht provided in the supplementary budget was delivered even before the outrage from Nigerians.
Senate Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, who made the declaration on Arise Television’s Morning show on Friday, said the agreement, signature, and delivery were perfected, adding that however, payment for the Yacht was yet to be done.
Ndume, (Borno, APC), said the Senate had raised questions on the amount earmarked for the sailboat, adding that the Senate has since added the required payment fee to the student loan budget.
“We queried the amount budgeted for the yacht, but it was signed for at a dollar rate, and the new rate isn’t favourable. The budget was predicted to be about N435, and now it is over N800.
“The Navy also clarified that it is not a new budget. And even the House of Representatives moved the budget to the Student loan. The deal for the yacht has been agreed, signed, and delivered but not paid for.”
Referring to the N160 million for Land Cruiser SUV for each lawmaker in the National Assembly, the Chief Whip said it is okay for government workers to acquire vehicles for official duties, but noted that the.
“The reason why we did not choose Nigerian-made cars is because they don’t manufacture their vehicles, but they assemble them,” he said.
“I prefer Nigerian-made products, but the Nigerian car companies are only buying the vehicle parts and assembling them here.
Ndume said the reason for the SUVs was due to the bad state of Nigerian roads which he described as unmotorable, adding that these vehicles are the only ones that could help them overcome the terrible roads.
Nigerians have kicked against some items in the 2023 supplementary budget including the N5.095 billion on a presidential yacht for President Bola Tinubu, which his aides have come out to say he did not request for.
A presidential spokesperson, Tope Ajayi, said Tinibu did not ask for the yacht.
“The trending issues on social media since yesterday are two items in the 2023 supplementary budget. One is the provision for a presidential yacht in the supplementary budget by the Navy and the other is over N6 billion for vehicles to the State House.”
“It is important to state clearly that President Bola Tinubu didn’t ask for a presidential yacht and I doubt he needs one to perform the functions of his office. 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,” Ajayi said in a piece.
