The Presidency has issued further clarifications in response to the controversy surrounding the N5 billion budget provision for a presidential yacht in the 2023 supplementary budget.
This came after the initial clarification by Temitope Ajayi, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, who stated that President Bola Tinubu did not request a presidential yacht.
Ajayi had noted that the Nigerian Navy made the request, contrary to the wide conception that the yacht was meant for his principal.
In the latest statement from the State House, Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, said the presidential yacht is a Naval boat that had been ordered by the Nigerian Navy during the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Onanuga further clarified that the term “Presidential Yacht” used in the budget proposal does not refer to a luxurious vessel for the personal use of the President but rather an operational naval boat “with specialized security gadgets suitable for high-profile operational inspections” adding “It is called a presidential yacht by way of nomenclature because of the high-level security features.”
The statement further reads, “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 of which N62 billion was approved by the President.
“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.”bola
‘Presidential Yacht Budget Scrapped’
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives, while considering the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget submitted by President Tinubu, removed the contentious N5 billion allocation meant for a presidential yacht.
Abubakar Bichi, chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriation, told journalists that the lower legislative chamber decided to reallocate the provision made for the presidential yacht to the student loan section, thereby raising it to N10 billion.
