The Presidency has said 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.
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, “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 a presidential yacht by way of nomenclature because of the high-level security features.”
The presidential yacht was approved by the previous administration
Furthermore, Mr. Onanuga explained that the “Presidential yacht” was approved by the previous administration of President Buhari and the current administration allowed it because the government is a continuum.
It also said that the payment for the “Presidential yacht” is part of a committed obligation by the Nigerian Navy to the Ministry of Defence and displays the President’s commitment to securing the country’s waterways.
- The statement 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.”
Backstory
Nairametrics earlier reported a proposal from the Nigerian Navy to purchase a Presidential yacht for N5 billion while budgeting N5.5 billion for the student loan program.
However, the House of Representatives during approval of the 2023 Supplementary budget removed the N5 billion appropriation for the Presidential yacht and added the proposed fund to the Student loan program.
This government is a total failure. What is yacht?clueless aide here and there, does that clueless man know and understand the simple definition of yacht. They would have requested for warship instead of yacht. Nigerians are dying of hunger and they want to go cruise. Thunder wey go strike them still dey do press up.