The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, has confirmed that the presidential yacht deal, originally in the supplementary budget, has been signed and the yacht has already been delivered.
He, however, mentioned that the payment hadn’t been made before the passage of the supplementary budget.
Ndume made this disclosure while featuring on Arise Television on Friday.
He said that the procurement of the deal is what necessitated its addition to the supplementary budget.
Recall that the House of Representatives rejected the federal government’s proposal to allocate N5 billion for the purchase of a presidential yacht in the supplementary budget.
The proposed presidential yacht ignited public outcry among Nigerians, with many condemning it as an extravagant expenditure, especially given the country’s current economic challenges.
Ndume clarified that the deal had already been sealed before it was added to the supplementary budget, stating that the Navy added the yatch as part of their military hardware to tackle insecurity in the country.
- “We queried the amount budgeted for the yacht, but it was signed for a dollar rate, and the new rate isn’t favourable. The budget was predicated for 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” Ndume said.
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Responding to a question on the allocation of N160 million for SUVs to each National Assembly lawmaker, the Chief Whip pointed out that it follows the standard procedure of government employees purchasing vehicles for their official responsibilities.
He said that the vehicles’ pricing was subject to fluctuations in the naira-to-dollar exchange rate, stressing the legislators’ need for these vehicles.
- “The reason why we did not choose Nigerian-made cars is because they don’t manufacture their vehicles, but they assemble them.
- “I prefer Nigerian-made products, but the Nigerian car companies are only buying the vehicle parts and assembling them here.
- “Also, our roads are really bad, and it is not sustainable for lawmakers to traverse the country with vehicles that are not heavily lifted like SUVs,” he added.
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Earlier, Nairametrics reported that federal lawmakers have removed the controversial presidential yacht item in the 2023 supplementary budget and transferred the N5 billion allocated for it to student loan.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi (APC, Kano), revealed this information on Thursday, November 2, when he spoke to reporters following the approval of the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget by the House.
Bichi said that the committee had eliminated the item and transferred the funds to the student loan division, totalling N10 billion.
