The House of Representatives has squashed the N5 billion budgetary provision for a presidential yacht following the public outcry against the item in the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget request by President Bola Tinubu.
Nigerians rejected the purchase of the presidential yacht, saying it was insensitive at a time when Africa’s largest economy has nosedived owing to Tinubu’s reforms since taking office in May, including ending the petrol subsidy.
Presidency Clears the Air…
In reaction to the mounting concerns, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu’s adviser on information and strategy, said the “operational naval boat” is not for the President’s use but for the Nigerian Navy.
“It is called a presidential yacht by way of nomenclature because of the high-level security features,” Onanuga said.
He said the Nigerian Navy procured the yacht under the administration of Muhammadu Buhari but the payment for the yacht fell on President Tinubu who “inherited both assets and liabilities of past administrations.”
Part of Onanuga’s 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. The Federal Government under his leadership is investing more resources to enhance greater economic output from our oil and gas, marine and blue economy.”
Lawmakers’ Decision…
During the speedy consideration of the 2023 supplementary budget on Thursday, the Green Chamber padded the budgetary allocation for the student loan programme billed to take off in January with the N5bn initially proposed for the yacht.
“As far as we are concerned, we don’t need the presidential yacht anymore,” Abubakar Bichi Abubakar, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, told reporters shortly after the supplementary budget was passed.
“We have increased the student Loan. If you can recall, the student loan was N5bn in the budget, but now we have increased it from N5bn to N10bn so that our students will be able to access that facility for them to be able to go to school and to be able to afford them.”
In the supplementary budget, N18bn is for statutory transfers, N992.8bn is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while the sum of N1.165tr is for contribution to the Development Fund for capital expenditure.
- DSS Raises Alarm Over Fake Operatives After Sacking 115 Officers - November 5, 2025
- Tinubu Counters CPC Tag, Says Nigeria Protects All Faiths Equally - November 2, 2025
- Trump Labels Nigeria “Country of Particular Concern” Over Christian Persecution - November 1, 2025