ABUJA, Nov 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nigeria’s lower chamber of parliament has rejected the government’s plan to buy a presidential yacht for $6m.
Nigerians had criticised the plan as a waste of money on luxuries during an economic crisis.
Lawmakers instead moved the $6m to the student loan budget, doubling its allocation, a senior lawmaker Abubakar Bichi said.
President Bola Tinubu took office in May with a promise to cut waste, and ease people’s financial hardship.
But he triggered an outcry after he tabled a supplementary budget in the National Assembly for approval, with the planned purchase of the yacht listed under the Nigerian Navy’s proposed capital expenditure of $53m.
Tinubu’s spokesman Temitope Ajayi distanced the president from plans to buy the yacht.
“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,” he said.
The budget was approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday.
But Bichi, chairman of the influential House Committee on Appropriation and a member of Tinubu’s ruling party, told local journalists that lawmakers had declined to approve the allocation for a presidential yacht.
The budget also earmarks $36m for State House expenditure, including the purchase of luxury vehicles and the construction of a presidential office complex.
The government is also planning to spend $15m on the presidential air fleet.
The controversy comes at a time when Tinubu is under intense pressure over the cost-of-living crisis, and a massive fall in the value of Nigeria’s currency, the naira, against the dollar.
Nigeria’s annual inflation rose to 26.7% in September, according to official statistics.
Ajayi said the president and his vice-president were not planning to add new vehicles to their fleet, and were using “inherited vehicles” from the previous administration.
He said the budget for vehicles was for hundreds of civil servants and political aides working at State House. — NNN-AGENCIES
