Details of how former President Goodluck Jonathan rejected Navy’s proposal to procure a N3.3 billion yacht for Presidential use in 2010 have emerged.
The proposed yacht which was purportedly meant to review the naval fleet during Nigeria at 50 anniversary celebrations in October was immediately turned down by Jonathan.
The then spokesman to Goodluck Jonathan, Ima Niboro told Dailytrust following a report by the media outlet during the administration of the Ex-president. Continue Reading…
According to Niboro, as soon as the proposal was presented to Jonathan, he directed the navy to collaborate with the National Assembly to seek the authority for a virement in order to use the funds for the repair of naval warships.
Recently, President Bola Tinubu-led administration attempted to smuggle back the proposed presidential yacht into 2023 supplementary appropriation.
It budgeted the whooping sum of N5.095 billion for the purchase of the yacht under the capital expenditure.
According to the details of the appropriation, the Nigerian Navy is to receive a capital expenditure of N42.3 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N20.42 billion, totaling N62.8 billion.
The budget includes funding for various purposes, such as the purchase of vehicles, the construction of naval bases in Lekki and Epe, and the procurement of critical equipment and ammunition.
But following the public condemnation that greeted the proposed yacht, the House of Representatives on Thursday, rejected the allocation of N5 billion for the project from the 2023 supplementary budget.
The decision was disclosed by the chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Kano State.
The rejection comes after the successful passage of the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget by the House.
Mr. Bichi while addressing newsmen on the matter said that the committee had opted to reallocate the N5 billion initially designed for the presidential yacht, effectively increasing the budget for student loans to N10 billion. Continue Reading…
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