Abubakar Bichi, the chairman of the House of Representatives committee on appropriations, has stated that the budget for the presidential yacht has been transferred to student loans.
Bichi made the disclosure on Thursday while briefing journalists after the passage of the supplementary budget.
“As far as we are concerned, we don’t have that presidential yacht anymore. We have increased the student loan,” he said.
“If you recall, the student loan was N5 billion in the budget, but we have increased it to N10 billion.”
The allocation for a presidential yacht generated mixed reactions among Nigerians, with some calling the Tinubu-led administration “insensitive” to the economic hardship bedeviling the country.
However, Tope Ajayi, the presidential spokesman, stated that President Bola Tinubu did not ask for a presidential yacht.
Ajayi’s statement comes on the heels of outrage and backlash directed at the presidency for allocating huge sums of money to things of no national importance while the citizens suffer untold economic hardship.
He noted that the yacht was included in the Nigerian Navy’s proposed N42.3 billion capital budget.
