House Of Reps Cancels ₦5 Billion Budget Presidential Yacht, Increases Student Loan Expenditure

The House of Representatives has said the expenditure for the presidential yacht in the 2023 supplementary budget has been transferred to student loan expenditure. 

The Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Hon. Abubakar Bichi, made this known on Thursday while briefing journalists after the passage of the 2023 Appropriation Bill.

He said there is no budget for the presidential yacht anymore because the money has been added to the budget of the student loan which has increased from ₦5 billion to ₦10 billion.

He said: “As far as we are concerned we don’t have that presidential yacht anymore. We have increased the student loan.

“If you recall, the student loan was ₦5 billion in the budget but we have increased it to ₦10 billion.”

Recall that the Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government had planned to purchase a Presidential yacht worth N 5 billion after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved N2.17 trillion as the 2023 supplementary budget.

It was learned that the proposed sum is under the capital expenditure of the Nigerian Navy’s budget.

According to the breakdown, the Navy will require ₦62.8 billion for its operations, with recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure gulping ₦20.4 billion and ₦42.3 billion, respectively.