Nigeria’s Presidency says President Bola Tinubu has not requested for a Presidential yacht, and he does not require one to fulfill his duties as President.
This was made known in a reaction written by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, on the proposed appropriation of the sum of N5.095 billion for the purchase of a Presidential yacht .
Ajayi’s reaction was posted by the Special Adviser Information and Strategy ,Bayo Onanuga on his X handle ,formerly known as Twitter.
Further responding to the proposed appropriation of the sum of N5.095 billion for the purchase of a Presidential yacht, Ajayi clarified that the demand for a yacht, despite it’s form of presentation in the budget, originated from the Navy.
Ajayi said that the Nigerian Navy must have specific operational justifications for its necessity.
“The trending issues on social media since yesterday are two items in the 2023 supplementary budget. One is the provision for a presidential yacht in the supplementary budget by the Navy and the other is over N6 billion for vehicles to the State House.
“It is is important to state clearly that President Bola Tinubu didn’t ask for a presidential yatch and I doubt he needs one to perform the functions of his office.
“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 further stated that the Budget Office should clarify to the public the reasons for including such spending at this time, taking into account the country’s economic circumstances.
“The budget office should be in a position to also explain to the public why such expenditure should be accommodated now, considering the economic situation of the country,” he said.
The Presidential aide decry inadequate reporting stressing that it is inadequate journalism to consistently reduce the State House budget allocations to the President and Vice President’s offices.
Ajayi said; “It is poor reporting to always reduce State House budgetary provisions to the President and Vice President. When the State House makes provision for vehicles, it is reported as if it is the President that will use all the vehicles or eat all the food when a provision is made for food and catering services.
“A President and Vice President cannot, for any reason, spend N20 million Naira to eat in a year if it is about the food they will eat as first and second families. How much food can a person families? How much food can a person really eat? Yet, we will read headlines that Tinubu, Buhari, Jonathan or whoever the President is wants to spend N5billion on food and catering in a year when in actual fact such budgetary provisions are made to accommodate many state events, meetings, hosting of VIPs, foreign dignitaries, and even visits by other Head of States, and o bilateral and multilateral meetings that the State House will deal with in a given year.
He recalled that in August of this year, President Tinubu, in his role as the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of States and Governments of ECOWAS, organised two special summits of the regional organization to address the political turmoil in Niger Republic.
Ajayi said;”It worth stating that in August this year President Tinubu as the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of States and Governments of ECOWAS hosted two extraordinary summits of the regional body over the political crisis in Niger Republic. The two summits required catering services for the ECOWAS leaders and their delegation. Just this past Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was on a State Visit to Nigeria with a delegation of top business men and women from Germany.
“The President hosted the visiting Chancellor and his delegation to a state banquet. State House budget for food and catering services is spent on such events. It is not spent essentially to feed the President and Vice President.”
Mercy Chukwudiebere
