Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume (Borno APC), on Friday said the outcry of Nigerians over the controversial N5.095 billion Presidential Yacht was late in coming as it has already been delivered.
Speaking on Friday during an interview on Arise Television, Ndume said the Yacht had been signed and delivered but not yet paid for before the public outcry.
He noted that the Senate has since added the required payment fee for the Yacht to the students loan budget.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday October 31, 2023 requested approval of the two Chambers of the National Assembly for the N2.17trn Supplementary Budget for 2023 with the Yacht as part of the budget details as published.
According to the budget, N5.09 billion was allocated for the Presidential Yacht and listed under the Nigerian Navy’s proposed capital expenditure of N42.3 billion.
The Presidency, on Thursday, dismissed reports that President Tinubu requested for the Presidential Yacht.
According to Ndume: “We queried the amount budgeted for the yacht, but it was signed for in dollar rate, and the new rate isn’t favourable. The budget was predicated for about N435, and now it is over N800.
“The Navy also clarified that it is not a new budget. And even the House of Representatives moved the budget to the Student loan. The deal for the yacht has been agreed, signed, and delivered but not paid for.”
Group Captain Sadeeq Garba Shehu (rtd), an international Defence and Security Consultant had told earlier Global Upfront Newspapers (GUN) that “the idea of purchasing a Presidential Yacht was first proposed to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2010 (and the reason given was purely for 60th independence celebration and nothing else) at a cost of N3.3 billion but GEJ probably received quality advice and he turned down the idea. Obviously, President Muhammadu Buhari was sold the same idea and agreed in principle but had no money.
“With the coming of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the idea was unwisely repackaged as an outstanding commitment. And with no independent quality military advice, President Tinubu was convinced he was doing something good for the Navy and had to complete the purchase of what is basically a leisure ship but passed off to him as “operational ship with special gadgets” at a time when what the Navy needs are frigates, fast attack crafts, corvettes etc.
“This is one of the risks if the President with no military person in his cabinet, can be bamboozled on military matters to pursue prestige projects that add little or nothing to military operational capacity. Even as I must be fair to reemphasize that , the last Chief of Naval Staff cooked up this wasteful and irrelevant (for now operations wise and for Nigeria economy wise) which somehow was surprisingly approved by PMB.
“The current president, with no quality military advice approved, thinking it was something good. The current CNS was not the originator , his blame lies only in continuing with a purchase started by his predecessor and which he knows is not a priority and is a waste of money. There are a thousand and one things that the Navy currently needs and a Presidential Yacht is not one them. My only surprise this time around is that it’s the usually sleepy and equally ignorant House of Representatives that stopped this.
“What does this teach us? Eternal vigilance by the Executive and legislative branches on military/security requests plus the seeking of independent professional advice before approving requests or else you continue ploughing in billions into defence and security without the commensurate returns on increased operational capacity. We should be happy that an unnecessary expenditure which doesn’t benefit the Navy or the country has been stopped.
“A Presidential Yacht is an expensive hobby that even the US found in 1977 during Jimmy Carter was a waste of public funds and auctioned them off. Currently only a few countries not more than six, including Russia, India, Turkey have Presidential Yachtes and they too are home made, to show their advancement in military technology.”