We transferred appropriation for yacht to student loans, says reps panel

Abubakar Bichi, chairman of the house of representatives committee on appropriations, says the budget for the presidential yacht has been transferred to student loans. 

Bichi spoke 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 federal government had planned to spend N5 billion for the purchase of a presidential yacht in the supplementary budget. The proposed sum was under the capital expenditure of the Nigerian Navy’s budget.

The budgetary allocation to the presidential yacht had elicited outcry from Nigerians, given the rising cost of maintenance and the call to cut the cost of governance.

Bichi said the budget for the ministry of defence was increased from N476 billion to N546 billion.

“The ministry of defence has the largest share because we know how important our security is,” he said.

The lawmaker said the budget of the office of the national security adviser (ONSA) was also increased from N27 billion to N50 billion because of the importance of national security.

He said the N28 billion for the State House was maintained.

According to the legislator, the proposed N615 billion for the service-wide vote was slashed to N515 billion.