FG earmarks N17bn for presidential air fleet, yacht in supplementary budget

The federal government has earmarked N12.7 billion for the presidential air fleet in the 2023 supplementary budget.

The figure is in the recurrent expenditure of the office of the national security adviser (ONSA) with a total budget of N29.7 billion.

Other items in the budget proposed for the ONSA are the settlement of outstanding annual service legal agreement and bandwidth subscription for ONSA intelligence platforms (N4.7 billion); and operation MAD Thunder-NSA (N10 billion).

The ONSA said it would spend N2.2 billion as “part settlement of outstanding liabilities for procurement of treated/operational vehicles for State House and ONSA”.

Budgetary allocations to the presidential air fleet have historically elicited outcry from Nigerians, given the rising cost of maintenance.

TheCable had reported that Nigeria budgeted N73.3 billion for the presidential air fleet from 2011 to 2020. As of 2015, the number of jets in the presidential fleet stood at 10.

In 2016, former President Muhammadu Buhari promised to sell two of the jets to save costs.

The presidential fleet already received a N13 billion allocation in the 2023 approved budget.

N5BN FOR YACHT

The federal government also intends to spend N5 billion for the purchase of a presidential yacht. The proposed sum is under the capital expenditure of the Nigerian Navy’s budget.

According to the document, the navy will require N62.8 billion for its operations — with recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure gulping N20.4 billion and N42.3 billion, respectively.

On Monday, the federal executive council (FEC) approved the submission of a supplementary budget of over N2.17 trillion to the national assembly.

Following the president’s request for a “speedy” consideration and approval of the appropriation bill, the house of representatives and senate speedily passed the bill for a second reading.

A green light from the national assembly on the supplementary budget will raise Nigeria’s total 2024 budget to N28.17 trillion.