Yacht isn’t meant for Tinubu, navy will use it – presidency reacts to outbursts
The presidency has reacted to the outcries of Nigerians over the purported plan to buy a yacht for the president, Bola Tinubu. Nigerians have condemned the president for being insensitive to the plight and pain of the people of the country.
While Nigerians are struggling to make the ends meet, political leaders are spending the hard earned money recklessly.
Reports of the plan to spend a whooping sum of N5bn on a yacht for the president spread yesterday and reactions greeted the news. But the presidency has now said that the Nigerian Navy (NN) would use the yacht.
Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on information and strategy, released a statement on Thursday to clear the air.
He said, “Following public reactions over the provision for what is termed presidential yacht and other line items in the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation presented to the National Assembly, it is important to provide some clarifications.
“First, we need to make clear that President Bola Tinubu’s administration respects the views of Nigerians on all matters of public concern. We thus consider it very imperative to clear any misconception and misunderstanding of the issues.
“What was named as Presidential Yacht in the budget is an Operational Naval boat with specialised security gadgets suitable for high-profile operational inspection and not for the use of the President. It is called a presidential yacht by way of nomenclature because of the high-level security features.
“The Naval boat was ordered by the navy under the previous administration President Tinubu has consistently said that government is a continuum as he inherited both assets and liabilities of past administrations.
“The payment request for the boat was part of the committed obligation submitted by the office of the Chief of Naval Staff to the Ministry of Defence. The total of the submitted requests was in excess of N200 billion out which N62 billion was approved by the President.
“President Tinubu is focused on securing our country and territorial waters. The Federal Government under his leadership is investing more resources to enhance greater economic output from our oil and gas, marine and blue economy.
“In President Tinubu, we have a leader who understands the economic challenges being faced by the masses administration is working very hard to confront and surmount those challenges. Nigerians will soon get the benefits of the ongoing reforms that will certainly lead to a buoyant and improved quality of life for all citizens.”
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