Nigeria Parliament Rejects Plan To Buy Ksh.907M Yacht For President Bola Tinubu
The lower house of Nigeria’s Parliament has turned down a government proposal to acquire a Ksh.906.9 million (USD 6 million) presidential yacht for head of state Bola Tinubu.
The proposal which was captured in a supplementary budget tabled before the House on Thursday under the Nigerian Navy’s planned capital expenditure of Ksh.8 billion (approx. USD53M), was criticized by many Nigerians who labeled the expenditure as extravagant for a nation in the middle of an economic crisis.
According to Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the West African nation’s annual inflation rate surged by 26.72 percent in September, spurred largely by food inflation which jumped by 30.64% in September from 29.34% in August.
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Ironically, upon assuming office in May, Tinubu committed to reduce extravagant government spending and alleviate the financial burdens of Nigerians.
The lawmakers, the BBC reports, instead redirected the funds towards increasing the allocation of student loans, essentially doubling the kitty.
Human rights activists had similarly slammed the move arguing that the rationale behind it does not make sense when millions of Nigerians are living in extreme poverty.
While dissociating Tinubu from the proposal, the head of state’s spokesperson Temitope Ajayi stated that the navy had ‘operational reasons’ for requesting the yacht.
“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,” Ajayi is quoted as saying by BBC.
Nigeria Parliament Rejects Plan To Buy Ksh.907M Yacht For President Bola Tinubu