Lawmakers remove N5 billion presidential yacht from supplementary budget

The House of Representatives has removed the controversial N5 billion presidential yacht from the 2023 supplementary budget.

The budget was passed on Tuesday by the House after adopting the report submitted by the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Abubakar Bichi from Kano State.

The Committee of Supply considered the recommendations of the Appropriations Committee and passed the bill.

Bichi, after the passage of the budget, spoke with journalists and announced that the controversial presidential yacht was removed by the committee.

He stated that the N5 billion was moved to the Student Loans.

It would be recalled that the proposal by President Bola Tinubu had included spending N1.5 billion on vehicles for the office of the First Lady, N5 billion on a presidential yacht, and another N12.5 billion on the presidential air fleet.

There are ongoing campaigns on social media to stop the National Assembly from approving the supplementary budget, however, the bill has been given speedy approval.

Following the passage of the bill, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas announced that the president would sign the bill on Friday.