Reps Scrap N5bn Presidential Yatch, Increase Students Loan to N10 Billion

Following an outcry from Nigerians, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Abubakar Bichi, has said the budget for the presidential yacht has been transferred to student loans.

Bichi spoke 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.

“If you recall, the student loan was N5 billion in the budget, but we have increased it to N10 billion”, he said.

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.