First, I am nearly confident that Nigeria’s presidency was not aware of this yacht line. In other words, no one can convince me that Tinubu would allow such, considering everything happening in the nation. My postulation is that one person in the government has a yacht which he is trying to dispose of, and the Nigerian people seem like a good target to dump it.
e Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives have passed the controversial N2.17 trillion 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Bill after its third reading, removing the controversial N5 billion budgeted for yacht, following outcry from civil society organizations and the general public.
The House of Representatives also made significant changes to the proposed supplementary budget, including an increase in the allocation for student loans and adjustments to other critical areas. The Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Abubakar Bichi Abubakar, shared these changes during a press briefing on Thursday.
When BBC Newshour broke the news at 3.30pm New York time yesterday, making a point that Nigeria’s lower legislature rejected and removed a N5bn yacht from supplementary appropriation bill, I was like “really?”
For the government, it may be time to scrutinize the budget team, considering how the House of Representatives tossed everything they sent, from defense to education. That means, even for a young government, the presidency may start making changes.
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May Nigeria work, and may the wishes of our leaders align with the aspirations of our citizens: yacht, a floating mansion, has no value for Nigeria today, and I commend the actions of the House of Reps.
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Your opening line is very troubling. This is how we explain away all kinds of malfeasance from public officials. The presidency transmitted a budget to the national assembly but Tinubu who heads the presidency might not be aware of what the presidency sent to the legislature. Are we serious like this? So, if one miscreant inserted a yacht budget of over N5 billion, who do we hold accountable? You cannot find stranger people than Nigerians.
Our problem is that we do not even know our problem, and that is why we keep drawing circles. The Executive Branch will prepare a budget and transmit to the Legislature, the latter will tinker it to the point of turning upside-down, and even increase the overall size; we obviously don’t pay attention to revenue potential, not when you are borrowing everything.
Every gaffe here must be blamed on someone else, and never the ineptitude and incompetence of those who told you they had the answers. We first come up with crazy things and then wait for the people to scream, and then we revert and get applauded for listening to the people. What kind of nonsense is that? Nigeria is not a real place, people who should be apologizing for their malfeasance are praised for stepping back.
What a people.