A government proposal to purchase a presidential yacht for Head of State Bola Tinubu for Ksh.906.9 million (USD 6 million) was rejected by the lower house of the Nigerian parliament.
Many Nigerians criticized the proposal, which was included in a supplemental budget that was presented to the House on Thursday and included the Nigerian Navy’s planned capital expenditure of Ksh.8 billion (roughly USD 53 million), calling it extravagant for a country that is currently experiencing an economic crisis.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of Nigeria reports that the West African country’s annual inflation rate increased by 26.72 percent in September. The primary driver of this increase was food inflation, which increased by 30.64% in September from 29.34% in August.
Strangely, Tinubu promised to cut back on wasteful government expenditure and ease Nigerians’ financial problems when he took office in May.
According to the BBC, the MPs chose to use the money for student loan allocation instead, thus tripling the pot.
Human rights advocates have also denounced the action, saying that millions of Nigerians are living in abject poverty and the reasoning for it is nonsensical.
The spokesperson for the head of state, Temitope Ajayi, distanced Tinubu from the plan but said the navy requested the yacht for “operational reasons.”
“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 was cited as saying by the BBC.
