The former Presidential aide, Reno Omokri has commended House of Representatives for scrapping the ₦5 billion Presidential Yacht which was included in supplementary budget by the Nigerian Navy.
Omokri on Twitter (X) made the commendation, said this is a classic examine of democracy in action, adding that the system worked with checks and balances are alive and well.
The N5b presidential yacht which has caused a lot of controversies on social media platforms was removed and moved to the Student Loans, increasing the allocation for student loans to 10bn as against 5bn.
Omokri said further that, “Whoever inserted that item into the budget is a fifth columnist that wanted to turn Nigerians against their government.
“And even more delightful is that, just as I suggested yesterday, the House of Reps had opted to transfer the ₦5 billion that was to be spent on the ill fated yacht to the Student Loan initiative.
“I am hoping that Arise Peoples Party, that has taken it on themselves to only broadcast negative news about Nigeria, and positive news about Peter Obi and the Labour Party, will give this action by House of Reps as much publicity as they gave the earlier story. Although, we all know that AriseTV will do no such thing”, he said.
Meanwhile, in a statement released by the Presidential aide on Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga has shared more light to the controversy presidential yacht.
He said, What was named as Presidential Yacht in the budget is an Operational Naval boat with specialized security gadgets suitable for high profile operational inspection and not for the use of the President.
“It is called presidential yacht by way of nomenclature because of the high level security features and was ordered by the navy under the previous administration.
“President Tinubu has consistently said that government is a continuum as he inherited both assets and liabilities of past administrations.
“The payment request for the boat was part of the committed obligation submitted by the office of the Chief of Naval Staff to the Ministry of Defence. The total of the submitted requests was in excess of N200 billion out which N62 billion was approved by the President.
“President Tinubu is focused on securing our country and territorial waters. The Federal Government under his leadership is investing more resources to enhance greater economic output from our oil and gas, marine and blue economy”.
He concluded that President Tinubu, is a leader who understands the economic challenges being faced by the masses.
Adding that his administration is working very hard to confront and surmount those challenges. “Nigerians will soon get the benefits of the ongoing reforms that will certainly lead to a buoyant and improved quality of life for all citizens”.