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The House of Representatives has eliminated the N5 billion budget earmarked for the acquisition of a Presidential yacht.
After the passage of the Supplementary budget on November 2, Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abubakar Bichi, addressed the media. He explained that the decision to remove the yacht budget was made in consideration of public interest. The allocated funds have been redirected to bolster the Student Loan Initiative, increasing its budget from N5 billion to N10 billion.
Bichi stated, “As far as we are concerned, we no longer have a presidential yacht. We have augmented the student loan allocation. Initially, the student loan budget stood at N5 billion in the proposal, but we have now raised it to N10 billion.”
The Committee also raised the budget allocation for the Ministry of Defence from N476 billion to N546 billion due to heightened security concerns.
Furthermore, Bichi revealed that the minimum wage for workers was approved and will be forwarded to the executive branch. The House has committed to providing thorough legislative oversight to ensure the full implementation of this wage increase.
Lastly, a sum of N100 billion was retained for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as requested by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.
