Presidential yacht: Reps accuse Navy of purchase without approval

The last is yet to be heard on the controversies trailing the proposed procurement of N5.095 billion Presidential Yacht by the Nigerian Navy which was expunged from the N2.177 trillion Supplementary budget passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday.

Speaking exclusively with Saturday Tribune, Chairman, House Committee on Navy, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi who denied knowledge of the any budgetary allocation for the procurement, affirmed that the Committee will investigate the infraction.

Hon. Gagdi who expressed concern over the development, argued that there was no provisions in the approved budgetary provisions for the Nigerian Navy over the past four years.

He said: “yes, I’m not aware of it.”

When asked whether it is out of place to procure the platform, Hon. Gagdi said: “It is, it must be provided for unless if it is a special intervention which we can oversight, even if it is a special intervention, we can oversight.”

While responding to question on any other subheads provided for among the N62 billion supplementary budget proposed for the Nigerian Navy that he considered as unnecessary, he said: “Navy has been treated unjustly. If Army will have over N200 billion, Air Force will have N112 billion and Navy will have only N62 billion. It means they didn’t consider Navy as one of the Armed Forces’ agency that protects the national assets.

“You want revenue, you don’t want crude oil theft, you don’t want piracy, you don’t want oil bunkering, instead of strengthening the Agency that is vested with the responsibility of defending the country by sea, in terms of our natural resources, you’re giving money to other sister Agencies beyond the Agency that’s is responsible for the economy prosperity of the nation.

“I don’t think that that supplementary budget is even fair to the Nigerian Navy, I can say that any day, any time.

“But I equally see that the Presidential Yacth in the budget is equally not suppose to be there.

“It can’t be provided for in the budget. There’s nothing wrong in the appearance in the budget but again if the Yacht is already been in our water.

“Who provided for the logistics, you pay for the yacht and the yacht was supplied? What is the arrangement with Nigerian Navy? I don’t have answers to these, until we investigate what is going on,” Hon. Gagdi said.

When asked about the possible time to commence the investigation into the procurement of the presidential Yacht, he said: “I don’t want to be under pressure, I can’t say anything until I go back to the House, call Committee members, sit down and study the nature of things before we commence investigation.”

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