Pres. Tinubu didn’t ask for a presidential yacht. He doesn’t need it — Presidential spokesperson

Temitope Ajayi, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not ask for a presidential yacht as he doesn’t need it.

Recall that the federal government budgeted N5.09 billion for the procurement of a presidential yacht in the N2.1 trillion supplementary budget Tinubu submitted to the National Assembly for approval.

Reacting to the criticism that have trailed the issue, Ajayi on Thursday, November 2, said: “The trending issues on social media since yesterday are two items in the 2023 supplementary budget. One is the provision for a presidential yacht in the supplementary budget by the Navy and the other is over N6 billion for vehicles to the State House.

It is important to state clearly that President Bola Tinubu didn’t ask for a presidential yatch and I doubt he needs one to perform the functions of his office. 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.

The budget office should be in a position to also explain to the public why such expenditure should be accommodated now, considering the economic situation of the country.”