Here’s How You’re Funding FG’s ₦5.05 Billion ‘Luxurious’ Yacht
When government officials spend extravagantly on ‘official’ duties and lodges in 5-star hotels, it is often easy to forget to narrow down whose money is being spent.
The same goes for ‘investments’ that are practically unsustainable and wasteful, a term many experts used in describing the proposed ₦5.05 billion presidential yacht.
On Tuesday, October 31, 2023, President Bola Tinubu submitted a ₦2.1 Trillion 2023 supplementary appropriation budget to the National Assembly that earmarked ₦5.095 billion for a presidential yacht, ₦2.9 billion for sport utility vehicles for the Presidential Villa, and ₦2.9 billion for the replacement of operational vehicles for the presidency.
However, just ₦5.5 billion was allocated for a Student Loan that over 1.8 million undergraduates in Nigerian tertiary institutions might apply for as part of measures to ease the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.
The proposal for the yacht, which is coming just two weeks after Nigerian lawmakers approved and justified the purchase of SUVs for 360 House of Representatives members valued at ₦57.6 billion, has elicited reactions from Nigerians, with many experts saying it is a waste of government resources and unfair to Nigeria’s taxpayers.
Before delving into whose money will be used to build and maintain this yacht, which is just ₦4 billion less than the entire Internal Generated Revenue of Kebbi State, does Nigeria need a presidential yacht?
Presidential yachts, for the most part, are used for ceremonial purposes or what Nigerians would call a ‘cruise’ in local parlance.
In 1977, Jimmy Carter, the former president of the US ordered that USS Sequoia, the country’s presidential yacht, be sold as a result of the high cost of maintenance and operation. It was estimated that the yacht cost American taxpayers an estimated $800,000 annually.
If the proposal is approved and the yacht is purchased, how many times will President Bola Tinubu ‘cruise’ around with other dignitaries while facing the task of reducing inflation at a two-decade all-time high of 26.72 percent, which has driven more Nigerians below the poverty line of $1.9 per day?
However, much of the concern lies in the fact that your tax money is what will be used to build and maintain this cruise-luxury yacht.
Here’s how.
Taxes are the lifeblood of government finances, coming in various forms like income tax, corporate tax, value-added tax (VAT), and customs duties. Nigerian individuals and businesses significantly contribute to these revenues by dutifully fulfilling their tax obligations.
In 2022, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said that the Federal Government of Nigeria made ₦10.1 trillion through Petroleum Profit Tax and Non-oil taxes.
For instance, as a business owner, you pay what is called Company Income Tax, from which the Federal Government made ₦2.6 trillion. Stamp duty, fees you pay on your various types of official documents, transactions, and legal instruments, raked in ₦53.5 billion for the government in 2022.
For Value Added Tax (VAT), Nigerians paid a total of ₦2.5 trillion for the consumption of goods and services at each stage of production or distribution.
The proposed allocation of ₦5.095 billion for a presidential yacht underscores a fundamental truth: taxpayers are the ones funding such government expenditures. As taxpayers, Nigerian citizens possess the right to demand that their contributions to the wealth of the nation be used wisely and in the best interests of the nation.
