November 08, (THEWILL) – The Senate Committee on Navy has initiated investigation into the circumstances surrounding the procurement of the controversial N5 billion yacht by the Nigerian Navy.
Chairman of the Committee, Gbenga Daniel, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, after a meeting of the committee and other critical stakeholders.
Daniel, who is also a former governor of Ogun State, said the investigative panel is expected to turn in its report within one week.
According to him, the constitution of the committee was imperative in view of the widespread controversy generated by the purchase of the yacht by the Nigerian Navy.
The 2023 supplementary budget, which was recently approved by the Senate, following a presentation by President Bola Tinubu, proposed a sum of N5.095 billion for the purchase of a controversial yacht under the capital expenditure of the Nigerian Navy. It was also reported that the yacht, which is an operational boat with specialised security gadgets, was ordered by the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
THEWILL had reported the outrage over the Yacht since details of the N2.1 trillion supplementary budget were published.
Daniel, however, told newsmen that the Senate Committee had embarked on the process of unravelling the circumstances surrounding the purchase of the equipment.
“Following the controversy generated by the purported procurement of the controversial yacht, the Senate has resolved to constitute a panel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the vessel.
“The investigative panel is expected to report its findings within the next week.
“The investigation is imperative and inevitable in view of the claims and counter-claims over the issue. From the preliminary facts available, the yacht was ordered by the previous administration and delivered, though not yet paid for. The procurement without the National Assembly’ approval has equally raised eyebrows in certain quarters.
“However, as part of our parliamentary oversight, the Senate will look into the issues and quiz all the parties involved with a view to preventing reoccurrence in our governance system”, he said.
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