Abuja, NIGIERIA — Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has insisted on going ahead to buy new presidential aircrafts and to sell three ageing presidential flights to raise funds to purchase a new ones.
Source said the federal government has appointed JetHQ, a US-based airline marketer, to broker the sale. Proceeds from the sale will go towards procuring a new jet, for which a search is ongoing.
“Although offers for the ageing aircraft have been received, it is yet to be sold,” the source said.
“We have received two offers for the BBJ and one for the Falcon X. But the NSA insisted that we must press for a better deal instead of rushing to have a bad deal for the government,” a Presidential Air Force (PAF) official involved with the process said.
QqqThis was also confirmed by Zakari Mijinyawa, a spokesman for the National Security Adviser (NSA).
The government says the decision sell the old aircrafts was also to reduce excessive spending on fleet maintenance for the aircrafts currently not in use.
The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence had recommended the purchase of two new aircraft for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Despite the recommendation by lawmakers for the purchase of two new aircraft, officials say the government cannot afford it, and will instead use the sale proceeds to augment the cost of a new jet.
The sale of the three aircraft will reduce the number of jets in the presidential air fleet by half, from six aeroplanes and four helicopters to three.
The fleet, maintained by the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF), includes a Boeing 737 Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), a Gulfstream G550, a Gulfstream GV, two Falcon 7x, and one Challenger CL605.
However, insiders reveal that at least half of the fleet is unserviceable or failing, necessitating the need to dispose of the burdensome aircraft. The jets slated for sale are a Boeing 737 BBJ, a Gulfstream, and a Falcon 7x.
“We saw the report and recommendation by the lawmakers. But the truth of the matter is that we can not afford to buy two aircraft at a go, even though we are selling off others. The approval now is to find one whose cost is not too much that we can augment with what we raise from this sale,” a government insider said.
Note that the President’s BBJ aircraft has been undergoing maintenance since March. Recent incidents involving faulty aircraft have forced the President and Vice President to use chartered planes for their travels.
Tinubu used a private airplane for his latest trip to South Africa.
However idea of buying new presidential aircrafts have generated mixed reactions from opposition, with even some of President’s most ardent loyalists who dismissed the plan as a waste of resources at a time when the country is facing hydro-headed economic crises.
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