PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has predictably come under criticism over purported plans to buy new presidential jets. The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence had asked the Federal Government to purchase new aircraft for Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima based on the committee’s report after it investigated the status of the aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet.
In justifying its recommendations, backed by its Senate counterpart, the committee stated that it was in Nigeria’s best interest to procure two additional aircraft to forestall any mishap due to technical or operational inadequacy of the PAF.
Reports suggested that the motion to adopt the committee’s report was triggered by reports of faulty aircraft in the PAF, which forced Tinubu to fly in a charted plane from The Netherlands to Saudi Arabia during a recent overseas trip. Shettima was also forced to cancel a trip to the United States last month due to a faulty aircraft.
However, the proposal to purchase new aircraft underlies the insensitivity to the distress that Nigerians endure daily because of record inflation and the collapse of the national currency.
That the government could be contemplating buying new aircraft is absurd. The main presidential jet, a Boeing Business Jet based on the B737-800 platform, was purchased under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. It has a 30-year lifespan even if operated as a commercial airliner.
With 10 aircraft, the PAF, larger than most domestic airlines, has remained a drain on the public purse. The Federal Government earmarked N12.7 billion for PAF in the 2023 supplementary budget in addition to the initial N13 billion. The sum is N20.5 billion in the 2024 budget. About N73.3 billion was budgeted for the PAF between 2011 and 2020.
These huge allocations have elicited public outrage. There are instances PAF has been reduced to an Uber service by top officials. In 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari’s daughter Hanan flew a presidential jet to Bauchi for a personal photoshoot assignment. Tinubu appears fixated on entrenching the culture of waste.
Argentina president, Javier Milei, on getting into office last December sold two presidential jets and slashed the number of official vehicles and drivers by half to reduce government spending and tackle hyperinflation. The move is expected to save the country $3 billion annually. Milei slashed his cabinet by 50 per cent.
It is bad optics and a height of disdain for the President to urge citizens to sacrifice and endure current privations in the hope of better days while he and his officials luxuriate in opulence.
Images of the mile-long presidential convoys brimming with luxury SUVs give the impression that this President has no reservations about indulging in an imperial display of lavishness amid the crushing poverty ravaging most citizens. Nigerian leaders have been notoriously irresponsible, lacking empathy;they are condescending towards the citizenry. Indulging in new presidential jets, used like an Uber service by top officials, is taking this proclivity to new depths.
There is nothing new in a presidential jet breaking down. Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, suffered similar discomfort twice in September 2023 and January 2024 when the country’s 36-year-old Airbus A310 was stuck in India and Jamaica respectively. The aircraft is still in service. The US Air Force One presidential aircraft entered service in 1990.
Tinubu should live by example, aligning with the national mood and making the sacrifices he preaches. A new BBJ MAX 7 costs $101 million or N150 billion. The 2024 agriculture budget is N362.9 billion. The government needs to spend money on food production, education, health, and social infrastructure with an impact on the populace.
No law mandates the Federal Government to maintain a PAF. The UK leases jets for its prime minister and cabinet ministers to save costs. Nigeria can do the same.
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