By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Nigeria’s House of Representatives has expressed concern over the state of the Presidential Air Fleet, following the use of a chartered private aircraft by President Bola Tinubu during his recent official trips to the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.
In response to a motion of urgent importance by a lawmaker, Ahmad Satomi, the parliamentarians feared that this puts the security of the President at risk and doesn’t speak well of the country to the international community.
Reports has emerged that a presidential jet developed some faults while the President was in the Netherlands last month.
There is nothing wrong with a public official including the President flying commercial jets, the opposition leader in the parliament, Kingsley Chinda had insisted.
The House therefore urged relevant security committees to carry out comprehensive audit on the presidential fleet, even as the matter was stepped down.
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Last December, a presidential aircraft, Falcon 900B, was put up for sale, with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) asking interested persons to submit their bids for the purchase of the aircraft.
According to an analysis of the 2024 budget proposal breakdown, the federal government projected to spend about N346bn on Presidential Air Fleet, presidential vehicles, welfare packages, meals, and refreshments.
The sum of N20.52bn was earmarked for the Presidential Air Fleet, part of which N6.58bn was allocated for aircraft maintenance, N1.79bn for aircraft fueling, N1.68bn for the overhauling of the 5N-FGS aircraft’s engines, N1.24bn for the overhauling of the 5N-FGW airplane engines, N1.66bn for the overhauling of two Falcon 7X plane engines.
