President Muhammadu Buhari has sent a signal to Nigerians that he is serious about moving the country out of recession as the Presidency on Tuesday confirmed that newspaper advertisements for the sale of two presidential aircraft, a Falcon 7X executive jet and Hawker 4000, were ordered by the president.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed this in a statement made available to the press.
He said the decision to sell the jets was in line with Buhari’s directive that aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet should be reduced to minimize waste.
Shehu however pointed out explained that the sale of the two jets is only the beginning and not the end of reduction of waste.
He also said some aircraft in the fleet would soon be handed over to the Nigeria Air Force for its operations.
He said, “When he campaigned to be President, the then APC candidate Muhammadu Buhari, if you recall, promised to look at the Presidential Air Fleet with a view to cutting down on waste.
“His directive to a government committee on this assignment is that he likes to see a compact and reliable aircraft for the safe airlift of the President, the Vice-President and other government officials that go on special missions.
“This exercise is by no means complete. I am sure the Commander of the Presidential Air Fleet will any time from now call you to a ceremony at which he will hand over some other aircraft to the Air Force for their operations.”
According to a document obtained from the Presidency the amount so far released for the fleet since the inception of the current administration in May 2015 is put at N5bn.
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