Saturday, 10 September 2016

10 PRESIDENTIAL AIR FLEET IS WASTEFUL AND INSENSITIVE - BUHARI ACCUSED

One of the PAF

The Saturday Punch today reported that the presidency has in its wing ten Presidential aircrafts which has so far gulped about N5bn to maintain in the last 15 months, according to exclusive documents the Newspaper obtained from a presidential source 
According to the document, the Presidency put the amount of money so far released for the Presidential Air Fleet since the inception of the current administration in May 2015 till date in the region of N5bn.
However aviation industry experts have a different view, they believe the Federal Government may have spent about N19.9bn on the 10-aircraft PAF in the last 15 months of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration
The estimated projections of expenses made in line with the cost of running and maintaining airplanes according to these aviation experts is about $65.13m (N19.9bn), using the official exchange rate of N305.5 per dollar, may have been spent on the 10-aircraft presidential fleet between May 29, 2015 and August 29, 201
The 10 presidential air fleet inherited from the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration is the second largest airline in the country, coming after Arik Air which has 23 aircraft in its fleet.
The 10 presidential air fleet according to the presidential source are: Boeing Business Jet (Boeing 737-800 or AirForce One), one Gulfstream 550, one Gulfstream V (Gulfstream 500), two Falcons 7X, one Hawker Sidley 4000, two AgustaWestland AW 139 helicopters and two AgustaWestland AW 101 helicopters. Each of the two Falcon 7X jets were purchased in 2010 by the Federal Government for $51.1m, while the Gulfstream 550 costs $53.3m, a former Minister of Information, the late Pro. Dora Akunyili, had said.
The General Secretary, Aviation Round Table, an industry pressure group, Group Captain John Ojikutu, said Buhari needed to reduce the PAF and sell aircraft belonging to most of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
He said, “It is high time the Presidency reduced the number of aircraft in that fleet. We can’t be spending our scarce forex to maintain a large fleet of 10 aircraft.”\
Most aviation experts and prominent Nigerians have condemned the large presidential air fleet maintained by the APC led Buhari administration, calling it a wasteful practice, same as they had accused former President, Goodluck Jonathan for.
Amongst those who have spoken out against this wasteful nature of the presidency is a former Governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, said President Buhari administration “is as wasteful as the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.”
Nigeria happens to be one of the few countries with a large PAF.
Most major countries in Europe and Asia maintain two aircraft in their PAF. According to Wikipedia, Japan maintains only two Boeing 747-400 planes in its PAF.
Netherlands government operates only two aircraft, a Fokker 70 and Gulfstream IV to transport the Dutch Royal family and government officials such as the Prime Minister and other ministers.
The Queen of England and the UK’s Prime Ministers often go on British Airways chartered flights for long trips.
Countries like Ghana, Algeria and a host of others in Africa maintain only one aircraft in their PAF. 

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