FG Puts Three Presidential Aircraft Up For Sale

Three ageing presidential jets have been put on sale by the Federal Government, TheCable reports.

According to the report, officials said the move will cut excessive spending on fleet maintenance.

Osun Defender reports that the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence recommended that two new aircraft should be purchased for use by the president and the vice president.

The recommendation was also supported by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Shehu Buba Umar.

The report noted that selling off the three aircraft would cut by half the number of jets in the presidential air fleet which currently consists of six airplanes and four helicopters.

The current fleet, maintained by the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF), an arm of the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), includes Boeing 737 Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), a Gulfstream G550, a Gulfstream GV, two Falcon 7x and one Challenger CL605.

Insiders, however, said at least half of the entire fleet is made up of unserviceable or failing aircraft, necessitating the need to dispose of those considered to be of greater burden to the fleet.

The jets pencilled down for sale, according to TheCable are a Boeing 737 Boeing Business Jet (BBJ), which is the president’s designated aircraft, one Gulfstream and a Falcon 7x.

The federal government was reported to have appointed a frontline US-based airline marketer, JetHQ, as the broker for the sale of the three aircraft, TheCable further learnt.

“An exclusive marketing agreement had been signed between the Nigerian government and the company giving the firm permission to value the three aircraft and subsequently market them.

“Insiders say proceeds from the sale would go into procuring a new jet for the fleet, for which a search is ongoing,” the report stated.

“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 senior official, who is familiar with the management of the fleet, said.

TheCable learnt that the marketing firm has already submitted three bids from buyers to the Office of the National Security Adviser for consideration.

“Yes, 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 PAF official involved with the process said on condition of anonymity.

Zakari Mijinyawa, a spokesman for the NSA, confirmed the ongoing disposal process to TheCable but gave no further details.