Buhari urged to set a good example by selling off fleet of 10 presidential aircraft

CIVIL society organisation Say No Campaign Nigeria has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sell off the fleet of presidential jets as an exemplary measure to assure the country that his government is ready and willing to sacrifice.

 

Nigeria's presidential air fleet has a total of 10 planes and the cost of maintaining them is proving very expensive, effectively undermining President Buhari's efforts at reducing the cost of governance. A total of N5bn (£11.85m) has been spent maintaining the presidential air fleet over the last 15 months.

 

Since assuming office last May, President Buhari has laid emphasis on reducing the cost of governance, cutting expenditure on official travel and reducing public officials' perks. Asking the president to set a good example, Say No Campaign Nigeria, a coalition of civil society organisations said selling off the fleet will assure Nigerians that government is ready and willing to sacrifice in order to rescue the country from the current economic depression.

 

Made up of Partners for Electoral Reform, Protest to Power Movement and Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, the group said it was disingenuous for public officers to continue to live their extravagant lifestyles in the midst of the biting economic hardship. Its chairman Ezenwa Nwagwu, explained that considering the worsening economic hardship in the country, there was need for President Buhari to make some urgent adjustments and show clear commitments towards restoring the dwindling economic recession.

 

Mr Nwagwu said: “We are greatly concerned about the unprecedented levels of economic hardship bedevilling the nation which has resulted in hunger, deprivation, unemployment, skyrocketing cost of essential commodities, unmitigated corruption in public and private institutions. The worsening security situation in our country, the flagrant abuse of democratic processes and the accompanying failure or refusal by government to effectively address these issues."

 

He argued that the prevailing economic hardship compels rethinking of how government officials encourage waste in the system. Nigeria's large fleet of presidential aircraft inherited from former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s administration is the second largest airline in the country after Arik Air which has 23 aircraft in its fleet.