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. However, 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.
Due to the goodwill Nigeria is currently enjoying internationally, President Buhari has travelled extensively since assuming office as he is a regular visitor at global events. Given that the presidency's air fleet is bigger than that of most airlines operating in Nigeria, this has proved a huge drain on the treasury.
According to figures just released, the breakdown of the sum showed that N2.3bn was released for by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation between May and November 2015 to maintain the fleet. That figure included releases for personnel costs, overheads and capital expenditures, out of the N5.19bn appropriated for the fleet in the 2015 budget.
Of the sum, the presidency said N99.715m was spent on aircraft maintenance, spares and subscription services. In addition, the sum of N98.5m was also spent on operations, N165.373m on training and N85.5m on personnel medicals and overheads.
During the period, the document claimed that N1.350bn was spent settling outstanding liabilities carried over from 2014 while N500m was refunded to the office of the national security adviser for financial support rendered for the maintenance of the fleet prior to release of funds. This 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.
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