The Presidency on Tuesday confirmed that newspaper advertisements for the sale of two presidential aircraft, a Falcon 7x executive jet and Hawker 4000 were duly authorised by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed this in a statement made available to journalists. Shehu said the decision to sell the jets was line with the directive of the President that aircraft in the Presidential Air Fleet be reduced to cut down on waste.
He explained that the reduction would not end with the sale of the two jets. The presidential spokesman said some aircraft in the fleet would also soon be handed over to the Nigeria Air Force for its operations.
Shehu 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 liked 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 Airforce for their operations.” According to the Presidency, the PAF currently has 10 aircraft.
