Reports suggest that President Bola Tinubu is contemplating the purchase of new private jets for himself and Vice-President Kashim Shettima amidst economic hardship and in the wake of a reported breakdown of presidential jets in the Netherlands.
Tinubu was compelled to use a commercial aviation service to attend an economic summit in Saudi Arabia over the weekend after his primary luxury jet was sent for repairs and a second aircraft he was using encountered technical issues in the Netherlands.
Tinubu had arrived in The Hague on April 23 for a series of economic and diplomatic meetings at the behest of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. However, just before his planned departure from the Netherlands on Friday, he was informed of various problems with his plane, including an oxygen leak, according to anonymous officials.
As a result, Tinubu and his delegation had to abandon the Nigerian government aircraft and charter a jet to continue their journey to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for a special session of the World Economic Forum. They arrived on Friday night. The president and a few of his personal aides traveled on a Falcon 8X 9H-GRC private jet, while the rest of the delegation, including several ministers and other top administration officials, used different support aircraft and commercial airlines.
The aircraft in question, a Gulfstream G550 class originally assigned to Vice-President Kashim Shettima, was taken to a maintenance facility at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg on March 25 and had not been returned to Nigeria as of Saturday night. The Gulfstream jet was later repaired and flown to Saudi Arabia, where it is now ready to transport the president back to Nigeria after his official trip on April 29.
This is not the first incident involving the presidential air fleet. Maintenance records reviewed by The Gazette reveal that the Boeing 737 operated by the Nigerian Air Force 001 has undergone extensive repairs at least seven times in the past three years, costing the government over $8 million.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the plane, which was first manufactured in 1998 and can carry about 30 passengers. It has served all Nigerian presidents in the uninterrupted Fourth Republic. However, the frequent technical issues with the aging aircraft have raised safety concerns among administration officials, despite the plane’s iconic status.
Aviation experts have publicly criticized the high maintenance costs as wasteful, arguing that a new plane would better serve the country, renew confidence in air travel safety for future presidents, and stave off unnecessary costs that could be diverted to other crucial areas of economic development.
