10 presidential jets gulp N2.1bn in six months

President Muhammadu Buhari has denied that his presidency spent about N6bn on the maintenance of 10 presidential jets.

The president who spoke through Garba Shehu, his special assistant on media and publicity, said the allegations were only aimed at distracting a government committed to solving major issues in the country, as only N2.1bn was spent in six months.

“The government is focused on solving the many major issues our country faces in the areas of the economy, corruption and security. Yet almost every week, the Presidency has to also deal with the distractions which do nothing but distract from the task of governance,” Shehu said in a statement.

Shehu stated that the sum of N2.3bn was released to the presidential air fleet (PAF) by the office of the accountant-general of the federation between May and November 2015.

The documents also showed that the sum of N2,127,103,086.66 had so far been expended, leaving a balance of N172,568,912.34 from the amount released.

“However, the sum of N149,062,791.12 was transferred from the PAG’s operation account to the Treasury Single Account, following the President’s recent directive,” he added.

“The fleet expended the sum of N449,081,037.25 within the last months comprising N98,500,218.00 for operations, N165,373,176.91 on training and N85,500,116.75 on personnel medicals and overhead.

“Additionally, the sum of N99,715,493.51 was expended on aircraft maintenance, spares, and subscription services required for operations.”

The fleet is made up of one 737 BBJ, one G550, one G500, two falcon 7X, one HS 4000, two Agusta139 and two Agusta 101.