By Ikhide Erasmus
By November 29, precisely six months
after assuming office, President Muhammadu Buhari and his handlers would have
be hard put to explain why images of corruption, inherited from former
President Goodluck Jonathan's administration still cloud the nation's and airspace.
It
comes to the news once again that the Federal Government would have been
spending about N5.8bn on the 10-aircraft Presidential Air Fleet it inherited
from the former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. The PAF is
the third largest fleet in the country, coming after Arik Air and
Aerocontractors Airlines which have 23 and 12 aircraft in their fleets
respectively.Other domestic airlines including FirstNation, MedView Airlines,
Dana Air, Air Peace and Overland Airways have less than 10 aircraft each in
their fleets.
According to calculations done from estimated data obtained from aviation
parastatals and domestic airline operators in the country, President Muhammadu
Buhari’s administration will have spent about $58.58m (N11.598bn) on running
and maintaining the 10-aicraft presidential fleet by May 29 next year
when it turns one year in office. This means that the half of this amount,
$29.29m (N5.799bn), is expected to have been spent in principle on the large
fleet when administration turns six months in office by November 29.
A few weeks after his inauguration, President Buhari had reportedly ordered the
immediate disposal of some of the planes in the PAF. However, the Senior
Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, later
denied knowledge of such directive: “The story of the order for the sale
of aircraft in the Presidential Fleet, about which so much interest is being
expressed, is not known to us,” Shehu quipped.
Analysing the scenario then I wrote in the first paragraph in a piece entitled:
"President Buhari, PAF and Images of Corruption" thus: "As the
dawn broke over the nation in 2013, the plush lifestyle of former President
Goodluck Jonathan and his propensity for frivolities and mellifluous came to
the open. Bounded to the fantasy of presidential prestige and power, his
obsession clings to its vanity. He swiftly abandoned his earlier pledge to
“demonstrate leadership, statesmanship, vision, capacity and sacrifice, to
transform our nation” in his May 29, 2011 inaugural address. But he never did."
