Buhari puts one of his 10 presidential aircraft up for sale in desperate bid to raise cash

 

NIGERIA'S federal government has put one of its presidential aircrafts up for sale as part of an attempt to cut back on extravagant public spending and reduce the cost of maintaining an over-bloated fleet.

 

Despite President Muhammadu Buhari's attempts to rein in excessive government expenditure, there are  still 10 aircrafts in Nigeria's presidential fleet.  With the government severely cash-strapped at the moment as a result of the coronavirus global shutdown, Nigeria is in desperate need of money to even fund her 2020 budget, so cutbacks will be needed.

 

To ease the burden of the high outlay required the presidential fleet, the federal government has put up one of President Buhari's Hawker 4000 aircraft with registration number, 5N-FGX/: RC 066 for sale.  This business-size jet which entered into service in December 2011, has capacity for nine passengers and three crew members.

 

Only 73 Hawker 4000 aircraft were manufactured by Hawker Beechcraft between 2001 and 2013 and they were sold for $22.91m each as of 2012. This aircraft with a range of 3,190-nautical mile has flown for about 1,768 hours and is currently sitting at the presidential air fleet’s hangar located at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

 

Interested buyers have been requested to submit their closed bids to the chairman of the Committee for Sale of Aircraft, Office of the National Security Adviser, care of the special services office of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. In an advertisement published in some national dailies, prospective buyers have been directed to submit a refundable bank draft for $50,000 to the committee with the bid.

 

The notice read: “Please note that all bids must be submitted within one week of this publication. Background check is required as a pre-qualification for the bid and prospective bidders who want to inspect the aircraft will be granted access within one week from this advertisement.”

 

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