The Federal Government has put up two aircraft in the presidential fleet for sale.
According to an advert placed in a national daily on Tuesday, a Falcon 7x and Hawker 4000 are the aircraft to be sold off.
Interested buyers were asked to inspect the Falcon at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International, Airport, Abuja, and the Hawker at Cessna Zurich Citation Service Centre, Zurich, Switzerland.
The office of the national security adviser (NSA), which is in charge of the sale, said all bids should be quoted in US dollars – a possible indication that the government is avoiding exchange rate risks being experienced by businesses in Nigeria.
The federal government has been facing public criticisms for outrageous number of the aircraft in the presidential fleet considering the cost of maintaining them in a period of economic crisis.
Recall that the senator representing Bayelsa east Ben Bruce, had been on the throat of the FG to sell all the jets.
“I appeal to @MBuhari to sell off our 11 presidential jets. Maintaining them at the current ₦5.3 Billion per annum is against#commonsense. Does it make#commonsense that our presidential air fleet is larger than the combined fleet of the Queen of England and the British PM?” he once wrote on Twitter.
In September, Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, hinted that the aircraft in the fleet would soon be reduced.
“There is a govt committee already in place working to reduce the number of aircraft in the Presidential fleet,” he also wrote on Twitter.
