Purchase Of New Aircraft For Presidential Fleet, A Necessity, Timely, Says TDF

The Democratic Front, a pro-democracy organisation, has described the controversy surrounding the acquisition of an aeroplane to serve the office of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as unwarranted and unnecessary.

Mallam Danjuma Muhammad, Chairman and Chief Wale Adedayo, Secretary of the group, said in a statement that the controversy and condemnation surrounding the acquisition was unnecessary, and that the opposition expressed was heavily tainted, biassed, and short-sighted.

Daring to hit the nail on the head, the TDF stated that it is of the utmost importance to make public our position on the unwarranted outrage and biassed opinion expressed by the opposition in Nigeria regarding the Federal Government’s recent purchase of a new Airbus A 330 to replace the 19-year-old Boeing BBJ 737-700 in order to facilitate the President’s official trips both within and outside Nigeria.

The group, which conducted a simple background check, discovered that all 15 planes in the presidential fleet that the APC government inherited in 2015 were problematic, obsolete, and expensive to maintain due to their age and the need for modern innovations in aviation technology.

The statement read: “The costs of maintaining some of the planes were so prohibitive, exorbitant, and constituted a drain on the government’s hard-earned resources, which informed former President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to reduce the fleet to ten in order to reduce maintenance costs.

“We also learnt that the BGV Air Force One has repeatedly demonstrated inability to fly the President on critical official itineraries, leaving no choice but to use chattered or commercial flights for the President’s official trips. We should all agree that this poses a security risk and may cause embarrassment for the nation.

“In every country in the world, the National Security Adviser is in charge of the presidential fleet, and the ONSA has advised that the Air Force One plane be replaced with a more recent model. Nigeria cannot afford to throw caution to the wind by exposing its most important citizen to the risk of an avoidable air crash.

It should be clear that the ‘new’ Airbus A 300 is a national asset that is expected to provide future benefits. The Airbus A300, like the rest of the presidential fleet, is intended to serve all Nigerian presidents, not just President Bola Tinubu.

“Interestingly, the TDF discovers that the new plane was purchased far below the original market price, and it is equipped with modern facilities for fuel economy and lower maintenance costs, saving the nation hundreds of millions of dollars.” This reality reinforces the government’s claim that the primary reasons for purchasing the new Airbus A300 are cost-effectiveness and safety.

Similarly, the aircraft’s elaborate VIP configuration makes it a more cost-effective and secure mode of transportation for the president and his entourage.

Indeed, the purchase of the new Airbus A 300 demonstrates President Bola Tinubu’s neutrality and selflessness, as evidenced by the fact that the request was prompted by a resolution passed by the National Assembly in June of this year.

We therefore condemn the cheap attempt by the opposition to stir unwarranted controversy around the government’s acquisition of the A300 Airbus.

It is even more irresponsible for the opposition to falsely insinuate that the decision to buy the new plane was an act of insensitivity to Nigerians’ plight, when in fact, the Airbus A300 was purchased to reduce the burden of fuelling and maintenance funded by the state’s limited resources.

Many countries, including Poland, Gabon, Congo (DRC), Burundi, Brazil, Venezuela, Pakistan, Iran, and Malawi, have lost their presidents to air crashes as a result of failing to respond to the demands for maintaining their presidential planes in a timely and proactive manner. Nigeria must avoid such costly inactions.