The Nigerian government is reportedly planning to sell off VIP aircraft amid concerns about rising maintenance costs.
A government source told The Nation newspaper that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had given the nod to dispose of three jets deemed to be the most costly and therefore burdensome to the fiscus.
None of the types involved were disclosed. A government spokesman was not immediately available for further clarification.
The West African state's VIP fleet entails a B737-700(BBJ), a Gulfstream Aerospace G550, a G500, two Falcon 7X, a Hawker 4000, a Challenger 605, two Agusta 139s, and two Agusta 101s all operated by the Nigerian Air Force (NGR, Lagos) but overseen by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
A previous attempt at offloading a Dassault Falcon 7x and the Hawker 4000 in October 2016, fell through when the buyer cut their initial offer of USD24 million to USD11 million, which the then Muhammadu Buhari administration rejected.
