Yesterday, the Presidency, through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), advertised the sale of two aircraft in its presidential fleet in THISDAY newspaper. According to the advert, the two aircraft to be disposed of are one Falcon 7X executive jet and one Hawker 4000. President Muhammadu Buhari promised to reduce unnecessary luxuries, including the 11-aircraft presidential fleet throughout the 2015 presidential campaign and this can be viewed as a step towards fulfilling that promise. The proposed sale of presidential jets came shortly after a heated debate in the polity about whether or not to sell national assets to spur the nation out of recession. The sale is therefore seen as a milder alternative to addressing the government’s excesses and to inject dollar liquidity into the Nigerian system.
The number of the aircraft in the presidential fleet has been the subject of much discussion, with critics lamenting the high cost of maintaining them, especially in a period of economic crisis. The sale of two presidential jets is, however, unlikely to make a dent in the economic state of the nation. Nigeria’s economy is currently in a recession characterised by high inflation and a depreciating exchange due to lack of liquidity in foreign exchange markets. The cost savings from operating each jet is estimated to be between 5.5 billion Naira and 7 billion Naira. While such funds can be apportioned to essential projects, restoration of liquidity will require billions of dollars and similarly it will be a drop in the ocean to support the country with the funding of the $2.2 trillion.
Such cost-cutting measures should be lauded nonetheless and should be extended to more tangible cost saving measures, such as the gradual decrease in the remuneration of members of the national house of assembly. The Nigerian legislators incidentally happen to be the world highest paid legislators. This combined with the rampant corruption in the public sector has raised the cost of governance such that a material portion of borrowing would be diverted towards governance costs. The sale of a 15 percent to 20 percent of the federal government’s stake in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company. This option, while controversial, will raise between $10 billion – $20 billion needed to boost the economy out of recession and simultaneously reduce the government’s stake in the private sector, arguably allowing for greater efficiency.
