Obasanjo's Jet of Controversy
By Modupe Ogunbayo
Monday, July 10, 2006
The purchase of a presidential jet and the faults it developed soon after it was launched are still raising dust in many quarters
Did the federal government's purchase of the Boeing 737-800 presidential jet delivered May 6, follow due process? This is the million dollar question Nigerians are asking over the recent purchase of the jet.
Farouk Lawan, chairman of the House of Representatives committee on appropriation, said money was appropriated in the 2004 budget for a new jet, but he could not remember how much. He confirmed, however, that after the controversy that greeted the request in the 2001 and 2002 budgets, "it came up again in 2003 and 2004 and money was appropriated by the House in 2004." According to Boeing, the cost ranges from US$48 million for BBJ1 (Boeing 737-700) to US$53 million for the latest model, BBJ2 (Boeing 737-800).
Nevertheless, a section of the Nigerian Senate led by Udo Udoma, protested the purchase. Udoma frowned at the rationale where the legislature that should ordinarily have approved the purchase, knows nothing about the transaction.
Buying a new plane for the president had been thrown out in several budgets in the past at the National Assembly. It reared its head initially in 2001. The Presidency said the old presidential jet had become outdated; it is not even allowed in the airspace of some Western nations. However, the National Assembly refused to endorse the request on the grounds that it is of low priority compared to other pressing economic issues. It generated so much furore that President Olusegun Obsanjo had to travel to the United States for a meeting with President George Bush of the United States on a British Airways flight.
In 2002, 2003 and 2004, the debate continued over the purchase of a new jet for the president. Newswatch learnt money was appropriated for the purchase of a new jet sometime in 2004.
However, the Boeing website reveals there was no order for a Boeing 737-800 jet by the Nigerian government in 2004 or at any other time. Rather, it revealed that an order for a new jet takes at least two years and is rarely purchased directly by individuals or national governments.
Newswatch learnt that the new airplane is actually designated as a Nigerian Air Force plane. Unlike the old Boeing 727 presidential jet which has the inscription "Federal Republic of Nigeria," the new jetliner carries the inscription: "Nigerian Air Force" with the number "5N-FGT." When contacted, Oluremi Oyo, the senior special assistant to the President on Media, said such inscriptions are not uncommon within presidential circles. She cited the example of the United States Air Force One which carries United States president. Oyo, however, declined further comments, because the issue is before a tribunal and she risked committing sub judice, if she should say more.
The power play between pilots in the Presidential Air Fleet, PAF, consisting of pilots in the Nigerian Air Force, NAF, and those from Nigeria Airways Limited, NAL reportedly led to the technical faults the jet purportedly developed mid-air. The PAF pilots felt the control of the airplane was exclusively theirs and so excluded the NAL pilots from manning the airplane.
Two NAL pilots were specially trained in navigating the airplane at the Boeing factory in the United States. As they were reportedly trained in the United States for two weeks in navigating the Boeing 727-800 jet. Kike Oteri, an employee of one of the private airlines, told Newswatch that the NAF pilots' lack of familiarity with navigating the airplane led to the reported technical faults the presidential jet developed shortly after take-off when President Obasanjo attempted travelling to France in it last month.
The Boeing 737-800 falls under the Boeing Business Jets category, BBJ. It comes in two models namely Boeing 737-700 and Boeing 737-800. It is described as "the ultimate in space, range, utility and productivity," with an interior nearly tripples the size of the most popular large cabin business jets. With some BBJ cabins laid out to include a full dining room/conference room table, plus a private bedroom with a shower, the airplane is likened to a "flying office suites, restaurants, and hotel rooms than they are passenger airplanes." It is capable of making a 14 hours non-stop flight.
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