Buhari, Cut Cost, Discard Presidential Fleet
THE recent controversy stirred by the cost of maintaining the fleet of presidential aircraft is quite disturbing, especially coming at a time when the country is going through some very serious financial difficulties.
At times like this, all the attention and energy of the government should be channelled towards steering the ship of state through the current turbulence into clear and still waters. According to a statement from a presidential aide, “only” N2.3 billion has been released since the inauguration of the present administration for the upkeep of the Presidential Air Fleet, instead of the rumoured N6 billion.
Garba Shehu, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said the amount covered “personnel costs, overheads and capital expenditure out of the sum of N5,190, 381,386 appropriated for PAF in the 2015 budget.”
That is a patently disingenuous argument coming from a government that promised to rebuild a battered country. Further explanations showed that the fleet is made up of 10 aircraft, which should actually be the main cause for concern here. What is the Presidency doing with 10 aircraft in a country where states cannot afford to meet their monthly obligations of paying workers’ salaries?
This is a country where state governors, citing hard times, declared that their monthly income could no longer sustain the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage. It should also not be forgotten that President Muhammadu Buhari declared at different fora recently that the country was broke, a result of the mismanagement of the economy by the spendthrifts that had been running the government before now.
While painting a gloomy picture of the Nigerian state recently, the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, declared that about 110 million Nigerians still lived below poverty line, despite policies pursued by previous administrations in the country to reduce poverty.
“When you look at the economic and social policies, and you look at the level of illiteracy in parts of the country, some are extremely bad and some with cases of about 80 per cent or 90 per cent of children out of school, and other cases of unimaginable decayed infrastructure,” he told visiting members of the Alumni Association of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.
Agreed that there was no iota of truth in the claim that N6 billion of taxpayers’ money was lavished on this “pet project,” yet, there is also no justification whatsoever for the President running a fleet of 10 aircraft and allowing N2.3 billion to go into its maintenance in just five months. At that rate, the maintenance of presidential aircraft would gulp about N5 billion per annum.
There is no doubt that the PAF is an inheritance of Nigeria’s profligate past, when oil, Nigeria’s main revenue earner, sold for over $100 per barrel. But things have since changed. The current realities suggest an adjustment. With oil prices now hovering around $40pb, down from an all-time high of $147pb in 2008, the government that has openly told the world that Nigeria is broke has no business flirting with ostentation.
PUNCH
THE recent controversy stirred by the cost of maintaining the fleet of presidential aircraft is quite disturbing, especially coming at a time when the country is going through some very serious financial difficulties.
At times like this, all the attention and energy of the government should be channelled towards steering the ship of state through the current turbulence into clear and still waters. According to a statement from a presidential aide, “only” N2.3 billion has been released since the inauguration of the present administration for the upkeep of the Presidential Air Fleet, instead of the rumoured N6 billion.
Garba Shehu, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said the amount covered “personnel costs, overheads and capital expenditure out of the sum of N5,190, 381,386 appropriated for PAF in the 2015 budget.”
That is a patently disingenuous argument coming from a government that promised to rebuild a battered country. Further explanations showed that the fleet is made up of 10 aircraft, which should actually be the main cause for concern here. What is the Presidency doing with 10 aircraft in a country where states cannot afford to meet their monthly obligations of paying workers’ salaries?
This is a country where state governors, citing hard times, declared that their monthly income could no longer sustain the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage. It should also not be forgotten that President Muhammadu Buhari declared at different fora recently that the country was broke, a result of the mismanagement of the economy by the spendthrifts that had been running the government before now.
While painting a gloomy picture of the Nigerian state recently, the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, declared that about 110 million Nigerians still lived below poverty line, despite policies pursued by previous administrations in the country to reduce poverty.
“When you look at the economic and social policies, and you look at the level of illiteracy in parts of the country, some are extremely bad and some with cases of about 80 per cent or 90 per cent of children out of school, and other cases of unimaginable decayed infrastructure,” he told visiting members of the Alumni Association of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.
Agreed that there was no iota of truth in the claim that N6 billion of taxpayers’ money was lavished on this “pet project,” yet, there is also no justification whatsoever for the President running a fleet of 10 aircraft and allowing N2.3 billion to go into its maintenance in just five months. At that rate, the maintenance of presidential aircraft would gulp about N5 billion per annum.
There is no doubt that the PAF is an inheritance of Nigeria’s profligate past, when oil, Nigeria’s main revenue earner, sold for over $100 per barrel. But things have since changed. The current realities suggest an adjustment. With oil prices now hovering around $40pb, down from an all-time high of $147pb in 2008, the government that has openly told the world that Nigeria is broke has no business flirting with ostentation.
PUNCH
No comments:
Post a Comment