In the years 2000 to 2006, I watched with great interest the national furore and legislative resistance that greeted President Obasanjo’s request for an upgrade of the presidential jet. 

The presidential jet, a Boeing 727-200 acquired 17 years before, had been modified in Seattle, Washington, USA and had its conventional wings replaced with winglets.

The Boeing 727-200 was one of Boeing's best selling aircraft during its production run between 1962 and 1984. Yet as technology improved, such as increased aircraft automation and jet engine design, the jets lost their appeal.

Unlike jets flying today, the Boeing 727-200 had older low-bypass turbofan Pratt & Whitney JT8D jet engines which were extremely noisy. 

The loud P & W JT8D engines blasted ears and rattled windows throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s. As a result, existing 727s had to be fitted with hush kits to comply with increasingly new regulations on noise and pollution control, especially at designated international airports across the world. 

While US Federal requirements stated that all civil aircraft must meet quieter ‘stage 3” noise regulations by January 1, 2000, The EU Noise Rule, which was to be effective in April 2002, banned aircrafts fitted with hush kits or devices that reduce aircraft noise. 

EU leaders had approved the hush-kit ban in April 1999 but delayed its implementation, first by 12 months, after an unprecedented lobbying campaign by Washington, which feared that it would hit billions of dollars worth of American-made aircraft and equipment, such as President Obasanjo’s Boeing 727-200, and so while the presidential jet may not have problem traveling to the United States and some other countries, it will not be allowed in European Union airspace. 

Unfortunately, the national conversations generated at that time were tainted ignorance, vain politics and reckless hypocrisy. 

Both houses of the National Assembly at the time, headed by Okadigbo and Na’abba, remained combative for many years with the Presidency over the issue of the presidential jet. 

It was not until the presidential jet developed a hydraulic problem after in Davos, Switzerland after the President’s attendance of the World Economic Forum where the President was stranded for more than 12 hours, and the near crash of a another presidential jet conveying Vice President Atiku from official trip to Portugal demanding an emergency landing in the Spanish Island of Tenerife that the National Assembly decided to agree and consider a complete overhaul of the presidential fleet with 8 new aircrafts to cater for not just the President, but the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Federation.

This explains why it is not uncommon to see the Senate President, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives being ferried around in an executive jet drawn from the pool of the presidential fleet. 

It took Obasanjo far more hassle to get his plane than it took most of the jet craving Governors at the time to get theirs. For instance, Rivers State Governor Peter Odili acquired a private jet much before the President. He did not just acquire an Embraer Jet for his exclusive use, but also acquired another aircraft for use as an air ambulance.  

The fact remains that the procurement of an executive jet befitting for a President, or a State Governor is an expensive adventure that will always provoke combustive national conversations. Such conversations are usual, and typical for any democracy. 

When Boeing, the Seattle based American aircraft manufacturer presented President Donald Trump with a $5 billion for two new presidential jets (747-8) to replace the current two 747-200s (VC-25) that had served for about 34 years, it was to Twitter that President Trump ran to exclaim “Cancel Order!”. 

Boeing eventually brought its bill down to $3.9 billion, a decision Boeing regrets today as they have consistently missed delivery deadlines, citing COVID-19 and unexpected design and material supply challenges. 

National conversations of this sort are useful, enlightening and should always be encouraged. This is the good thing with democracy, or democratic experiments. Problems only arise when these conversations are laced with ignorance, mischief and barefaced hypocrisy.  

You do not get these kinds of national conversations in dictatorships. 

For instance, no one questioned Nigeria’s former ruler, Sani Abacha when he decided on a presidential jet for himself or the presidential fleet. 

We do not  hear the Chinese complain about how many aircrafts the president owns in his fleet. Neither do you hear them speak up when a ruling party dictates a documented national decree of one-man-one-wife-one-child, as a way of taming its exploding  population and containing its rapidly declining economy. 

The conversations that have followed the decision of the Tinubu presidency to upgrade the presidential jet and trade-in a few other aircrafts in the presidential fleet have not been healthy improvements on those raised during the Obasanjo years. 

Last week, Daily Trust, a Nigerian newspaper carried a title stating that the United States President was still using an aircraft that was 34-years old while the Presidency was seeking to upgrade an aircraft that was barely 20 years old. 

The article did not state the fact that Air Force One, the call sign of the United States official presidential jet, is a title currently shared by two Boeing VC-25, military versions of the Boeing 747 airliner, modified for presidential transport. 

The first was delivered on September 6,1990. The second, an exact replica, was delivered on March 26, 1991.  And so they have both shared 36 years of service to about three US Presidents between them. 

The two VC-25As are slated for retirement, the first in 2027, and the second in 2028.  

On February 27,  2018, the White House announced a $3.9 billion agreement with Boeing to modify two unsold 747-8 Intercontinental (747-8i) to replace the current VC-25As. The new aircrafts will be designated VC-25B and are due for delivery in 2027 and 2028.

Unlike the Nigerian presidential jet, the old VC-25As will not be commercially traded off for profit but will be retired from service and placed in museums.

The Boeing 737-200 that President Tinubu inherited has a working life span of about 30 years. 

Over the years, the 737-200 has built a global reputation as a short haul work horse even though its duties at the Nigerian presidency has seen it being called up for long hauls at relatively short notice which may have over stretched it a bit. 

With increasing age especially at more than 15 years of continued steady service, the cost of a detailed maintenance check such as a D Check (or P48 check) which involves more than 20,000 to 40,000 man-hours, runs into millions of dollars. 

I am sure President Tinubu would not have bothered to change the jet if not for the series of small challenges that have arisen in recent times during his several trips abroad. Issues like hydraulic malfunction to leakages have hampered the President’s travel.

The decision to trade in the Boeing 737-700 for an Airbus A320 is a good one considering that the A320 is better suited for long hauls and can effortlessly carry out some of the many tasking travel challenges that the President’s itinerary entails. Besides, the fact that the Presidency was able to commandeer a deal that saved the country more than $400 million is also worth considering. 

Already according to online listings, the old presidential jet, a 19.1 year old VIP configured Boeing 737-700 (BBJ) has been put up for sale. 

ADS-B data shows that the 5N-FGT (MSN 34260) was ferried from Abuja to Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg in Switzerland on March 25.

According to the listing, the aircraft underwent B1(mechanics - engines and airframes) and B2 (Avionics –instrumentation, electrical/electronic equipment) inspections, plus C1 and C2 maintenance by AMAC Aerospace in Basel in July 2024. The twin jet had clocked up 3,821 flying hours and 1,881 landings. 

Its replacement, a foreclosed ACJ330-200, VP-CAC (MSN 1053) now 5N-FGA has also arrived Nigeria and has since resumed presidential duties. 

The new acquisition came after the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence recommended acquiring new aircraft for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Vice President due to high maintenance costs and operational issues with the current presidential fleet, which is operated by the Nigerian Air Force but overseen by the Office of the National Security Adviser led by Nigeria’s famed former Anti-Corruption Czar Nuhu Ribadu. 

The presidential fixed wing fleet also comprises the Vice President’s 13 year old Gulfstream Aerospace G55, a Gulfstream G500, two Falcon 7X, a hawker 4000 and a Challenger 605 though three of these aircraft are reportedly unserviceable and will be sold off as well. 

Between 2016 and 2024, the cost of managing the presidential fleet has skyrocketed by more than 200% with maintenance expenses of each aircraft ranging from from $1.5 million to $4.5 million annually. 

Be that as it may, this new business jet, with a far larger capacity and travel time than the other, will still be due for replacement in the next ten to fifteen years, as it would be best for Nigeria to sell it off before it completely loses its second-, or third-hand value. 

My prayer is that when the next national conversation on presidential jet replacement or upgrade comes,  it would be far more informed, far more guided, and devoid of the parochial politics of yesteryears and the myopic, mischievous and malicious idiosyncrasies of yesterday, especially in this day and age when information can easily be accessed and interrogated thanks to the internet. 

Our hope and earnest wishes are that the President should put these equipments to good use and for the betterment of our country and its people. 

George Kerley writes from Port Harcourt