Ignoring criticisms, Senate signals it’ll give Tinubu new aircraft

The Senate has signalled it will approve new aircraft for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima if asked to, brushing aside widespread condemnation for such plans at a time Nigerians face severe economic hardship.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the president has not yet submitted a request to purchase a new aircraft, but assured lawmakers would respond to any such request regardless of public view.

“The Senate is very responsible. The National Assembly is very responsible. We will look into issues that will benefit the governance of the country irrespective of anticipatory blackmail,” he said Thursday, according to Premium Times.

“They know very well that something like that might come in future. And if it is a necessity, the Senate will look into it. But there is nothing like that before us now.”

Wasteful Spending

Indication the government aimed to acquire new aircraft for the two leaders came in a recent report by the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence recommending two new planes, citing the high maintenance costs of existing carriers.

Government backers have attempted to portray the spending as being of urgent importance, but many Nigerians have widely condemned the plan. They view it as the latest evidence of how the government brazenly fritters public fund while urging citizens to endure hardship it triggered by scrapping fuel subsidies and devaluing the naira.

Earlier in the month, the government opened a N21 billion mansion for the vice president. Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga suggested last week that those opposed to new presidential aircraft wished Mr Tinubu ill.

A formal request for new planes is expected to be part of a supplementary budget Mr Tinubu will submit later to the lawmakers.

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Mr Akpabio told senators on Wednesday that they will act on the request “if it is a necessity.”

“It is not good for us to run the Senate by answering people in the social media because the social media is garbage in garbage out,” he was quoted as saying.

“I was in Zanzibar attending an Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting when that information went out that the senate president said he would approve a brand-new plan for the president irrespective of whether they are suffering or not suffering.

“There was never a time such a statement came from me because I’ve never had any correspondence to approve a plan or not approve a plan and I did not want to answer, but they went to generate it and then they went around as if I was saying that I did not care about the Nigerian people. I did not do this.

“We care about the president. We care about the Nigerian people. We will approve things that will benefit the Nigerian people. We will approve things that would improve the living standard of the people.

“At the same time, we will also take cognizance of the duties of Mr President. If his vehicle is bad, we will repair the vehicle. If his plane is bad, we will approve money for the repair of the plane. So that is not an issue.

“I read the president’s correspondences to us. There was nothing about plane or no plane, but I can tell you that when you hear stories such as the death of the vice president of Malawi as a result of a defective plane, and then you hear incidents such as the death of the president of Iran as a result of defective aircraft… In fact, this time it was a helicopter and all that. We shouldn’t ever dream and allow such. It wouldn’t be.”