Many Nigerians have taken to social media to lament the allegedly large costs of parking the presidential jet at a London airport for nearly two months.
NAF 001, the official aircraft of the Nigerian president, has reportedly been parked at a London airport for more than seven weeks since Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari traveled in it to the U.K. to receive medical treatment for undisclosed illness on May 8th.
With no word from Mr. Buhari’s aides about his scheduled date of return, Nigerians have been speculating on the cost of keeping the presidential jet in the U.K.:
A number of unverified sources say it costs between £4,000 and £5,000 a day to keep the presidential jet in the London parking space, but presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu rejected the estimates as untrue in a Thursday statement:
We have also read claims about outrageous fees allegedly paid by Nigeria. The published amounts are totally untrue. Aircraft conveying heads of state all over the world usually enjoy waivers even where payments for parking are differentiated by aircraft categories, Shehu said.
The spokesman said that even in the absence of a waiver, daily payments for parking space would not exceed £1,000, which he described as a quarter of the amount being peddled.
According to Shehu, President Buhari is not the first — nor will he be the last — to have a presidential aircraft standing by for him. He added that it was global standard operating procedure to have an aircraft ready and waiting for a president and commander-in-chief whenever he (or she) is abroad.
All past heads of this country have had this privilege, and the part that surprises the most is that leaders who in the past traveled with three Nigerian aircraft did not suffer this trenchant criticism.
President Buhari, 74, has been dogged by health challenges since he was sworn in as president in 2015.
The exact nature of his illness has never been made public, but his ability to continue in his capacity as elected president remains a hot topic in Nigeria due to his constant need to be away from the country in order to receive treatment.
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has said that his little brother was subjected to racial abuse,…
Reggie Bush has regained his place as the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner after over a…
Since 2012, actor Nick Cannon has openly shared his struggle with lupus to support others…
Former USC superstar Caleb Williams has been drafted by the Chicago Bears as the No.…
Stephen A. Smith is an ESPN analyst. People widely regard him as the face of…
Lil Durk is an American rapper and one of the most influential voices in the…
In 2022, Kevin Hart added a new title to his impressive resume: a tequila entrepreneur.…
AEW's latest pay-per-view, Dynasty 2024 on Sunday night saw Swerve Strickland defeat Samoa Joe to…
Renowned civil rights activist Opal Lee, known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," will be awarded…
Violet Horne lost her two sons to gun violence within the space of a month.…
An Ohio man said a K-9 bit him seven times after he was pulled over…
Three male foreign tourists who were spotted posing naked in a popular dune in Namibia…
Will.i.am is partnering with other prominent figures to revolutionize the digital media scene by forming…
Sabelle Beraki's childhood was inundated with the lack of representation when it came to a…
Benjamin Harvey is the founder of AI Squared, a third-party software company that helps organizations…