New presidential jet is 15yrs old; Nigeria is 3rd user – Investigation

The newly-acquired presidential aircraft, Air­bus A330-200, with registration number, 5N-FGA, is 15 years old, an investigative report published yesterday has revealed.

Also, Nigeria is the third owner of the same aircraft with test registration number, F-WWKR, and Manufacturer Serial Number (MSN), 1053, according to the report.

Recall that the Federal Gov­ernment had taken delivery of the air­craft on Sunday from Toulouse, France, its production site.

According to the report, “The controversial aircraft was manufactured in Novem­ber 2009 with the registration number, VP-CAC, for Midroc Aviation, based in Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International, Saudi Arabia.

“The aircraft was with the con­figuration, VIP; engines, 2xRR and HEX CODE, 4241AC.

“The Saudi Arabian aviation company operated the aircraft for 12 years before it was ac­quired by AMAC Aerospace in April 2021 with the same regis­tration number, configuration and engines.

“AMAC Aerospace is a Switzer­land based company, which oper­ated the aircraft for three years before it was acquired by the Ni­gerian government recently and upgraded to the current status”.

The Federal Government, ac­cording to investigation, took de­livery of the aircraft on Sunday, August 18, 2024 with the registra­tion number, 5N-FGA and HEX CODE, 06430C, from a factory in France.

The report further stated that: “Though the Government has kept mute about the cost of the aircraft, information gathered, indicated that the Government acquired the airplane at the cost of $100 mil­lion and retrofitted with state-of-the-art gadgets with another $50 million.

“The price of a brand new A330- 200 aircraft is $238.5 million, while A330-300 is priced at $264.2 million and A330-200F costs $241.7 million to acquire”, it stated.