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Ten aircraft in the Nigerian Presidential Air Fleet (PAF) might get impounded by foreign creditors because of a budget deficiency, said PAF Commander Air Vice Marshal Abubakar Abdullahi during his budget defense presentation last week in the National Assembly.

Abdullahi revealed that the PAF was indebted to several service providers for various upgrades carried out on the aircraft. However, due to inadequate funding, some upgrades had to be postponed to 2023, putting the airworthiness of the aircraft at risk.

"From the fleet's records, debts from preceding years are usually carried over into the following budget year, becoming a tradition. Permit me also to state that most of these debts are owed to service providers overseas. Considering that over 85% of the fleet's expenditure is Forex transactions, the actual budget figure in dollar terms is further diminished," said Abdullahi.

"The fleet is currently indebted to some of its service providers due to insufficient funding from budgetary allocations, and the situation makes it bad for planning," he added.

The Presidential Airlift Fleet (PAF) is a group of aircraft that provide secure airlifts to the President, the Vice President, their families, and other high-ranking government officials.

Addressing the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Abdullahi explained that only N 1.5 billion ($ 3.3 million) of the proposed N 4.5 billion ($ 10.1 million) budget was allocated for the maintenance of the aircraft. He divulged that the average aircraft age in the fleet was 11 years, with maintenance costs increasing proportionally.

He also revealed that 2023, being an election year, would translate to more missions and requests for spares. And thus, called for an increased budget, arguing that the N 8.072 billion ($18.2 million) allocated for the fleet in the 2023 budget out of the proposed N 15.5 billion ($34.9 million) was not enough.

The PAF proposed a budget of N 19.4 billion ($43.7 million) for the 2022 fiscal year, but only N12.4 billion (USD27.2 million) was appropriated.

As of October 2022, N 11.13 billion ($25 million) of the total approval had been released.

The PAF is not only struggling to pay for services already provided, but it will also have difficulty paying for future maintenance and support services. In addition, the upcoming Nigerian presidential election will lead to more frequent use of aircraft, which will further strain the PAF's budget.