The Presidency said on Tuesday that a little above N2 billion and not N6 billion has so far been has expended on maintenance of the presidential fleet between May 2015 and now and that the amount include salaries and repayment of old debts.
In a statement in Abuja, Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity) expressed frustration at what he described as a fictional report that has caused the government a lot of negative reviews, especially in the online
Shehu said: “The government is focused on solving the many major issues our country faces in the areas of the economy, corruption and security; yet, almost every week, the Presidency has to also deal with the distractions which do nothing but distract from the task of government.
Based on documents he said he requested from the Operational Office of the Presidential Fleet after his attention was drawn to the speculative report, the Presidential spokesperson pointed out that N2.3 billion was released to the Presidential Air Fleet by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation between May and November 2015.
“However, the sum of N149,062,791.12 was transferred from the PAG’s operation account to the Treasury Single Account, following the President’s recent directive,” Shehu said.
Shehu said further in the statement: “Any of these documents could have been made available had the newspaper reached out to me or to any one of my colleagues. The damage to the image of government and the good management of the Presidential Air Fleet could have been avoided.”
