Ahead of the inauguration of a new President on May 29, 2023, Nigeria’s Boeing 737 Presidential jet has been flown out of the country for comprehensive maintenance; it was learnt on Sunday evening.
Villa sources said the NAF 001, which has served President Muhammadu Buhari, in the past eight years was taken out of the country over the weekend.
Although the location is not known, past maintenance on the aircraft had been carried out by its manufacturer, Boeing, in the United States of America.
Boeing’s military aircraft division builds modified 737 planes at its manufacturing facilities in Everett and Renton, Washington (outside of Seattle), and South Carolina.
The 20-year-old aircraft last flew the President to Accra, the Ghanaian Capital, where he attended a Summit of the Gulf of Guinea Commission.
In his next four weeks in office, Buhari will be flown on another aircraft on the Presidential Air Fleet, the source said.
On Tuesday, April 3, 2001, the Senate approved a sum of N5.5bn for the purchase of a new presidential aircraft for then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Credit: The PUNCH.
