THE Federal Government has listed its over 20-year-old Boeing 737-700 Business Jet for sale through AMAC Aerospace, based in Basel, Switzerland.
Acquired for $43 million in 2005 under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the aircraft is now up for sale just months after President Bola Tinubu switched to a refurbished Airbus A330-200 last August, amid economic challenges and growing public scrutiny.
The aircraft was advertised for sale on the United States-based aircraft marketplace Controller observed by the ICIR on Sunday, July 6.
According to the aviation marketplace, the aircraft has undergone inspections and maintenance in preparation for its sale.
After more than 19 years in service, the Presidency stated that the BBJ had become increasingly costly to maintain and faced growing safety concerns, especially following a mechanical incident during an official trip to Saudi Arabia in April 2024.
Nigeria’s presidential air fleet comprises approximately 10 aircraft, which includes fixed-wing aircraft such as a 13-year-old Gulfstream Aerospace G550, a Gulfstream G500, two Falcon 7Xs, a Hawker 4000, and a Challenger 605.
The Buhari and Tinubu administrations had pledged to reduce the size of the Presidential Air Fleet to improve cost-efficiency.
Despite these commitments, the Boeing Business Jet 737 with tail number 5N-FGT remained in use as the presidential aircraft until August 2024, when the Tinubu administration transitioned to a refurbished Airbus A330-200, now registered as 5N-FGA.
The ICIR reports that the aircraft was acquired for roughly $100m, approximately N150bn from a repossessed German bank asset, arrived in France for initial maintenance and reconfiguration in mid-2024.
However, since February 2025, the president has been using a San Marino-registered Boeing Business Jet (registration: T7-NAS).
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.