The Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence has expressed fear that overhauling the presidential air fleet could endanger the lives of President Bola Tinubu and his Deputy Kassim Shettima, hence, need to buy two airplanes for the duo.
Penpushing reports that Chairman of the Committee, Senator Shehu Buba was quoted to have said this from Saudi Arabia, where he is performing this year’s hajj, a signal to the fact that the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence has backed its House of Representatives counterpart on the call for new aircraft
The House Committee on National Security and Intelligence it is recalled had in a report forwarded to the Presidency asked the Nigerian government to immediately procure two airplanes for both the President and Vice President to secure their transportation.
Penpushing further reports that it is also recalled that the call by the House Committee triggered widespread criticisms by some Nigerians who queried the wisdom in buying new aeroplanes at a time Nigeria is facing severe economic hardship.
“Have you seen the report of the committee? The committee’s recommendations are clear enough. To arrive at those recommendations, the committee conducted an investigative hearing and interacted with officials of the Presidential Air Fleet’, Buba said
“The committee obtained the necessary information, which led it to call for the overhauling of the Presidential Air Fleet. It is true that our country is facing economic difficulty, but that will not be a justification to jeopardize or endanger the lives of our president, our vice president, other top officials of government and that of any citizen for that matter’, he added.
“We are all aware of the air mishaps in Iran and Malawi recently, which claimed the lives of the president and vice president of those countries, respectively. We commiserate with the people and governments of those counties. But we must also, as a people, do whatever is necessary to lower the possibility of such disasters in our country. No sacrifice is too much to pay for the safety of our leaders and citizens. We elected them. So, we have a collective responsibility to protect them at all times.”
Penpushing also reports that the committee boss was, however, adamant in response to why the lawmakers were not interested in the payment of new minimum wage as requested by the labour, but prefer new aircrafts for the President and his Vice
“I am not a spokesman for the House Committee. You can ask its members that question. But I expect you to know that the committee’s remit is national security and intelligence. The recommendations they made are related to those matters. The safety of our leaders and the health of the presidential air fleet are matters of national security concerns’, he declared.
“By raising those matters, it does not mean the committee members do not care about the issue of minimum wage, which is already being well handled by government and organised labour’, the Senator said
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