President Muhammadu Buhari returned to the country on Sunday night, marking his 10th medical return trips from London, and 237 days of either treating or checking undisclosed ailments abroad in the last seven years.
• Landing, fuel, parking charges gulp over N1.1 billionPresident Buhari’s medical tourism record, which is unprecedented in Nigeria’s history, as well, costs the country in medical bills and operating cost of the Nigerian Air Force One airplane.
Recall that after six days of vacation in February 2016, President Buhari left Nigeria to treat an ear infection on June 6, 2016. It lasted 13 days. On January 19, 2017, he wrote to the Senate on taking a 10-day vacation in the United Kingdom. Though the vacation was expected to start on January 23, 2017, President Buhari left for the UK same day. He did not return until 51 days after.
On each of the visits and vacation, he was accompanied by the Nigerian Air Force 001 , the official carrier of Mr. President. NAF 001 – a Boeing 737-700NG Business Jet – routinely attracts cost on fuel and sundry charges at the Luton Airport in London. Each landing is estimated to cost about £336.07 and cumulatively N1.75 million. Fuel, landing and parking charges account for a total of N1.11 billion.
“Can such still happen today? Yes, and probably worse. Does Buhari know? I doubt that very much,” he said. Aviation enthusiast, Sunday Olumegbon, viewed the record differently. He said Buhari’s medical tourism footprints are “landmark and immoral. In 2016, PAF was awarded N3.65 billion. From N4.37 billion in 2017, its vote rose to N7.26 billion in 2018. The 2019 budget provided N7.3 billion as fleet maintenance cost, and jumped to N8.5 billion in 2020. In 2021 and 2022, the Federal Government budgeted N25 billion for the fleet. For next year, the PAF has been awarded a reduced N8.07 billion.
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