President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has listed Nigeria’s 20-year-old Boeing 737 Business Jet (BBJ) for sale in Switzerland, marking a major shake-up of the presidential air fleet amid rising public scrutiny over government spending.
The jet, acquired in 2005 under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has served as the main presidential aircraft for nearly two decades. Despite undergoing partial refurbishment in 2024, the aircraft was retired over concerns about escalating maintenance costs and a recent in-flight malfunction.
The BBJ is currently being inspected for sale at AMAC Aerospace in Basel, Switzerland, though no asking price has been made public.
In its place, the Tinubu administration has acquired a refurbished Airbus ACJ330-200 at a reported cost exceeding ₦150 billion (approximately $100 million). The move has triggered controversy, with critics questioning the timing and scale of the expenditure amid Nigeria’s economic challenges.
The presidency has defended the acquisition as a necessary upgrade for safety and reliability, but the lack of transparency surrounding both the sale of the old jet and the purchase of the new one continues to stir public debate.
