Garba Shehu, spokesman of Nigerian president Muhamadu Buhari has announced on Oct. 5 that two of the 10 presidential planes were being sold. The news was reported by BBC Africa.

The Falcon7X (photo) and Hawker 4000 are the two jets concerned. Besides these two, other presidential planes “will be handed to the Nigerian air force”, Sehu added.

The downsizing of presidential fleet was promised by President Buhari during campaign, and falls in line with a move to cut down on waste of public resources, the spokesperson said.

Abuja highlighted that the potential buyers will be asked to bid for the jets in US dollar, instead of the local currency, the naira. The sale comes in context where Africa’s second largest economy was forced into recession, hit by the plunge in prices of oil, from which it derives 70% of its earnings.

Alain Okpeitcha