The recent media report that Nigeria is now holding the enviable record of a country with the highest private jet ownership in Africa is unarguably rankling.
This untoward development has brought into sharper focus the paradox of a nation that is endowed with huge oil resources but where only a few privileged individuals are wealthy. In a country where the average citizen or over 70 percent of the population lives on less than $1 per day, it is astonishing that there is a super rich class of business moguls, bankers, preachers, politicians and oil magnates whose private ownership of jets is more than that of any other country in the continent. The report has it that ownership of state-of-the-art jets in Nigeria has increased to over 200 in 2012 from 50 in 2008.
It also indicates that N1.30 trillion may have been spent by Nigerians in the last seven years to acquire jets. The cost of a jet ranges between N2.4 billion and N9 billion. Though successive Nigerian administrations have generously dubbed the country as the "Giant of Africa," the reality on ground indicates that Nigeria does not deserve to be so called.
Ours is a system riddled with systemic corruption and officially-sanctioned profligacy. Over the years, we have not fared better in any index of development by any African and global ranking bodies. While it is the prerogative of individuals to decide what to do with their money, we think that the rush by wealthy Nigerians to acquire private jets is fast becoming an obsession that should be curbed.
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