THE JET AGE

By Olapoju Kolapo

                                               

        

“Luxury is a function of the pocket. What is luxury to you might be necessity to another”

 

 

Today, we find ourselves in an era where the allure of flying in the first class compartment of the commercial aircraft has lost its appeal to the Nigerian elite, a time where the upper class section of our society prefers the privacy and luxury of flying solo. In a mere five years, Nigerians have spent 1trillion naira in jets acquisition. China and Nigeria are named as the fastest growing private jets market in the world. Politicians, Billionaires, Pastors, Monarchs, and Celebrities, especially of Nigerian descent/root seem to have one thing in common, which is the attraction to the exquisite private jet, the smaller, faster and more luxurious version of the regular airplane. 

Fatal or not, their obvious attraction is gradually gaining momentum as more and more of this category of people classed above strive by all means possible to acquire one, two, hell even three private jets, as their pockets permit.
Without doubt, apart from yatchs and boats, possessing a private jet is another quality that serves as determinants of an extremely wealthy person. In a country like ours, where more than a half of the population is said to live below the United Nations stipulated poverty line, it is an irony of immense proportions to also carry the label of the country that acquired the most ‘Private jets’ in recent time. Nigerians, whether rich or poor have one common trait; the love of the luxurious life’. The rich Nigerian strives to maintain such a lifestyle while the poor Nigerian aspires to live it.

President Goodluck recently caused a spectacle of sorts when he and his entourage visited the east African country of Kenya with about 7 private jets. The Kenyans had a field day discussing about it, making jokes, and marveling at such grandeur. They simply had never seen anything like it. Such was their fascination that a Kenyan woman had this to say during a press conference that has since gone viral, - “Your President visited my country with seven private jets and that’s never happened before…. This is Nigeria. It’s the country with the largest private jets. Seven private jets only! I know there must be more but for us still that was wow. Everybody came in their own jets”. She was indeed wowed!

 For the Nigerian Billionaires and affluent monarch on the other hand, it is almost customary to have 1-2 private jet for foreign business trips, incessant medical check-ups and vacations/holidays. While these two groups possess personal private jets, celebrities and entertainers who can not afford to buy theirs, now embark on the trend of borrowing/renting jets for foreign concerts/shows, while still nurturing an ambition to acquire theirs in the future. Even Pastors and Clerics are not left out; as they regularly fly in and out of the country in jets much to the chagrin of some of the populace who feel it is a waste of the church fund to acquire private jets while several members of their flock languish in poverty. Rather than fly with the masses, it has now become a common fixture to see men of God journeying through the skies in classy mechanical birds the average Nigerian can only dream of entering.

Statistics show that Nigeria is now home to some of the most expensive private jets in the world, and it is gradually becoming the yardstick of the genuine elite. Some of the private jet owners dare to be different by having their jets custom made with posh interior that could make a Saudi prince go green with envy.

We have such an impressive line up of Private jet owners, from billionaire business moguls, famous preachers, to top government officials/politicians in the persons of-  Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga whose Bombardiers’ cost N7.2Billion and N4.8Billion respectively, while Winners’ chapel’ Bishop David Oyedepo is reported to command a fleet of 3 private jets, worth a combined N9.3Billion, Pastor Adeboye and Ifeanyi Uba both have one each worth N4.8Billion, Some of the political office holders who ride the large government fleet of 10 jets are President Jonathan, Namadi Sambo, Patience Jonathan, some past presidents, and top aides- to name a few.

It is oft chorused around the country that ‘the times are tough’, yet if you look up to the sky, jets still fly in and out of the country en masse on a daily basis. If you ask me, the jet age has just begun, for some of us are yet to purchase ours!