President Bola Tinubu — whose administration lavished nearly $100 million to buy an aircraft two months ago— has warned that Nigeria is on the brink of bankruptcy, in a clarion call to newly appointed ministers to give the country their all.

“We’re faced with a nation that is on edge of bankruptcy, and that’s the truth and you are called upon to join the team to rescue this country,” Mr Tinubu said in Abuja on Monday at the swearing-in ceremony for his new appointees.

“The moment is challenging; the present situation calls for a very serious commitment. Yours is a duty to serve and that is what you have come to do.”

But his remarks incensed citizens who criticised the president for failing to lead by example with his extravagant lifestyle and recent purchase of an A330 Brabus in August at a time the country battled its worst cost-of-living crisis.

Although Mr Tinubu’s aide downplayed the aircraft purchase claiming it was refurbished and not brand new, a report by Bloomberg placed the price at almost $100 million, an expense Nigerians didn’t think was priority in light of escalating food prices, energy crisis and rising insecurity.

That the aircraft purchase came at a time when the Nigerian government was still haggling over the minimum wage and had not implemented the N70,000 wage, fuelled speculations that Mr Tinubu’s administration prioritised frivolous expenses for the higher-ups over improving the quality of lives of the citizens he was elected to serve.

Netizens decried the president as lacking empathy for the same people who voted him into office.

The lack of empathy claims first surfaced in August 2023 when Mr Tinubu travelled to Dubai for the #COP28 Climate Summit accompanied by more than 1400 delegates, a large entourage that irked the citizens who said they could not fathom the need for such a large delegation. 

Citizens contended that the president ought to be cutting the cost of governance and not flying hundreds of delegates across the world on taxpayers’ money.

Aides defended the president that the majority of the delegates self-sponsored to Dubai but a report by Premium Times placed government-sponsored delegates around 600, the round trips, hotel accommodations and other expenses would have cost the nation a fortune, a needless luxury that Nigeria couldn’t afford.

Adding to the controversy, the president’s son, Seyi, in October 2023, flew the presidential jet to watch a Polo tournament in Kano, a move that made ordinary citizens accuse Mr Tinubu of double standards, noting that while he asked Nigerians to consider subsidy removal a necessary sacrifice for a better future, his son was gallivanting across the nation on an aircraft fuelled by the collective taxes of Nigerians.

Many queried if Mr Seyi, who has no official position in his father’s cabinet, could fly the presidential jet as he pleased.

While Nigerians struggled to adjust to the harsh reality of fuel subsidy removal and a weak naira, Mr Tinubu approved N21 billion to renovate the residence of Vice-President Kashim Shettima in November 2023

The funds for the housing project triggered outrage across the nation as citizens knocked Mr Tinubu for having misplaced priorities. They argued that there were other sectors of the economy that needed the government’s urgent intervention rather than beautifying the veep’s residence.

Citizens have said Mr Tinubu — with a lavish lifestyle of junketing France and UK — cannot turn around to say Nigeria was on the verge of bankruptcy without checking his lifestyle to reduce the cost of governance.

A netizen @iam_DaPosh described Mr Tinubu’s statement about the nation on the brink of bankruptcy as “Big lies!”

“If truly you want to work, there would have been no purchase of presidential jet with trillions of Naira, allocation of billions to the office of the first lady, renovation of vice president’s office with 22 billion Naira, shady contract allocation to friends running into trillions, award of coastal road for trillions of Naira, purchase of presidential yacht and so many other nonsense going on,” he wrote on X Monday evening. 

@IceColdEmmanuel wrote “Yet he forked out billions to indulge in a pj & Cadillac splurge. A bankrupt nation renovating its VP’s lodge with 21 billion Naira, if no be see finish be dis Wetin e come be?”

“A nation that is on the edge of bankruptcy yet the leader of the nation is buying private jet, building house worth billions of naira for his vice, appointing 47 ministers, embarking on project that are currently not needed in the country. Please enough of all these jare,”@Egedice wrote on X Monday evening.