September 24, (THEWILL) – Five years after his private jet, a GulfStream G200 with registration number, 5N-BTF crash landed and skidded off the Abuja International Airport runway, badly damaging the fuselage, billionaire businessman and founder of Nestoil PLC, one of Nigeria’s foremost indigenous Oil and Gas Company, Dr Ernest Nnaemeka Azudialu-Obiejesi, has gone shopping for another luxurious jet.
Although Azudialu-Obiejesi’s company has a fleet of aeroplanes and helicopters, this new purchase will be the star of his conglomerate, having relied heavily on an older Gulf Stream to ferry him around these past few years and spending billions in maintenance.
In 2018, his gulf stream skidded off the runway after the pilot discovered that the landing gear was not operational and had to land the aircraft with a broken landing gear, which severed from the aircraft upon landing. The aircraft landed on its belly at the airport with four passengers and three crew members on board. Luckily all seven people on board escaped unhurt, but the incident forced planes that were due for landing to return to where they departed from and prevented several other planes from taking off from Abuja airport. In turn, hundreds of passengers became stranded at the airport as the airport management tried hard to get the aircraft off the runway. A lot of planes had to land at the nearest airports.
Shopping for a replacement, Azudialu-Obiejesi has his eyes set on a Gulfstream G-700 aeroplane, which will set him back by about $76 million, which is about N60 billion, thus making him one of the very few to put that kind of luxury in the air. The ultra-long-range bespoke private jet with Rolls Royce engines offers the largest cabin in business aviation, carrying up to 19 passengers and having up to five living areas.
The man of means, who also owns Energy Works Technology Limited, B&Q Dredging Limited, Gobowen Exploration and Production Limited, Century Power Generation Limited and Time Power Global Dynamics Limited, Smile communications, is a philanthropist who has done his best to elevate his Ihiala community with modern infrastructures and amenities. From building a multi-million naira state-of-the-art medical facility, Obijackson Women and Children’s Hospital (OWCH), to the construction of the St. Peter’s Stadium as a facility for social integration and youth empowerment to several other amenities for the benefit of members of his community.
He is currently strategising on how to expand his business dealings with American businesses in Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, California, and other states in the US.
