African press review 10 September

President Buhari of Nigeria looks to offload the executive fleet in cost-saving operation, while Zimbabwe braces for the worse as President Mugabe warns opposition not to cry "when I come for you".

Executive jets for sale

We begin in Nigeria where the press is buzzing with news that President Muhammadu Buhari has decided to offload several luxury jets from the Presidential air fleet after receiving a report showing that his office spent more than 5 billion Naira - approximatley 14 million euros - on aircraft maintenance.

Saturday Vanguard says there are nine fixed wing aircraft including a Boeing Business Jet, codenamed AirForce One, 3 Gulfstreams, two Falcons, one Hawker Sidley 4000, and two Augusta helicopters.

Punch also leads with the revelation that 57 million euros is spent every year in overall maintenance and the operational cost for the fleet Nigeria acquired for 309 million euros. For the paper, Nigeria can no longer afford such lavish spending at a time the economy is in recession.

Talking about the economic hardships facing the country the Sun says 28 states out of 36 states are struggling to pay their workers -  many haven't received salaries in the past seven months.

The paper puts Nigeria's unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2016 at 12.1 per cent, citing figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showing an increase over the last year along of 518,000 to over 1.45 million.

It claims that the government has missed its target of creating a minimum of 1.5 million jobs

"Stop dreaming" headlines Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper. The publication borrowed the expression from President Mugabe's speech to the 103 Central Committee of his ZANU/PF party in Harare.

The paper explains that the message was addressed to the 10 opposition parties clamouring for electoral reform and "protesting against mis-governance and human rights abuses". Mugabe accuses of "adopting a policy of violence in a bid to create a false electoral crisis to avoid elections in 2018".

Amid a warning from Mugabe that he is fast running out of patience, NewsDay says the country is heading for a shutdown adding that "Zimbabwe is now paying the ultimate price for Zanu PF’s profligacy and populism".

In South Africa, BusinessDay reports that Zimbabwe is in its worst financial crisis since adopting the US dollar in 2009, as it has been unable to get funds from international lenders.

The paper says a government plan to cut 25,000 jobs from the public sector's 273,000 workforce by the end of 2017, was rejected on Friday by the Apex Council, a grouping of all state sector unions. This, after Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa warned that state-sector wages took up 97% of revenues collected between January and June.

President Uhuru's big deal

The Daily Nation looks forward to the reconfiguration of the country's political landscape as President Uhuru Kenyatta is due to unveil an enlarged Jubilee party after a string of defections from the opposition.

The paper reports that 25 of the turncoat MPs from ex Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, and Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper were welcomed to the ruling party by Deputy President William Ruto during the party's convention on Friday.

This on top of 12 other groups that have agreed to join the mega Jubilee movement. Up to now the Jubilee coalition held a comfortable majority in the House. Vice President William Ruto is quoted by Daily Nation as saying that he expected 41 opposition MPs to come onboard before President Uhuru Kenyatta launches the new party at the 60,000-capacity Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi.