Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammudu Buhari, Bola Tinubu
Since the nation return to democracy in 1999, past Presidents like Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari had held sway steering the affairs of the country.
During their tenure, they embarked on numerous foreign trips to woo foreign investors to the country.
Obasanjo ruled for eight years, during this period, he embarked on numerous foreign trips and was able to secure the $18bn debt relief from the Paris and London Clubs.
The other former Presidents inspite of their numerous foreign trips which gulped the country’s tax payers money could not woo investors into the country, instead some of the investors who had invested in the country relocated their businesses to other African countries on account of epileptic power supply and insecurity.
As it stands, more than any other previous administrations since the return to democracy in 1999, the current government through its economic policies spurred by IMF/ World Bank prescriptions, have imposed an unprecedented hardship on Nigeria. The latest in the series of these anti-people economic policies is the hike in fuel price from N617 per litre to N897; and there are concerns over further increase.
In the face of rising costs of basic commodities, poverty which is reportedly one of the highest in the world, hunger, rising electricity bill, skyrocketing tuition fees of tertiary institution and general discontent in the land worsened by rising insecurity; the administration daily embarks on foreign trips ostensibly to seek foreign direct investments.
NATIONAL WAVES is deeply concerned by the cost implications of these foreign junketing by both the President and his vice; given that no sane country or international investor will be willing to commit investment in a land or country torn apart by banditry , kidnapping, sectarian unrest and general insecurity.
The investment climate even for local investors is inclement aside the insecurity, a raft of policies put in place in the past 12 months are deeply concerning for organized private sector. Within this period according to Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, more than 230 small and medium scale concerns have closed shop, while the big conglomerates are in hiccups struggling to survive. Poverty is rife and close to epidemic proportion, while the political class basks in conspicuous consumption and overt display of ill-gotten wealth.
This medium frowns at incessant travels embarked upon by presidency; as it would seem a big drain on our resources that ought to have been committed to bettering the lives of Nigerians through improved infrastructure. For example, President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and First Lady Remi Tinubu spent not less than N5.24bn on local and foreign travel between January and March 2024.
An analysis of the travel expenses using GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses the Federal Government’s spending, showed that N1.35bn was spent as provision for presidential trips and other related expenses in three months, N3.53bn was spent on foreign exchange purchase during 10 international trips and N637.85m was disbursed to two travel agencies for the purchase of air tickets for presidential local and foreign trips.
The payment made through the State House transit account to various recipients did not include estacodes of the President’s entourage. This was as the government spent N12.59bn on maintenance of the presidential air fleet within the same period.
Recall that the President spent N3.4bn on these trips within six months of assuming office. The figure is 36 per cent more than the N2.49bn earmarked for the President’s travel expenditure in the 2023 budget.This means a total sum of N8.64bn was spent on local and foreign trips between June 2023 and March 2024.The report also showed that the president got N650m as an honorarium.
Nigerians have consistently expressed worries over the President’s frequent travels, calling for tangible outcomes from these journeys. In their first seven months in office, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and his Vice, Senator Kashim Shettima, visited 16 countries, collectively spending 91 days in foreign engagements.
Checks revealed that Tinubu had so far visited Paris, France (twice); London, the United Kingdom; Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; Porto Norvo, Benin Republic; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; New York, the United States of America, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Berlin, German, spending 55 days. Meanwhile, Shettima represented him in Italy, Russia, South Africa, Cuba, China, and the US, logging 36 days abroad in 2023.
NATIONAL WAVES calls on the President to reduce foreign trips, concentrate on how to improve the economy, reduce the burgeoning cost of governance through implementation of Stephen Oronsaye Report. Enough of these incessant travels.
