Business
Nigerians angry with President Tinubu over N15bn cost of foreign trips
– Travelled to 26 countries in 41 trips lasting 180 days
Nigerians seem to be angry with the present administration of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu over his frequent foreign trips with the attendant high cost in a struggling economy and the suffering of the people, since he assumed office in May 29, 2023.
His frequent international trips along with his vice, Kashim Shettima, wife and other members of his cabinet and government officials, has been described as the highest any government has spent in Nigeria, in the past 25 years, because if the large size of delegations that accompany every trip, from Ministers and heads of MDAs to state governors.
These expenses, which many Nigerians believed outweighs the benefits the country would derive from the trips, have continued to raise dusts and criticisms as well questions as to the importance of the trips and whether the gains from them justify the resources, which Nigeria is being expended to finance the trips. Although many people accept the fact that the president must travel, however, they question personally undertake every such and also the large entourage that usually follow him.
A frequently cited case is the COP 29 conference in Baku, Azerbaijan on November 11, 2024, where Nigeria posted the largest delegation with over a thousand people, it was later explained that some came on self-sponsorship. Yet, the government delegation included all manner of people who had no direct business at the conference.
President Tinubu, his wife, and the Vice, Shettima, from statistics available, are adjudged to have traveled to over 26 countries and made about 41 trips in just over a year in office. While Tinubu, in particular, has recorded 29 trips to about 18 countries, his Vice, Shettima, made 12 trips to 10 nations. Both of them were also said to have spent 180 days abroad, with Tinubu having the record of 124 days, while, Shettima incurred 56 days, all within their 18th months of being in office. This suggests that the president and his people have spent six months of the 18 months in office abroad, which is very high for an economy in trouble.
Amongst countries that they have both visited especially Tinubu which had the most are London, New York,
Delhi, Berlin, Paris, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, Addis Ababa, Tanzania, South Africa, China, etc.
Travel Cost Escalates
According to reports, there has been tremendous surge in the president’s budget for international trip during the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu compared to others before him.
For instance, reports also has it that the real amount expended on foreign trips by both immediate past president Muhammadu Buhari and the incumbent, Bola Tinubu from 2020 to 2025, according to the breakdown shows as follows:
2020 — ₦1.19 billion
2021 — ₦1.65 billion
2022 — ₦1.53 billion
2023 — ₦1.63 billion
2024 — ₦6.99 billion
2025 — ₦6.14 billion (proposed)
These figures show that the travel budget under President Tinubu in 2024 far exceeded the total spending during the four years of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
What got Nigerians worried about the spending spree of President Tinubu on foreign tours is the fact that what Buhari prudently spent in four years, which Nigerians tagged too high then, was far below that Tinubu spent in a year of being in office.
Records available also show that as sparing as Buhari’s foreign trips were, even his medical expenses inclusive, he still spent ₦6 billion in four years, while Tinubu has spent almost ₦7 billion in a year, which people say “is hard” to comprehend, considering the hardship, which Nigerians are going through, since he came to office in 2023.
It was argued that President Tinubu’s globe-trotting deserved close examination, as it could constitute a waste of the limited resources and dig Nigeria into more serious economic holes, while poor people, young and old, are dying of hunger and various diseases due to lack of enough funds to cater for the nations hospitals, for both primary and secondary health care facilities.
It was further argued that what could be seen as extravagant expenditure of his trips calls for accountability and proper scrutiny. BH was informed that what Tinubu spent in just a year is enough to cater to other needs of the citizens and that it pays Nigerians for him to stay at home and face critical domestic issues, which require urgent attention.
Local Travels
Critics of his administration say that what is worrisome about his international trips is centered on his nonchalant attitude, as it was revealed that President Tinubu and his team in government gulped N36 billion on international travels In 2024, which was revealed by the open treasury portal. The portal’s highlights indicated that N12.2 billion was allocated to “international travel and transport (training),” while N24.19 billion was spent on “international travel, transport and others.
It was further revealed that additionally, local travel and transport costs were substantial, with N15.8 billion spent on “local travel and transport (training)” and N31.2 billion on “local travel and transport (others).
It was also revealed that the total amount combined for both local and international travel cost N83 billion.
Not finished yet, it was said that the overhaul of the presidential aircraft’s engines is expected to cost the country N8.6 billion this year, 2025
With all these facts on the table, notable Nigerians are worried whether these costs are commensurate the expected benefits or they are just for self-gratification.
That is why people like Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, who claimed he was rubbed off the presidency in 2023, cried out, enumerating the danger that is imminent about the frequency of trips taken by President Tinubu of the APC
Although, before now, the Presidency had made cosmetic adjustments to travel and delegation size when the outcry was very loud about what both local and international travels were consuming and tried to cut down by 60%, on both local and international trips, observers said that the action did not solve the problems, as the bills on tours with allowances of government officials in all the ministries and agencies, are still regarded as very high, in view of the economic situations in Nigeria.
We can afford it
However, despite the complaints about what the country is spending on presidential tours, the foreign affairs Minister, has declared that what we are spending is not even enough and that the government has been very modest about the trips.
The Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said Nigeria is rich enough to fund the frequent foreign trips of President Tinubu. Tuggar said that though
Tinubu’s trips abroad had been condemned by some Nigerians, with criticism whether such trips had attracted the necessary gains to boost the nation’s direct foreign investments, the minister was emphatic that Nigerians would soon realise the benefits of the President’s trips abroad.
He said the trips are not enough and there is the need for him to embark on more trips “because of its strategic importance and inherent benefits to the country.”
“Tinubu could only strengthen ties with fellow global leaders in his quest to set the country on the right path.”
According to him, “It is not a fair assessment. The administration is still new because the President was sworn in in 2023. In global terms, he is still a new president. He needs to interact with his colleagues and fellow heads of state to be able to establish relationships.”
“You can further see the fruits of these trips and their benefits, which attracted $2bn (worth) of investments like he did in Brazil. In fact, I would venture to say we are not traveling enough. We should do more.”
The Minister rebuked those people, saying that Nigeria did not have the money for such frequent trips.
“Nigeria has the money. How much does traveling cost compared to the benefits? Again, how much does it cost really when you compare it to some of the things that the President has already addressed?
Meanwhile, in August 2024, it was reported that President Tinubu had spent a staggering N2.3 billion on foreign trips and related expenses over just six months.
According to the Data, said to have been obtained from the GovSpend platform, provided by the BudgIT Foundation, it was revealed that between February 21 and July 19, 2024, the President’s foreign trip expenses amounted to N2,346,623,000 while the
State House was said to have made several payments for presidential trips during this period, part of which was N300 million in January 2024, N250 million in February, and a series of payments totaling N9 million and more on March 15, 2024.
“Furthermore, between February 24 and March 15, 2024, the government spent over N2.9 billion on foreign exchange for President Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and First Lady Oluremi Tinubu for trips to Ethiopia, Switzerland, Liberia, France, Côte d’Ivoire, and other destinations.”
Backing up the Minister of Foreign Affairs former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly and former Ambassador to Mexico, Ambassador Adejare Bello, said the foreign trips of President Tinubu have started yielding positive results.
He said in an interview with Business Hallmark that direct foreign investments could only be encouraged with the arrangements we must have put on the ground in the country, “I like what President Tinubu is doing. Though some people are complaining that he is jetting out of the country now and then, as far as I am concerned, we are getting results. If you get to our Stock Exchange Market today, you will see a lot of improvements within the period that President Tinubu has been in government.”
He said, “As we are talking now, investors from UAE are in Nigeria looking for where to invest in the stock exchange. The trillion dollars the man is talking about is going to be majorly from the stock exchange and that is part of what would boost the economy of Nigeria.
“Direct foreign investments would come when we emphasize the ease of doing business, with the ground that is level for foreign investments and investors, they would come.
“Look at what happened before President Tinubu came, to the extent that foreign airlines refused to come to Nigeria because we could not pay back their money in dollars and this government, has cleared all of that now….”