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TINUBU SPENT 180 OF HIS 580 DAYS IN OFFICE ABROAD – OBI
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections Peter Obi, says out of the approximately 580 days President Bola Tinubu has been in office as of December 29, 2024, the President spent over 30% or about 180 days abroad, covering over 30 publicly recorded overseas trips.
Obi said this at a media chat on Thursday in Abuja on the state of the nation, adding that Nigeria needed selfless and exemplary leadership in 2025.
President Tinubu was sworn in on May 29, 2023 and has spent 584 days in office as at January 2, 2025.
Our correspondent also reports that while President Tinubu has not travelled out of the country this year as he is currently on holiday in Lagos State, the president in 2023 and 2024 visited not less than 16 countries, including some he visited more than once.
The President visited Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; London, the United Kingdom (four times); Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; Porto Norvo, Benin Republic; The Hague, Netherlands; Pretoria, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; New York, the United States of America; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (twice); Berlin, Germany; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dakar, Senegal and Doha, Qatar.
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Among the trips that generated interests was on August 29 to Beijing, China, where President Tinubu held bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and subsequently attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, before departing China for the UK, where he spent seven days, and returned on September 14.
The following month on October 2, a day after attending the 64th Independence Day anniversary, Tinubu departed Abuja for the UK again for a two-week working leave.
He spent nine days there and proceeded to Paris, France, for an ‘important engagement’, according to his Senior Special Assistant on Political and Other Matters, Ibrahim Masari.
President Tinubu’s government also spent N2.3bn on foreign trips and related expenses within six months in 2024, according to data from GovSpend, a portal documenting the Presidential Villa expenditure.
The highlights covered the costs associated with presidential travels between February 21 and July 19, this year.
Speaking on the development at the media briefing, Obi said that President Tinubu would spend roughly 72 days to visit each of Nigeria’s 36 states for two days each.
“Mr. President, out of the approximately 580 days (as at December 29, 2024) you have been in office, it is reported that you have spent over 30%, or around 180 days, on more than 30 publicly recorded overseas trips. My appeal is that you dedicate at least 20% of 2025, roughly 72 days, to visit each of Nigeria’s 36 states for two days each.
“As President, such visits would give you the opportunity to better understand the dire economic and security situations across the country. Furthermore, it is time for you to visit our national hospitals. Consider, for example, that your next medical examination be conducted at one of our National Hospitals or Regional Federal Medical Centres, such as the FMC in Sokoto or Birnin Kebbi or Calabar or Umuahia or Akure, among others,” Obi said.
The former Anambra State Governor, said that this would allow the President to assess the state of healthcare facilities available to Nigerians and would also help him understand the condition of the nation’s hospitals and clinics, enabling him to make informed decisions on how to upgrade and make them efficient.
He said, “Endeavour to travel by road to observe the condition of most highways. You can take short trips, for example, from Calabar in Cross River State to Uyo in Akwa Ibom State, a distance of less than 100km, or from Benin in Edo State to Warri in Delta State,” he said.
Obi recalled taking former President Olusegun Obasanjo on a trip from Awka to Onitsha on a federal highway when he was the Governor of Anambra State and that the journey prompted Obasanjo to immediately approve the reconstruction of parts of the road by the Anambra State government, with subsequent reimbursement by the federal government.
He also urged President Tinubu to make both impromptu and planned visits to the nation’s tertiary institutions, to familiarise himself with the available infrastructure, facilities, and amenities.
He said, “As Commander-in-Chief, visit our military formations and security agencies, especially during their field operations, and provide them with morale-boosting assurances and support for operational efficiency. Reiterate that they and their families will always be taken care of.
“Mr. President, many Nigerians are ‘refugees’ and ‘exiles’ in their own country. Visit various IDP camps and assure these Nigerians that they will soon return to their communities, and that you are working hard to restore peace and normalcy to the country. Nigeria is not a war-torn nation. The proliferation of IDP camps is a troubling sign.”
He charged President Tinubu to pay aggressive attention to combating corruption, adding that while addressing past corrupt matters, he must ensure proper investigations and recoveries related to missing funds or their sources.
“The focus should be on eliminating current and future official malfeasance through increased transparency and accountability in public procurement and contract award processes, as well as thorough monitoring of execution to ensure that limited resources are efficiently utilized and applied productively.
“All future borrowing must be tied to regenerative investments and visible, productive assets that benefit the nation. This will ensure both productivity and the ability to service and amortize such loans, rather than continuing the current practice of accumulating massive debt with no tangible returns, which places undue strain on future development revenue,” he said.
Obi insisted that Nigerians need to hear directly from President Tinubu, not through his proxies, and that a quarterly update on what he is doing to improve the situation in Nigeria is crucial.
