Editor’s note: Adekoya Boladale, a political scientist and social commentator, says President Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign business trips are certainly a neccessity — but there are more things at home for the president to focus on: for instance, ensuring that the funds returned by stealing ex-government officials are dealt with appropriately.
According to the Washington Post, President Barack Obama only made his 42nd international trip as the president of the United States in July this year when he visited his ancestral home, Kenya, incurring a total of 480,000 miles since 2009. And even by American standard that is too much compared to previous administrations. George Bush made around 30 trips, Bill Clinton 27, and Ronald Reagan 14, among others.
Many Nigerians have continued to express their displeasure on the unabated foreign trips embarked upon by Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari especially at a time when austerity measures are being put in place to cut excesses in public offices. Just six months in government, the president has travelled to 12 countries, flew 65,243 miles, spent 48 days abroad and spent an average of 100 million naira per trip, totaling over 1.2 billion, according to the data released by Sahara Reporters.
Currently, President Buhari is in South Africa for the China/Africa forum.
One thing should be clear: the importance of foreign relations cannot be over-empathized. Foreign relations is the glue that is required at this perilous period of our nation.
Nigeria cannot afford to alienate itself from the development and advancement of developed countries. For our country to truly develop and reach its potential, we must embrace genuine hands of fellowship extended by such countries and join in the fellowship of power for the prime purpose of a better and prosperous Nigeria.
In the light if peace-threatening world event of the past few weeks, Africa must position itself right so as not to be a mere spectator when the chips are finally down. This means we must create a new relationship with the right clique all for the selfish purpose of taking our rightful place in the League of Nations.
But in spite of this inherent importance, the president needs to be rightly guided. Cultivating diplomatic ties does not compulsorily require the presence of the commander-in-chief at all times: that is why there is an office of the foreign affairs minister. Except for rare occasions, most pleasantries and discussions can be done via delegated personnel, and when there is the need to take the rank higher, the vice president comes in handy.
Not only do such frequent visits and availability belittle the respect for that sacred position of the president (as witnessed in the last visit to Paris where the French government sent no representative to welcome Buhari), it also suggests a message of idleness.
President Buhari has tons of unfulfilled campaign promises and it is only wise that he sits down to address the fundamental and local issues on whose back he rode to power.
Rather than trying to woo investors and partners, I believe the government should concentrate more on providing antidotes to our local problems. Solving these problems will send a strong message of seriousness and change in the mode of governance. But if Buhari has travelling as a hobby, enjoys the photo-ops and handshakes that follow, I advise he should do that at the end of his four-year mandate and at his own expense.
In the course of stating the plus side of his trips, President Buhari recently revealed that past public office-holders who have looted public funds are now turning the stolen money in. While it is the prerogative of the president to decide if further legal steps would be taken against these persons, considering the terms under which the loots where confessed and returned, I believe President Buhari should give the public more to chew on than the simple phrase of “loots are being returned”.
The president should not mind the safety of our sanity on the effect the figures of the loots might have on our brain if revealed but go ahead in the spirit of open governance to list the names and state unambiguously how much was stolen and from where.
However, that should not be all. If events of the past few months have taught us anything (and of course, the revelation by World Bank on how $500 million of Abacha’s loot was mismanaged by former presidents), it is the fact that the current composition of the National Economic Council cannot be trusted with such returned loot, as it will take the known road of sharing such across the state governors where it would develops thin legs and vaporize.
I want to believe the loot in question is not domiciled in any local banks in the country. The president should as a matter of urgency divert such returned loots to China for the construction of high-speed rail across the country, international standard airports, and if there is more left, a proper water supply channel.
President Buhari must ensure that these returned funds are not simply shared by divisions of government, used in balancing budget or spent on some fathom projects that will not see the light of day.
If Boladale is a public affairs analyst, political commentator and consultant on intragovernmental affairs. He is on twitter @Adekoyabee.
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