OPINION: President Buhari Is More Busy Travelling Than Governing Nigeria

Editor’s note: “It looks like President Buhari comes to Nigeria on a working visit,” claims Ubaka Chukwuka Maximus in a contribution to Naij.com, referring to a constantly increasing number of  foreign trips Muhammadu Buhari has been undertaking since he was elected president.

One would probably find it difficult to quarrel with the claim: by making simple calculations Chukwuka Maximus has come to a conclusion that the president has spent as much as one fifth of his days in office abroad. Now when President Buhari is back from another trip to South Africa, Mr Chukwuka urges him to take a break from travelling and direct his energy on tackling the numerous problems Nigeria is faced with.

Is the president on holiday?

From Germany to South Africa, the USA, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Benin, Ghana, again South Africa, India, Iran, Malta and France. Is Buhari trying to be recognized as the most travelling president in the history? It is becoming clear why he has forgotten his promise to sell the aircraft used by his predecessor. All along, during the campaign process Buhari has been itemizing the countries to visit after assuming the office of the president. Thanks God his dream has come true!

Now Buhari seems to be on the retirement holiday having achieved his long-sought goal of becoming a civilian president. He needs to snap pictures with the world leaders for his family library. He has even stopped the weekly FEC meetings to have more time for travelling. Contracts will henceforth be awarded in Buhari’s bedroom; one needn’t ask where has gone the promised transparency.

President Buhari, Nigeria needs your attention!

This is already December, and nothing has been said about the 2016 budget, except that it will account for N7-8 trillion, with no accompanying details on how the money will be raised. Has Buhari forgotten that being the president comes with great responsibilities at home? Does he know the duties of the foreign minister? Buhari possesses no less than 10 jet planes, which he claimed would have been given to the national carrier at the beginning of 2015. The monthly cost of the presidential flights is put at almost N1billion. The president has spent 43 days out of his 183 days in office on the foreign soil. It looks like he comes to Nigeria on a working visit.

In as much as we acknowledge the economic and political merits of such visits, the essence of Buhari’s election should not be lost by him. Some Nigerians voted him to end terrorism in two weeks as it had been promised, others – for economic revival and job creation; the majority chose him over Jonathan because of his self-acclaimed anti-corruption posture. The former president was so heavily criticized on June 25, 2014 for remaining in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, after Abuja bomb blast that he had to terminate his visit. The current ruling party’s media team accused Jonathan of being insensitive to the mood of the nation. Using the same yardstick, has Buhari shown sensitivity to the present mood of the nation with his global throttle endeavour?

The clouds are piling up over Nigeria

There is fear in our hearts over the allegedly missing 105 soldiers; even the trained soldiers can disappear, not to mention the civilians. Boko Haram is becoming more daring, sacking barracks and kidnapping girls close to the chief of army staff village. The APC in Kogi is in disarray, and pro-Biafra activists are unrelenting in their protest. President Buhari is deliberately ignoring negotiations with a peaceful group, begging a terrorist group for dialogue. He should be reminded that Syria crisis had started peacefully until conflict profiteers began arming the protesters. Pro-Biafra group is gradually turning violent, while the president is cruising in South Africa.

Obasanjo’s precedent

It is on record that the former president Olusegun Obasanjo embarked on the foreign trips during his first tenure, and lost touch with the reality on ground. He used the excuse of seeking for foreign investors to make those trips. Obasanjo nearly paid the price for such myopic endeavour during the 2003 PDP primaries. Atiku Abubakar had the party machinery in his palm, and the loyalty of the governors was at his door step; Obasanjo had to practically beg Abubakar not to run against him.

We cannot really evaluate what those visits would cause the former president in the long run, but we know he has not provided us with any reason for leaving Nigeria in such a precarious state. However, it is worthy to note that in the short run Obasanjo’s frequent trips have brought about no anti-corruption treaties, and there was no policy thrust of a documented anti-corruption agenda defining the direction of his government. All we were made to know is that his body language hated it. “Did we vote for body language?” lamented Iyobosa Uwugiaren of Anioma TV.

President Buhari, please visit Nigeria!

One can vividly recall that President Buhari told Nigerians he had signed an arms deal with the US during his first visit to Obama. He intended to make the countrymen believe his travel to America was reasonable. However, up to this moment the new government has not added a single riffle to the country’s arsenal. No country is ready to sell weapons to us; the Russian and Chinese channels Jonathan used are blocked. There is no bilateral trade relationship established during any of these visits, and there is no return visit from any of the presidents Buhari visited.

READ ALSO: Minister Defends Buhari, Says Foreign Trips Not Frivolous

President Buhari should make the best of his foreign affairs minister. A president does not go on foreign trips the way Buhari does when the country is broke. Funds for such trips can help Osun state workers. South East needs Buhari’s visits more. His inability to address the pro-Biafra activists will definitely damage the records of his administration. President Buhari should visit Onitsha personally with his aides, and engage the frustrated youths, who have lost hope in the country, in a dialogue, give them a reason to still believe in Nigeria. If Nigerians could see tomorrow, I am sure they would not have voted for a junketer. Finally, considering the president’s indifference to the demons facing us and his decision to abandon us for numerous foreign trips, I am inclined to re-echo the words of Femi Fani-Kayode: “Does our president really have conscience?”

Mr Chukwuka is a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

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