Going forward, certain habits must be shed and new, productive ones imbibed by the man Nigerians elected as their president. One of those things President Buhari should change is his travelling habit. Given the frequency and attending cost with which he travels even at the most inconsequential invitations, President Buhari has already surpassed the widely criticized peripatetic OBJ administration. Apart from being a deliberate squandering of public funds and sheer misuse of quality work-time, many of these overseas trips have been made unrewarding by sometimes, demeaning events. What on earth is the justification for these overseas trips in a country beset with multidimensional antediluvian and pedestrian problems such as power failure, lack of potable water, decrepit infrastructure, poor health care, insecurity, grueling poverty, deteriorating standard of education, unemployment and receding fortune which have forced its best brains to flee the country? The country called Nigeria is burning and the president is fiddling! Any more trips abroad is some fiddling too much.
In the first eleven months after taking office in May 2015, Buhari made over 30 foreign trips, and visited some countries more than once. That’s a rate of three trips per month and one trip every two weeks. By contrast, US President Barack Obama made only 11 trips in all of 2015 and seven since Buhari was sworn in. The president has visited Niger Republic (May, August & Dec 2015), Chad (June 2015), Germany (June 2015), South Africa (June & Dec 2015), Cameroon (July 2015), Britain (May 2015), USA (July & Nov 2015), France (Sept & Nov 2015), Ghana (Sept 2015), India (Oct 2015), Sudan (Oct 2015), Iran (Nov 2015) and Malta (Nov 2015).
The President began the New Year in the same way he ended the last year. In January 2016, he went abroad four times. On January 8, he went to Benin for a meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the Niger Basin Authority; January 17 three-day official visit to the United Arab Emirates; January 27 three-day official visit to Kenya; and January 29 trip for the 26th Summit of African Union Heads of State summit in Ethiopia. In February 2016, Buhari travelled abroad five times; visiting France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In March 2016, Buhari travelled to Equatorial Guinea and the USA. On April 10, he was in China for a one-week official visit and on May 9, he flew to London to attend an anti-corruption summit organized by then British Premier, David Cameron. One of the most dramatic of these trips was his visit, the other day, to Germany, where in a fit of misogyny and bad judgment, he told reporters that his wife, First Lady Aisha Buhari belongs to his kitchen and bedroom; provoking a hailstorm of criticism at home and abroad.
Similarly, the president’s visit to Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj was another occasion so ludicrous: it boggled the mind whether it was a state visit or a personal spiritual exercise. Sadly, many of these trips often end in deals or insignificant Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) that are unworthy of the trips in the first place. In addition to the unjustified expenses incurred by the presidential entourage, the rationale behind Buhari’s globe-trotting, and meetings with not so consequential actors raises questions. Does his presence at such fora beget any economic fortune for Nigeria? What is more, the president is also known to attend conferences that seldom have bearing with his position. The impression portrayed by this is that the President has so much time in his hands. This could hardly be true in a country bedeviled by a myriad of problems.
This attitude is inconsistent with the promise made by the President, during the election campaigns, when he gave this seeming remorseful belt-tightening promise to cut the size and cost of governance, including recurrent expenditure and increase capital spending. In the wake of public criticisms over these foreign travels, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, pushed back strongly, arguing that Buhari’s foreign trips were not for enjoyment. He claimed Buhari went to the UN General Assembly in September 2016 with 32 officials in his delegation, including his cook, doctor and luggage officer while, according to him, former President Jonathan went to the same meeting with 150 officials and family members in 2014.
Justifying the trips further, Shehu said, “In public diplomacy, experts say that it is better conducted through face-to-face interaction than through third parties. This is even more so at the level of heads of state. “To do it by proxy is to miss the effect of fostering strong interpersonal relations between leaders, by which nations benefit.” Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, went a step further, listing security, anti-corruption and the economy as the three immediate, concrete dividends from Buhari’s foreign trips. These are lofty goals, but the President should not personally attend every assignment abroad. That is why there is a growing concern that his job at home is seriously suffering; just as there is disapproval of his habit of making weighty policy statements abroad.
Elsewhere, leaders devote absolute attention to domestic affairs. In February, when Fulani herdsmen invaded Benue State and killed over 400 people in the Agatu community, Buhari was nowhere to be found, but in the intervening period, he travelled to the US and China. This is vexatious and Buhari has no excuse for this. A president should identify with the people in their time of tragedy. In January, Boko Haram went on the rampage in Dalori, Borno State, killing about 65 people. The President did not visit the area. It beggars belief that the President does not see the need for these emergency visits.
The President needs to address issues at home; he needs not grace every function to which he is invited abroad. That is why the Presidential system provides the principal with aides. A junior officer, and not the President, should attend to visitors or invitations coming from officers of equivalent status. This does not take away from the President’s famed humility.
The office of the President is a tough, thoughtful, burdensome and sacrificial position that demands self-discipline, gumption, prudence and political sagacity. Personal weaknesses and private inadequacies are challenges that any president must continually battle as a human being, but these should never debar him from carrying out his constitutionally defined functions. To this end, a President must master his tendencies; use the elevated position for the good of all in a clear display of focused leadership. Although misconstrued to be laden with unbelievable privileges, the position of the President does not grant the incumbent the licence to be less than the best in conduct and comportment. A President must feel the pangs of responsibility by cultivating a sense of guilt to accept failures that come from even alleged abuses of office.
A President should not on his own do, and must never condone in his actions, the public perception of converting in his office into a platform to advertise his personal weaknesses. Many actions, trips included, and working private concerns into official state functions, is a telling sign of a weak governance culture. It does no good to the reputation of the President or the image of the country. The President should take a second look at these issues as he organizes his calendar and plans for his next trip abroad.
