President Buhari and his air mileage

RECENTLY, there has been a sharp disagreement over the added value of the many itineraries of President Muhammadu Buhari. His many travels are getting him into scrapes of public condemnation and also providing ready cannon fodder for righteous attacks by concerned Nigerians. The President’s endless junkets to foreign capitals are becoming embedded into his style of governance and, if left unchallenged and unchecked, may morph into an accepted custom that may come to haunt us. The President’s personal obsession with foreign travels, viewed in some quarters as the surest way to reboot our economic meltdown and regain our moral stature around the world is parochially flawed, selfish, theatrical and an act of me-me political order that seeks to reinforce an authoritarian mode of governance.

Encouraged by the seduction of public adulation and the cult of followership, President Muhammadu Buhari is finding it irritating to countenance the effrontery and many other workable alternatives being suggested by well-meaning Nigerians, majority of whom are at pains to explain away the futility of running a government from the sky.

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We have to advise the President that retreating into old essentialism of military stubbornness, wilful disregard of voices of reason and blatant despotism in pursuance of self-righteous public functions is nothing short of a punch on the face of millions of Nigerians who voted for change. Such attitude is degrading to democracy. What is at stake here is manifestly clear. Is President Muhammadu Buhari’s aggressive foreign travels really meant to rescue Nigeria or part of an agenda shrouded in mystery? Are we to buy and accept the micro-narratives of his party members, his cabinet and loyalists that his compulsive travels are cost-effective and economically beneficial to Nigeria? Should we accept the government self-aggrandizing narrative with dignified silence or challenge President Muhammadu Buhari with the outrage of his nomadic actions.

In a nation that is mired in economic, social, and moral paralysis, is it fit and proper for the President and his retinue of travellers to spend, on average, $1million per foreign junket? How do we persuade the President that, in a noxious climate of national austerity, such huge sums of money on travels is a political and moral travesty?

Following closely behind the profligate and vulgar cost of the President’s travel is the evolving penchant of rewarding party supporters with foreign travels especially those personalities whose inclusion in the trips has no value added or business being in the many journeys undertaken by him. More worrisome is the complete obliteration of the functions of the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Minister of State in the ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Till date, President Muhammadu Buhari has not given reasonable space for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim, to perform the functions of their offices. They are hidden away behind the bulwark of their offices just because the President’s junketing proclivities disallow them to be seen performing their assignments. One of the numerous consequences of the President’s love of jetting from one capital city to another capital city of the world– from the US to Germany, France, the UK, Iran, Malta, Chad, South Africa, Niger Republic, Kenya, Ethiopia, Republic of Benin, Qatar, Chad and Saudi Arabiaall within eight months of his assumption of office (!) is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is rendered comatose and inactive.

That our political, socio-economic and moral revamping can only be done at home and not in foreign capitals cannot be overemphasized. Majority of those countries are also battling and engaging economic recession without wasting their scarce resources on foreign jamborees. Of course, President Muhammadu Buhari has to travel on occasions on the demands and dictates of global politics and diplomacy. But this nation can ill-afford the frequency of such diplomatic shuttles premised on false claims and promises.

Again, we cannot remain untroubled especially when both Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama and his counterpart, Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim, are not given any lead roles as foreign affairs officials. We operate a consensual federalist government based on fairness, justice, equity and the promotion of unity. The President’s round- the-clock travels, involving exorbitant and scandalous funds in each visit, the hijacking of the foreign minister’s role and his rejection of reason are all antithetical to the virtues of a democratic tradition.