Buhari Spends 4 Billion Naira in 51 Months on 52 Foreign Trips

President Muhammadu Buhari has embarked on at least 52 foreign trips since May 2015 when he was sworn-in for his first term as President till date, expending approximately N4 billion in the process.

Investigations showed that Buhari has so far visited 30 countries cutting across four continents, including Africa.

According to analysis carried out by The Daily Times, Buhari has so far visited 16 African countries, seven Asian countries, five European countries and one country in North America. Among the 30 countries visited by the President, further analysis shows that the United States of America and the United Kingdom topped the list with a record five visits each followed by France, Chad and Saudi Arabia with three visits each.

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Countries visited twice include Niger, China, Germany, South Africa, Benin, Ghana, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Senegal and Gambia. The countries President Buhari visited once include Cameroon, India, Sudan, Iran, Malta, Ethiopia, Qatar, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco, Mali, Poland, Jordan, Liberia and Japan.

Similarly, checks on the President’s local trips revealed that there are some states in the country that Buhari is yet to visit aside for campaign or electioneering purposes.

Checks by The Daily Times revealed that the North East and North West are the only zones where Buhari has visited all the states with Katsina his home state enjoying the pleasure to host him the most. His visits to Anambra, Ondo, Kogi, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states, were all campaign stops to rally support for his party in either the presidential or governorship elections. Others include Delta, Ekiti, Oyo and Abia states.

Further checks showed that while Buhari visited 30 countries in four years and three months, former President Goodluck Jonathan visited at least 30 countries between 2010 and 2015, while former President Olusegun Obasanjo had a record of 97 countries he visited from 1999 -2007.

It could be recalled that former Presidents Jonathan and Obasanjo received criticism for their numerous foreign trips while in office. After ex-President Jonathan travelled out of the country at least 20 times in 2012, political pundits likened his many trips to that of Obasanjo, who was at a time adjudged by many as one of the world’s most travelled President with a record of 93 foreign trips within his first three years in office.

According to reports, he was said to have spent at least 340 days outside the country during his Presidency and travelled 400 times between 1999 and 2007. Obasanjo like Buhari while delivering a speech at Oxford University said the frequent foreign trips were targeted at restoring the country’s “bad image before the comity of nations following years of brutal military regimes.