Tinubu spends N2.3bn on foreign trips in six months in face of acute hunger, hardship & hyper inflation

Despite inflation and hardship rocking the country, President Bola Tinubu, between February and July, spent more than N2.3 billion on foreign trips and related expenses, according to BusinessDay calculations.

Nigerians recently staged a 10-day protest, calling for end of bad governance.

Their demands, amongst others include reversal of fuel subsidy, release of October 2020 detained protesters and reversal of electricity tariff, reports BusinessDay.

In May 2024, Tinubu visited over 10 nations, spends over N3.4bn on local, foreign trips within one year.

Data from GovSpend, an affiliation of BudgIT showed that between February 21 and July 19, 2024, the President spent N2,346,623,000 on foreign trips.

According to the platform centred on providing information on daily spending at all levels of government, on February 21, 2024, the State House, Abuja, paid N300 million for Presidential trips and related expenses for January 2024.

“On February 24, the State House also made a N250 million payment for Presidential trips and related expenses. And on March 15, N42,379,100 was paid for Presidential trips and related expenses,” the data revealed.

“On March 15, N9,484,310 was paid for Presidential trips and related expenses. On the same date, N25,393,490 and N34,185,400 were paid for the same purpose.”

Other payments provided for presidential foreign trips, as disclosed by the data include N5,602,600, N106,422,600, N5,505,100, N5,001,700, N65,474,000 and N300 million among others.

Also, between February 24 and March 15, the federal government spent N2,902,314,310.35 on buying foreign exchange for President Tinubu and his wife, including the Vice President, Kashim Shettima; for trips to Ethiopia, Switzerland, Liberia, France, Côte d’Ivoire and other needs.

On February 24, N750 million was used to buy $1,271,997 for the President’s trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

This paper reported that Nigeria’s annual inflation slowed for the first time in 19-month in July to 33.4%. This is as a result of a high base effect, giving relief to the Central Bank of Nigeria on further hike.

This year the Monetary Policy Committee has raised the interest rate by 800 basis points to 26.75 percent to fight stubbornly high inflation.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Consumer’s Price Index declined to 33.40 percent in July 2024 from 34.19 percent in June 2024.

Tinubu had on Monday, August 19, traveled to France for a “work stay” on a newly acquired private jet, sparking criticism as the West African nation endures a cost-of-living crisis.

The Airbus A330 business jet, now registered to the Nigerian Air Force, left the capital Abuja for Nice, according to FlightRadar24. The model, typically used as a twin-aisle passenger jet, was purchased last month for $100 million, according to Premium Times. It had been advertised on Aircraft24, a platform to buy and sell aircraft.