.. says;“unnecessary trips bleeding country’s economy”

Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has counselled President
Mohammadu Buhari to stay at home and govern the country instead of
junketing from one country to the other, saying; “foreign countries
won’t solve our problems for us and the President’s incessant foreign
trips is already bleeding the economy with about $1 million being
spent per trip.”

The governor, who said most of the trips embarked on by the President were unnecessary, added that ministers or at best the Vice President could have been made to attend most of the functions being attended abroad by the President.

According to a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti by his Special Assistant
on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose
said that “the President should rather listen more to those of us
who criticise him instead of those hailing every of his wrong steps
either because of what they intend to gain or for fear of
persecution.”

The statement read; “Conservatively, about $1 million goes into every
of the foreign trips and the way the President is going, foreign trips
alone might gulp 20 percent of the Federal Government budget and that
will be disastrous for the dwindling economy of the country.

“It is even more worrisome that while the economy is already in
shamble and insecurity pervades the land with Boko Haram burning
Nigerians, including children alive in the North East, our President
is busy globetrotting.

“From available records, in June 2015 alone, the President travelled
to Niger Republic, Chad, Germany and South Africa. Also in 2015, the
President travelled to United States of America in July, Benin
Republic in August, Ghana and France in September, India in October,
Iran, France and United States of America in November and in December,
he travelled to South Africa, Benin Republic.

“This year alone, President Buhari has travelled to the United Arab
Emirate, Kenya, Ethiopia and he is leaving for France and United
Kingdom today to spend four days abroad.

“In most of these trips, about $500,000 is spent on estacode,
transportation, accommodation, honorarium, media coverage, contingency and other expenses on accompanying Presidency officials. The Presidential Air Fleet, which includes fuelling of the planes and
allowances for crew members as well as the President’s estacode per
night and those of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his aides is
said to be in the range of $500,000.

“Out of his eight months as President of Nigeria, two months have been
spent outside the country, and one wonders how a country like Nigeria
can progress with its president spending the better part of his time
abroad.

“Mr President is therefore advised to focus more on governing Nigeria
from home because foreign countries won’t solve our problems for us.
He should fulfil his promise of leading the fight against Boko Haram
from the front. Most importantly, the President should pay more
attention to the ailing economy of the country while he carries on
with genuine fight against corruption.”