I have been amused, reading a number of jokes concerning the frequency of the President, Muhammadu Buhari’s foreign trips.
Questions have been raised about why so many visits, and what are the
benefits Nigeria
is getting?
I will make it clear from the beginning that the critic is entitled to
his and her opinion and nothing said here is intended to silence him or her.
Criticism goes with the territory and as it is often said in a
wisecrack, if you don’t like the heat, get out of the kitchen.
President Muhammadu Buhari came into office under the mantra of
change. While Nigerians are yearning for change, you need someone who will set
up the infrastructure, both at home and abroad for it. President Buhari is busy
doing that.
The change is manifest in where he visits and what he does.
In the delegations accompanying him abroad, President Buhari has
slashed the numbers, bringing them down to a tolerable or the bearable minimum.
He went to the United Nations General Assembly in September with an
unbelievable 32 officials in his delegation. These included his cook, his
doctor and luggage officer.
His predecessor in office went to the same meeting with 150 officials and family members the year before.
Wherever they are given government accommodation and feeding, members of President Buhari’s entourage receive reduced allowances, thereby saving the government some money.
In public diplomacy, experts say that it is better conducted through
face-to-face interaction than through third parties. This is even moreso at the
level of heads of state. To do by it by proxy is to miss the effect of
fostering strong interpersonal relations between leaders, by which nations
benefit.
President Buhari has so far visited Germany ,
South Africa , USA , Niger ,
Tchad , Cameroon ,
Benin , Ghana , South
Africa , India ,
Iran and Malta , where we
are presently for the Commonwealth Summit. Mostly, these were due to either the
United Nations, EU, African Union or energy and security-related summits.
They
were mostly undertaken to attend specific meetings, not State
Visits. Looking at these assignments, the trips are inescapable for the
President. What would Nigerians say of their leader when they see the array of world
leaders assemble, as they would shortly be doing discussing climate change in
Paris on Monday and their own President is missing from the table?
Those of us who were around under Abacha read all the taunts about him
being a sit-at-home leader. Abacha was despised for not representing his
country abroad.
President Buhari’s foreign visits have been marked by punishing
schedules. They are always business-like and results-oriented.
All trips have been marked by tight schedules. Meeting after meeting,
happening back-to-back morning, afternoon and evening. The President has had to
travel overnight for some of these meetings.
*Goodbye Nigeria!
The visit by any president to another country is the highest act in international relations.
It sends out a message that that county is important to the visitor.
It is not like your usual vacation abroad. Official discussions
involving political leaders, the military, the diplomats and at times, business
people are held at multi- track levels. In foreign policy you stand on a quick
sand of events and you slip up if take a rest or lose focus. Governments also
know that their achievements at home will be meaningless if they cannot project
them abroad. Who or where are the foreign investors, whose hand you are seeking
if you can’t travel to meet them? Will they come if they don’t know about the
country?
President Buhari demonstrated a keen understanding of these when in
the first week of his taking the office, he brought together foreign policy and
all three cardinal objectives of his administration-security, economy and war
on corruption- by embarking on visits to neighboring countries.
In our recent history, much of the West had ignored Nigeria under
the corrupt PDP administration for many years, which warranted the country’s
tilt towards some Asian countries.
As a consequence, this country has suffered past isolation of various types, including the denial of access to the arms-purchase market.
As a member of the then Standing Committee of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, I remember being in a delegation that visited the Aso Rock Villa, to beg the government at that time not the execute the writer and activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa.
At the meeting with the Number Two man in that government, Major-General Oladipo Diya, he announced to everyone’s shock and disbelief that Ken had been executed. “Honestly,” he muted, “I think he has been executed about two days ago.”
What followed that pronouncement was a global outrage.
The then Foreign Affairs Minister, Arch. Tom Ikimi representing Nigeria at the Commonwealth meeting in New Zealand, shattered the feelings of the leaders of those countries when he announced to them that he had not been briefed about the executions and begged for time to talk to the leaders back in Nigeria.
In place of this extreme form of sanction, a suspension and a barrage of sanctions followed and remained in place until an appreciable remorse was shown and progress made towards the return to democracy by
Throughout that period of time, it was difficult being a Nigerian in the international space.
As council members of the UN Human Rights Commission, Africans would caucus in
I mentioned this short narrative to illustrate two things: one, for a country to do the right things all the time and two, you don’t know the joy of being part of international gatherings until you suffer the pain of exclusion from them.
Short of begging the world, there was nothing that the Abacha government didn’t do to be taken back into the Commonwealth.
And it is against this background that I felt the need to pen this opinion in the hope of bringing better understanding to fellow countrymen and women on the current subject matter.
There is no reason to be angry with anyone criticizing President Buhari for traveling abroad. In politics, even if President Buhari were to bring with him a suitcase full of cash and a pot gold each time he returned from a trip, someone will criticize him, saying that the journey is wasteful.
The PDP will kick, knowing that they got 16 years and did
nothing with it. Those who didn’t do much during their term of governance will
find it instructive to fault whatever the President is doing.
If President Buhari is successful as a leader, the PDP will be history.
My own point here is that he is doing a great job and the fruits are
here, and many more will soon come. He is working to strengthen diplomatic
relations, trade and the security of our nation. He holds serious meetings with
serious investors and has fetched us investments in the range of billions of US
Dollars.
Now, countries such as
President Buhari will definitely make
All heads of countries around the world now take
Today the world is in a warm embrace of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigerians should be proud of the attention, love and admiration, importance, respect and investment he is bringing to
Lastly, to answer those who ask all the time, what is he bringing back home?
We are not a country of beggars. It is good if something is in the bag as the leader comes home from a trip.
Culturally, we never return home from a trip without a souvenir for everyone left at home. Yes it is good he declares something upon his return.
But the most important task for the President at this time is to reset
the image of Nigeria
abroad, given the damage it sustained over many years in the past.
So far, in fairness, the President has projected a large image of Nigeria and of
himself which should be a matter of pride for all our citizens. Marketing of
Brand Nigeria
can never be more important than currently it is.
The President is doing a great job for the nation. He needs to be
supported.
*Garba Shehu is Senior Special Assistant to the President, SSAP (Media
and Publicity)
Another garbage from Garba Shehu. The trips are becoming so many, and things are getting so bad in the country. It is seems your boss is running away from the problems he is unable to fix at him.
ReplyDeleteThe APC and the government they scammed Nigerians into voting in is very at barefaced lying. So, why should I believe Garba Shehu?
ReplyDeleteA bunch of sleek lies
ReplyDeleteAfter one year, the APC might provoke uproar anywhere it is mentioned. Bunch of slick scammers
ReplyDeleteGarba's Garbage! I don't envy you in this your terrible job. I won't ever want to trade places with you; not for any offer no matter how fat and juicy
ReplyDeleteDespicable!
ReplyDelete