Politics

Amid hardship, inflation, See the Amount Tinubu spent on foreign trips in six months

Published by Tope Fakinlede on August 21st, 2024.

Amid hardship, inflation, See the Amount Tinubu spent on foreign trips in six months

Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Despite ongoing economic difficulties and inflation affecting the nation, President Bola Tinubu has expended over N2.3 billion on foreign travel and related costs from February to July 2024.

Recently, Nigerians organized a 10-day protest demanding an end to poor governance. Their calls included the reversal of the fuel subsidy removal, the release of October 2020 detainees, and a rollback of increased electricity tariffs.

According to a report from BusinessDay in May 2024, Tinubu visited over ten countries and spent more than N3.4 billion on both domestic and international trips within a year. Data from GovSpend, affiliated with BudgIT, indicates that between February 21 and July 19, 2024, the President’s foreign travel costs totaled N2,346,623,000.

The records show payments for these trips include N300 million on February 21, 2024, for January’s expenses, N250 million on February 24, and additional amounts of N42,379,100, N9,484,310, N25,393,490, and N34,185,400 on March 15, among others.

Further details reveal additional expenditures of N5,602,600, N106,422,600, N5,505,100, N5,001,700, and N65,474,000 for foreign trips. Additionally, between February 24 and March 15, the federal government spent N2,902,314,310.35 on foreign exchange for the President, his wife, and Vice President Kashim Shettima’s trips to various countries, including Ethiopia, Switzerland, Liberia, France, and Côte d’Ivoire.

On February 24, N750 million was used to acquire $1,271,997 for the President’s journey to Dubai.

This report comes as Nigeria’s annual inflation rate, which had been rising for 19 months, decreased to 33.4% in July, providing some relief to the Central Bank of Nigeria from further interest rate hikes.