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Since taking office in 2015, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) has traveled outside of Nigeria for at least 225 days for medical purposes, according to a study by Ayekooto.
Eight months after taking office, on February 5, 2016, the President made his first-ever six-day medical travel to London, United Kingdom.
Buhari would make a second medical trip four months later, on June 6, 2016. He rested for an additional three days after finishing a 10-day course of treatment for an unspecified ear infection before flying back to Abuja on June 19, 2016.
The President left on his second-longest medical travel on January 19, 2017. But before departing, he wrote to the Bukola Saraki-led Senate to announce his intention to take a 10-day vacation in London.
The letter from the Nigerian president stated that Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, his deputy, would take over. Despite the fact that the medical leave was supposed to start on January 23, 2017, Buhari left Abuja on that day.
50 days later, on March 10, 2017, he arrived back in Abuja.
The President left for London in May of the same year, just two months after his previous trip, for his longest medical pilgrimage, which lasted 104 days.
The condition for which he was receiving treatment is still unknown, but Nigerians were urged to “pray” for the President.
Following that, there were rumors and false information about his health status, with some people assuming he was already dead and had been replaced by a body double.
The lengthy therapy must have been effective because the President wouldn’t travel to London for another medical examination until May of 2018 when he spent four days there for “medical review.”
Buhari left for London once more in late March 2021 for a “regular medical check-up” that lasted 15 days.
His visit coincided with a labor dispute in the medical field, which saw the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors’ members go on an unrelenting strike over unpaid allowances.
The President took a 12-day medical trip to London beginning on March 6, 2022.
Buhari was originally supposed to travel to London from Nairobi, Kenya, where he was attending the UNEP at the age of 50.
He did, however, leave for London on Sunday, March 6, returning to Nigeria on Friday, March 4.
In a previous statement, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Advisor on Media and Publicity, said that Buhari would travel from Kenya to London for “regular medical exams that will run for a maximum of two weeks.”
The President left Owerri, the capital of Imo State, for London on October 31, 2022, for a second, roughly two-week-long medical examination. The nation welcomed him back on November 13, 2022.
Numerous times, the President’s spokesperson had defended Buhari’s international medical trips by claiming that he “has utilized the same medical staff for almost 40 years.”
Adesina also made the case that the President should stick with the team that was familiar with his medical background.
The Buhari administration has set up at least N33.3bn for the State House medical infrastructure over the past eight years, though it is unclear how much has been spent on the President’s checkups.
This covers both ongoing expenses like “the acquisition of health/medical equipment, medications, and medical supplies” and capital projects like the building of the State House Medical Center’s presidential wing, which is expected to be finished this month.
The State House Medical Center stole N8.35 billion, and the presidential wing sucked N24.24 billion out of general “medical expenses,” according to a breakdown of budget records for the time period under consideration.
On Friday, October 7, 2022—his final—the President had delivered the 2023 appropriation bill before a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja.
The State House’s medical budget was N4.84 billion in 2016. N384.76 million was allotted in 2017 for medical costs and facility operations.
N1.08 billion and N850.68 million, respectively, were allotted in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, this decreased to N634.14m.
The State House Medical Center and medical costs were given N693.01 million, N708.75 million, and N476.52 million, respectively, in the budget recommendations for 2021, 2022, and 2023.
The paper omitted, however, to state how much was spent over the course of the previous eight years on the President and Vice President’s medical care.
But a closer look into the allocation bills showed that the State House specifically set aside N744.85 million for “drugs and medical supplies” during that time.
The Federal Government allocated N723.72 million for capital expenditures, including “outstanding liabilities on reclamation and earth filling” and the “completion of dental wing extension in the SHMC.”
Additionally, a total of N24.24 billion has been set aside in appropriation bills since 2019 for the “building of the presidential wing at the State House Medical Center.”
According to this breakdown, N395,834,810 will be spent in 2019, N416,668,220 in 2020, N1,064,643,299 in 2021, N21,974,763,310 in 2022, and N393,661,239 in 2023. (2023). The building is scheduled to be finished in December 2022.
In the meantime, over the course of the last seven years, the President has traveled to at least 84 different places.
These include, among other things, state visits, regional and international summits, high-level meetings, and journeys for medical check-ups.
The Presidential Air Fleet received N50.75 billion from the presidency at that time.
According to previous appropriation bills from 2016, money was earmarked for the procurement of Phase 7 avionics for AW 139 helicopters, air navigational equipment, aircraft calibration equipment, and other things.
The President has traveled to the UK the most since taking office in May 2015, according to a detailed examination of his itinerary.
Medical check-ups predominated in the nine journeys and more than 200 days he has spent there, even though this may have been caused by the summits he attended in London.
After the UK, Buhari has made seven trips to the United States, mostly for the annual United Nations General Assembly in September.
He did see President Barack Obama in July 2015 and September 2016, and he also went on a state visit with President Donald Trump in April 2018.
According to Ayekooto’s subsequent analysis, Buhari also made a record-breaking five separate trips to Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and France.
Ethiopia made four trips, including three to Ghana, Senegal, and the United Arab Emirates.
He traveled to Niger, China, Germany, Benin, The Gambia, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Mali, Chad, and both three times and twice, respectively.
Additionally, the President traveled to 84 destinations in 40 different countries, including Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, India, Sudan, Spain, Iran, Malta, Rwanda, Qatar, Turkey, Scotland, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Jordan, Burkina Faso, Belgium, South Korea, Liberia, and Japan.
In a previous conversation with our correspondent, Ogbole Amedu-Ode, a former Nigerian ambassador to Singapore, said the trips were essential since the President and Vice President’s presence gave the problems behind such visits more importance.
He continued, “Yes, such international travels are justified in some dire circumstances. A sovereign leader must go on his diplomatic missions in order to bring the authority of his position to bear on the situation.
“For instance, since diplomacy is a game of reciprocity, if a specific head of state or government had paid a state visit to Nigeria, the Nigerian president would have to make a reciprocal trip to complete the task at hand.
“You cannot claim that a head of state visited this country before sending someone lower in the administrative ladder to return to that foreign city. Additionally, there are some crucial concerns where the sovereign’s presence will be crucial in highlighting the goal that needs to be attained.
The Presidency claimed in a factsheet published on May 28, 2022 that the excursions had improved and strengthened strained or damaged ties with the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and other neighbours such as Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
A visit by Buhari to China in April 2016 reportedly freed billions of dollars in finance for port, rail, and road developments.
The government “has mobilized international backing for the campaign against Boko Haram, creating strong alliances with major nations, such the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany, ECOWAS, the AU, UN, and others,” according to the Presidency on the security front. The United States eventually agreed to supply – and is selling – weapons to Nigeria (fighter planes) after years of deadlock.
Vincent Paul
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