Pandemic shows Buhari and others can do without unnecessary foreign trips

President Buhari has spent eight months in the country without embarking on a foreign trip, the longest since his regime began almost six years ago on May 29, 2015.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic plays a key role in limiting the President’s international travels as the highly infectious disease has claimed over 2.7 million lives across the globe in over a year, including Buhari’s chief of staff, the late Abba Kyari, who died on April 17, 2020.

This has led to varying degrees of travel restrictions across the globe since early 2020. With the physical constraints occasioned by the global health crisis, virtual multilateral deliberations have gained popularity as fewer in-person meetings become a necessity.

However, a breakdown of the 2020 budget submitted to the National Assembly showed that N1.751bn was earmarked for the President’s foreign trips, while N775.6m was allocated for his local trips.

This was apart from the N182.25m appropriated for travels and transport in the budget of the State House Headquarters.

Buhari’s last foreign trip was to neighbouring Bamako, Mali for a peace mission by the Economic Community of West African States Head of States on July 23, 2020. He returned to Abuja the following day.

The brief visit marked Buhari’s only foreign trip since the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria on February 27, 2020.

-Punch