President Muhammadu Buhari has travelled out of Nigeria at least 50 times since assuming office in 2015.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, on Thursday said that those who claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari was junketing around the world did not understand how important his trips are to Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari has travelled out of Nigeria at least 50 times since assuming office in 2015.
Onyeama however, noted that the numerous outings were not enough, given the level of consultations the president needed to make with his counterparts in Nigeria’s interest.
The minister who stated that Buhari needed to have made more trips within the period given the high level of consultations, made this known while giving the scorecard of the foreign ministry from 2015 till date.
He said; “It is not true that Buhari’s foreign trips have been too many. I would disagree with that assertion. I would say it is not even enough. You cannot imagine what he achieves with what he does with his personal interactions between him and his foreign counterparts.
"Buhari is Nigeria’s number one foreign minister and if I had my way, I would say he should even do more trips to more countries because like I said before Buhari is the best president we have had in this country.
“I am not surprised because there is an adage that says that a prophet is never respected in his own country. If you know the affection and the respect in which Buhari is held by other world leaders, it is breathtaking when you are present and you see that and very often they insist on him coming even when he says it is not possible for him to come.
“A lot of engagement with other countries has brought in a lot of foreign investments into the country with huge monetary value. This has been possible because the president visits these leaders and speaks with them personally. We cannot necessarily quantify it. We only do the framework to facilitate those investments while the ministry of finance is best placed to handle the figures in terms of monetary value to Nigeria,” he said.
The minister expressed regrets over the poor treatment of Nigerians by some countries, saying that the ministry had been frequently involved in rescuing thousands of Nigerians trapped in foreign nations due to inhuman treatment.