IGNATIUS OKOROCHA, Abuja
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has expressed grave concern and mounting outrage over the persistent pattern of foreign travels by President Bola Tinubu, describing the trend as economically wasteful, strategically questionable, and dangerously disconnected from the urgent realities confronting Nigerians at home.
HURIWA said, “the leader of Nigeria facing horrendous attacks from terrorists and bandits with over 300 citizens held as hostages of Islamic rebels in parts of North East and North Central state of Kwara, yet the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces has left to spend two weeks gallivanting around Africa and Europe attending less fancied and irrelevant functions instead of staying back to lead the counterterrorism war from the frontlines.
” At a time when the nation is reeling under crushing inflation, a volatile exchange rate, rising unemployment, deepening insecurity, and widespread social discontent, HURIWA finds it troubling that the highest office in the land appears increasingly preoccupied with external engagements whose benefits remain unclear, unquantified, and largely invisible to the average citizen.”
In a statement signed by group’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the Association questions the policy logic and cost-benefit value of the President’s repeated overseas trips. “What concrete investments have been secured? What binding agreements have translated into jobs, infrastructure, or economic relief?” the group queried.
It further stated,”How many of these diplomatic outings have yielded measurable outcomes capable of justifying the enormous expenditure of public funds? Did President Tinubu not spend days in South Africa? Why are Nigerian citizens been attacked and killed by Black South African government appears complicit in the Xenophobic Violence against Nigerians and other blacks in South Africa.”
HURIWA noted that each foreign trip undertaken by the President entails significant financial implications—including the deployment of presidential aircraft, heavy security logistics, accommodation, estacodes, and large entourages—costs ultimately borne by Nigerian taxpayers already stretched to the limit.
” In the face of subsidy removals, rising energy costs, and declining purchasing power, such expenditures, the group argues, are not only insensitive but indefensible.
“Even more concerning, according to HURIWA, is the perception that Nigeria is gradually being governed from abroad while critical domestic challenges worsen. From persistent security threats across multiple regions to policy inconsistencies and economic instability, the country requires a President who is visibly present, fully engaged, and relentlessly focused on internal governance.”
” HURIWA is not opposed to international diplomacy. However, it insists that foreign engagements must be purposeful, limited, and directly tied to clearly defined national interests with verifiable outcomes. Anything short of this, the Association warns, amounts to governance by optics rather than results.
The group called on President Tinubu to immediately recalibrate his approach to governance by drastically reducing non-essential foreign trips and redirecting his energy toward resolving Nigeria’s pressing internal crises.
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