The Special Adviser on Public Communication and Orientation to President Bola Tinubu, Sunday Dare, has stated there is a justification for his principal’s frequent foreign trips.
News360 Info reports that many Nigerians have criticized Tinubu for his frequent foreign trips, describing them as wasteful and saying he should stay home to tackle the challenges.
However, Dare, in an interview with Premium Times, stated that Tinubu has only been President for 18 months and is not globally known at the level Nigerians know him.
According to him, Tinubu is the marketing chief for Nigeria and his trips are essential to the country’s interests.
He said, “I think every administration has been dogged by this same perception of the president travelling too many times. Recall that under Obasanjo, there was some massive documentation of his trips. I remember Obasanjo’s response then: “I am the chief diplomat. I have to go and make pitches for this country. I have to go out there and engage with other world leaders.” When Obasanjo left, we had Yar’adua. When Jonathan came, the same issues came up. Buhari came, and the same problems about travelling too much came up. Some of these trips are programmed in the world’s calendar. Going to the UN General Assembly and the G20; these meetings are almost cast in stone. We have to make a choice. Do we want the president present or absent from that table because he is Nigerian? And when he goes to these places, you see other world leaders who are presidents like him, who flew from their countries for that meeting. There’s a justification for it.
“You have others based on consultations and processes where the ministers or the foreign ministry advise him about the importance of an event to Nigeria’s interests. The chief diplomat, the marketing chief for Nigeria, is the president. He has other diplomats and ministers, but there’s nothing like hearing from the president of a country, making a pitch for his country and for his people.
“For Nigerians, the president is well known. But globally, he has only been president for 18 months. The world does not know him at the level of a president. So he needs to open doors and open windows. He needs to go out. And these trips will eventually reduce.
“Governance, as we have it and as we have had it, is about institutions. Are these institutions in place? Are they functional? The mere fact that a president sits at home and doesn’t go anywhere doesn’t mean he’s going to succeed. If he’s at home 365 days a year and the institutions of government are not working well, his presence alone won’t change that.
“When you look at the American government as it is today, it’s about institutions. Those institutions have stood the test of time. America once had a bedridden president in a wheelchair who had no cognitive ability for years without people knowing. Yet the institutions powered by the Constitution ensured America functioned perfectly. So, these trips are justified. We might disagree as to the level of their justification, but I don’t see this president embarking on trips just like a flight of fancy.”
