Buhari through his media aid has defended earlier criticisms of his trips abroad which has been alleged to be milking the ailing economy badly.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that contrary to the claims by critics of his incessant foreign trips, none of the trips he had made so far can be said to be frivolous, according to the Punch.
He said there were always political and economic justifications for his trip. Buhari said this on Friday in London while answering questions from some Nigerian journalists shortly before he commenced a six-day vacation that would end on Wednesday.
A correspondent obtained the transcript of the interview on Saturday. It will be recalled that Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, had asked Buhari to stay at home and govern the country instead of junketing from one country to the other.
Fayose had said that the President’s incessant foreign trips were already bleeding the economy with about $1m being spent per trip. But Buhari said he did not know how Fayose arrived at the figure he gave.
He said, “Every one of my trips can be politically or economically assessed. I recall that the first trip I had was to go to Chad and Niger. The trip was mainly because of Nigeria’s security.
“We campaigned based on three issues -security, economy (employment) and corruption. And then the G-7 invited me to Germany. After that, I went to Cameroon. I then went to the United Nations General Assembly.
“I have not seen any frivolous journey that I undertook. I understand that the governor of Ekiti State said that every trip I make costs Nigeria at least $1m. I do not know how he worked that out but every trip that I have made, there must be economic and political reasons that justified them.
“Those who do not see it the way the government sees it have the right not to agree and say whatever they like. But we will try and give them the appropriate reply.”
Buhari also promised to take his administration’s ongoing anti-corruption war to all sectors of the economy.
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