Since taking office in May 2023, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has spent roughly 270 days outside the country, according to a compilation of official travel records and flight data. The tally includes 52 separate foreign trips to at least 30 countries, with France emerging as the most frequent destination – 13 visits and more than 50 days in Paris for official, working and private purposes.
GovSpend, an independent platform that tracks public spending, reports that the Presidency spent N37.6 billion on travel, logistics and foreign‑exchange transactions between June 2023 and April 2026. The outlay peaked in the second half of 2023 at N9.1 billion, rose to N25.2 billion in 2024, fell sharply to N2.7 billion in 2025, and an additional N6.1 billion has been earmarked for international travel in the 2026 budget.
Vice‑President Kashim Shettima’s travel record over the same period shows about 56 days abroad across 12 trips to 10 countries, including Rome, St Petersburg, Johannesburg, Havana, Beijing, Iowa, New York, Davos, Yamoussoukro and Stockholm. Combined, the President and Vice‑President have spent 344 days overseas out of roughly 1,000 days in power.
Tinubu’s first overseas journey began on 20 June 2023, a month after his inauguration, when he travelled to Paris for a four‑day Summit for a New Global Financial Pact. He followed that with a three‑day private meeting in London on 24 June, a trip to Guinea‑Bissau for the 63rd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government on 8 July, and a visit to Nairobi for the African Union mid‑year coordination meeting on 15 July. The pattern of frequent trips – roughly one major foreign visit every two to three weeks – has continued, with a 22‑day overseas stint in January 2026 and a three‑week annual leave in Europe in August 2026.
Critics have linked the rise in travel spending to the administration’s removal of the petrol subsidy and the floating of the naira, arguing that the government has not exercised the same restraint on its own travel budget while Nigerians shoulder the cost of economic reform. The Presidency’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, described the August 2026 trip as a “working vacation” intended to prepare the President for the January 2027 election, a claim that has drawn further scrutiny as the country faces renewed economic hardship.
“The trip was a working vacation intended to prepare the President for the campaign ahead of the January 2027 election,” said Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency’s spokesman.
The pattern of seeking medical care abroad is not new to Nigerian leaders. Tinubu spent 90 days in the United Kingdom in 2021 recovering from knee surgery, while former President Muhammadu Buhari was known for frequent medical trips to London between 2015 and 2023. These visits occur despite the existence of publicly funded facilities designed for such purposes.
<small>Source: The Sun Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
