Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is scheduled to travel to France today, Wednesday on a private visit.
This was disclosed by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga in a press statement.
While in France on the private visit , President Tinubu will meet with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart Abuja on Wednesday for Paris, France, on a private visit en route to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.”
“In Addis Ababa, President Tinubu will join African leaders at the 46th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council and the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU Heads of State, scheduled from February 12th to 16th, 2025.”
“The president will arrive in Addis Ababa early next week for the African Union summit,” the statement read.
SaharaReporters previously reported that former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi claimed that out of the approximately 580 days President Tinubu had been in office as of December 29, 2024, the President spent more than 30%, or about 180 days, abroad, including more than 30 publicly recorded overseas trips.
In August 2024, SaharaReporters also reported that President Tinubu spent a staggering N2.3 billion on foreign trips and related expenses in just six months.
This was stated in data obtained from GovSpend, a BudgIT Foundation analytics platform.
The data reveals that between February 21 and July 19, 2024, President Tinubu incurred N2,346,623,000 in foreign trip expenses, a significant portion of his overall spending since taking office.
According to GovSpend, on February 21, 2024, State House Headquarters, Abuja made a N300,000,000 payment for presidential trips and other related expenses for the month of January 2024.
On February 24, 2024, State House Headquarters also made a N250,000,000 payment for presidential trips and other related expenses. And on March 15, 2024, N42,379,100 was paid for presidential trips and other related expenses.
On March 15, 2024, N9,484,310 was paid for presidential trips and other related expenses. Another N25,393,490 was paid for presidential trips and other related expenses, and another N34,185,400 was paid for the same purpose on the same date.