Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is scheduled to depart for France on Wednesday, 5th February, for a private visit.
The announcement was made by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a press statement.
During his stay in France, President Tinubu will meet with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron. The President will depart from Abuja and head to Paris before continuing his journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The statement reads: “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. While in France, President Tinubu will meet with his French counterpart, President Emmanuel Macron.”
Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has raised concerns about the frequency of President Tinubu’s overseas trips. According to Obi, as of December 29, 2024, Tinubu had spent more than 30% of his time—approximately 180 days—abroad, including over 30 publicly recorded overseas trips.
In August 2024, reports revealed that President Tinubu had spent a staggering N2.3 billion on foreign trips and related expenses in just six months. The data, obtained from the BudgIT Foundation’s analytics platform, GovSpend, showed that between February 21 and July 19, 2024, Tinubu incurred N2,346,623,000 in expenses for foreign trips.
Details from the data revealed payments for these trips made by the State House Headquarters in Abuja, including N300,000,000 on February 21, 2024, for trips related to January 2024, N250,000,000 on February 24, 2024, and further payments of N42,379,100, N9,484,310, N25,393,490, and N34,185,400 on March 15, 2024.
