Posted on: 05:21 Sun, 29 Nov 2015



I have been amused, reading a number
of jokes concerning the frequency of the
President, Muhammadu Buhari’s
foreign trips.

Questions have been raised about
why so many visits, and what are the
benefits Nigeria is getting?
I will make it clear from the
beginning that the critic is entitled to
his and her opinion and nothing
said here is intended to silence him
or her.

Criticism goes with the territory and
as it is often said in a wisecrack, if
you don’t like the heat, get out of the
kitchen.

President Muhammadu Buhari came
into office under the mantra of
change. While Nigerians are
yearning for change, you need
someone who will set up the
infrastructure, both at home and
abroad for it. President Buhari is
busy doing that.

The change is manifest in where he
visits and what he does.

In the delegations accompanying him
abroad, President Buhari has slashed
the numbers, bringing them down to
a tolerable or the bearable
minimum.

He went to the United Nations
General Assembly in September with
an unbelievable 32 officials in his
delegation. These included his cook,
his doctor and luggage officer.

His predecessor in office went to the
same meeting with 150 officials and
family members the year before.



Wherever they are given
government accommodation and
feeding, members of President
Buhari’s entourage receive reduced
allowances, thereby saving the
government some money.

In public diplomacy, experts say that
it is better conducted through face-
to-face interaction than through
third parties. This is even moreso at
the level of heads of state. To do by it
by proxy is to miss the effect of
fostering strong interpersonal
relations between leaders, by which
nations benefit.

President Buhari has so far visited
Germany, South Africa, USA, Niger,
Tchad, Cameroon, Benin, Ghana,
South Africa, India, Iran and Malta,
where we are presently for the
Commonwealth Summit. Mostly,
these were due to either the United
Nations, EU, African Union or energy
and security-related summits. They
were mostly undertaken to attend
specific meetings, not State Visits.

Looking at these assignments, the
trips are inescapable for the
President. What would Nigerians say
of their leader when see the array of
world leaders assemble, as they
would shortly be doing discussing
climate change in Paris on Monday
and their own President is missing
from the table?

Those of us who were around under
Abacha read all the taunts about him
being a sit-at-home leader. Abacha
was despised for not representing his
country abroad.

President Buhari’s foreign visits have
been marked by punishing schedules.
They are always business-like and
results-oriented.

All trips have been marked by tight
schedules. Meeting after meeting,
happening back-to-back morning,
afternoon and evening. The
President has had to travel overnight
for some of these meetings.

The visit by any president to another
country is the highest act in
international relations.
It sends out a message that that
county is important to the visitor.

It is not like your usual vacation
abroad. Official discussions
involving political leaders, the
military, the diplomats and at times,
business people are held at multi-
track levels. In foreign policy you
stand on a quick sand of events and
you slip up if take a rest or lose
focus. Governments also know that
their achievements at home will be
meaningless if they cannot project
them abroad. Who or where are the
foreign investors,whose hand you
are seeking if you can’t travel meet
them? Will they come if they don’t
know about the country? President
Buhari demonstrated a keen
understanding of these when in the
first week of his taking the office, he
brought together foreign policy and
all three cardinal objectives of his
administration-security,economy
and war on corruption- by
embarking on visits to neighboring
countries.

In our recent history, much of the
West had ignored Nigeria under the
corrupt PDP administration for
many years, which warranted the
country’s tilt towards some Asian
countries.

As a consequence, this country has
suffered past isolation of various
types, including the denial of access
to the arms-purchase market.

As a member of the then Standing
Committee of the Nigerian Guild of
Editors, I remember being in a
delegation that visited the Aso Rock
Villa, to beg the government at that
time not the execute the writer and
activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa.

At the meeting with the Number Two
man in that government, Major-
General Oladipo Diya, he announced
to everyone’s shock and disbelief
that Ken had been executed.

“Honestly,” he muted, “I think he has
been executed about two days ago.”
What followed that pronouncement
was a global outrage.

The then Foreign Affairs Minister,
Arch. Tom Ikimi representing
Nigeria at the Commonwealth
meeting in New Zealand, shattered
the feelings of the leaders of those
countries when he announced to
them that he had not been briefed
about the executions and begged for
time to talk to the leaders back in
Nigeria.

Nigeria faced an imminent expulsion
from the group and would have been
so sacked but for the intervention of
the then President of South Africa,
late Nelson Mandela.

In place of this extreme form of
sanction, a suspension and and a
barrage of sanctions followed and
remained in place until an
appreciable remorse was was shown
and progress made towards the
return to democracy by Nigeria.

Throughout that period of time, it
was difficult being a Nigerian in the
international space.

As council members of the UN
Human Rights Commission, Africans
would caucus in Geneva without us
Nigerians. Like lepers, we were
shunned wherever we showed up.

I mentioned this short narrative to
illustrate two things: one, for a
country to do the right things all the
time and two, you don’t know the joy
being a part of international
gatherings until you suffer the pain
of exclusion from them.

Short of begging the world, there was
nothing that the Abacha government
didn’t do to be taken back into the
Commonwealth.

And it is against this background
that I felt the need to pen this
opinion in the hope of bringing
better understanding to fellow
countrymen and women on the
current subject matter.

There is no reason to be angry with
anyone criticizing President Buhari
for traveling abroad. In politics, even
if President Buhari were to bring
with him a suitcase full of cash and a
pot gold each time he returned from
a trip, someone will criticize him,
saying that the journey is wasteful.

The PDP will kick, knowing that they
got 16 years and did nothing with it.
Those who didn’t do much during
their term of governance will find it
instructive to fault whatever the
President is doing.

If President Buhari is successful as a
leader, the PDP will be history.

My own point here is that he is
doing a great job and the fruits are
here, and many more will soon
come. He is working to strengthen
diplomatic relations, trade and the
security of our nation. He holds
serious meetings with serious
investors and has fetched us
investments in the range of billions
of US Dollars.

Now, countries such as France, UK,
The U.S are supporting Nigeria with
intelligence, weapons and training
for our military against Boko Haram
and the economic saboteurs in the
Delta region.

President Buhari will definitely make
Nigeria great,what the PDP fooled us
for 16 years.

All heads of countries around the
world now take Nigeria seriously.

His foreign trips are for business,
security of the country and bilateral
contacts- contacts that get actualized
by follow-ups and the love and
support a leader enjoys at home and
abroad.

Today the world is in a warm
embrace of President Muhammadu
Buhari.

Nigerians should be proud of the
attention, love and admiration,
importance, respect and investment
he is bringing to Nigeria. These trips
are not for enjoyment.

Lastly, to answer those who ask all
the time, what is he bringing back
home?

We are not a country of beggars. It is
good if something is in the bag as the
leader comes home from a trip.

Culturally, we never return home
from a trip without a souvenir for
everyone left at home. Yes it is good
he declares something upon his
return.

But the most important task for the
President at this time is to reset the
image of Nigeria abroad, given the
damage it sustained over many years
in the past.

So far, in fairness, the President has
projected a large image of Nigeria
and of himself which should be a
matter of pride for all our citizens.

Marketing of Brand Nigeria can
never be more important than
currently it is.

The President is doing a great job for
the nation. He needs to be supported.
Written by Garba Shehu, Senior
Special Assistant to the President,
SSAP (Media and Publicity)

Source:- PM News