Buhari: A public servant on a private visit with public money
I was somewhere and we were discussing on some issues bedeviling us as a nation and when we got to the issue of baba being fond of traveling out of Nigeria like the “Ajala” of old, I told them humorously, “Next time, you would not make a Fulani man your president. You know “Fulani” people do not stay at a place…” And we all did burst into laughter. Baba is very nomadic and it is understandable!
In 2015, we were told that there were ten (10) aircraft in Nigeria’s fleet! And in 2016, we were told that Nigeria would sell two (2) presidential jets to cut waste and reduce unnecessary luxuries. Till this moment, we are still keeping all of them, maintaining unnecessary luxuries while our economy drowns in the ocean of waste and mismanagement. A broke nation, keeping ten (10) aircraft in her fleet! Does this make any sense? You be the judge.
On the condition that Buhari does not frequently jet out as he does since he came to power, the ten (10) aircraft in Nigeria’s fleet will be useless and baba does not want this to happen to Nigeria. Those who are complaining should be thanking him for doing us a huge favor, flying almost everywhere. You know it’s not easy to fly out of Nigeria as he does. You know this is what baba’s blind followers say; each time you want to complain on some of the things baba isn’t doing right. Even for keeping ten (10) aircraft in Nigeria’s fleet, baba is doing us a huge favor! Let us keep fooling ourselves.
How can a nation that is said to be broke be keeping ten (10) aircrafts for two people (baba and Osinbajo)? Remember, to exhaust the budgeted 3.3 billion naira for their trips in 2020, expect many more unnecessary trips! I call them unnecessary trips, because Buhari and Osinbajo are fond of making trips that can be delegated to some of their team members, making use of commercial airlines, reducing our current worthless cost of governance.
I am of the opinions that it is going to take a very long time before we can become a first world country. How do I mean? No nation wastes resources as we do and truly become great. How can a 3rd world country like Nigeria be keeping ten (10) aircraft in its fleet? A developed country like America only keeps two (2) aircraft in its fleet! The way our political leaders are running Nigeria is not the way they are running their private businesses.
On the condition that Nigeria is truly a place to live in and enjoy—as we are being told by our politicians, president Buhari would not have been running out of here as he consistently does since he found his way into Aso Rock. Even when his wife wanted to rest, she couldn’t find a suitable place to do so in Nigeria. There is hardly one politician—who rests in Nigeria. Each time our politicians want to rest and enjoy their money, they jet out of here. In other words, you hardly can rest in Nigeria, no matter how rich you are.
Apart from when he travels to the United Kingdom, Nigerians are usually informed about baba’s reasons for traveling to other places. Even the common man knows that Buhari is currently on an official assignment in Saudi Arabia. After the business conference he sent to attend ends, he creases to be on an official assignment. Today, he proceeds to Makkah for a two-day personal religious act. Who pays for the extra two days he spends in Makkah? If His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbajo decides to go to Jerusalem in office as a Christian, he is supposed to pay for his own trip out of his own pocket, because when it comes to religion, it is a personal thing, not a State thing. Remember, Nigeria is a secular country, not a religious one!
Baba’s coming private visit to the United Kingdom is the second this year alone! And I am sure he is going to embark on more private visits to the United Kingdom before his tenure in office fizzles out. On the condition that the rate at which he goes on vacation is the rate at which presidents before him went on vacation, we would have no country today. And his present level of commitment to serving Nigerians does not reflect the man—who was weeping—before he was in the long run voted into power about five (5) years ago.
The yardstick His Excellency, President Buhari uses for others is quite different from the one he uses for himself. He wants to reduce the rate at which other public servants travel, but maintains his own frequent and pointless trips. When he finishes in 2023, we would know how much Nigeria has expended on his many trips to different parts of the world and especially, his private visits to the United Kingdom.
Many partisan and hypocritical citizens of Nigeria are quiet now, because it is not Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who is in power. They would have screamed to high-heaven if what’s happening now did happen when he was in power. They would have called him different names. But now that baba is the one in power, they do not mind if he moves the seat of power to London, governing from there. Our major problem in Nigeria is not corruption, but hypocrisy!
Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of TheCable.
Each time I recall that during the 2014/2015 campaigns, Buhari repeatedly assured Nigerians that he would reduce cost of Governance, I cringe. His supporters who used it as a selling point have all gone deaf and dumb. His acclaimed integrity is nothing but scam