Our attention has been drawn to an editorial published in the Nigerian
\nPilot of August 2, 2015 and an earlier report in which the total cost of
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari’s recent trip to the U.S. was estimated at N2.2
\nbillion.
\nIt is very sad that in this age of free-flowing information and in this
\nera of CHANGE, a media organisation would make itself available as a
\nvehicle to peddle a lie of such low and ignominious quality.<\/p>\n
Contrary to the newspaper’s assertions, the total cost of the trip to the
\nNigerian taxpayer was at the most minimal, in line with the policy of this
\nadministration to cut waste and extravagance.
\nIn point of fact, the total amount expended\u00a0 on the trip by the Office of
\nthe President amounted to nothing near ten per cent of the speculated
\nfigure.<\/p>\n
Owing to the free accommodation provided by the host government, all the
\npersonal staff who accompanied the President on the trip received reduced
\nallowances.
\nHis son, Yusuf, received neither allowances nor estacode. The five
\nGovernors on the trip each paid his own way. Permanent Secretaries who
\ntraveled on the delegation did so in accordance with extant rules and none
\nof them exceeded their estacode entitlements.<\/p>\n
Apart from the Nigerian Pilot’s mischievous\u00a0 mathematics, it is
\nshortsighted and misleading of the newspaper to have claimed that
\nPresident Buhari’s trip to the U.S. achieved nothing.
\nNigerian-US relations had suffered severely over the past few years. That
\nrelationship has now been reset. The benefits of this symbiotic
\nrelationship will become more and more evident as the Buhari
\nadministration continues to tackle the challenges of\u00a0 corruption, security
\nand the economy.<\/p>\n
Some of the more immediate benefits of the President’s trip to the U.S
\ninclude: the proposed $2.1 billion fund from the World Bank for the
\nre-development of the northeast battered by Boko Haram; $5 billion from US
\ninvestors in Nigeria’s agriculture sector; $1.5 billion investment in the
\nNigerian health sector; and another $5 billion investment from the U.S. in
\nour country’s power sector.
\nAlso, as things stand at the moment, the embargo on the sale of weapons
\nsales to Nigeria is in the process of being removed.<\/p>\n
The trip to the U.S by President Buhari was definitely very successful and
\nbeneficial to Nigeria.
\nOnly those rabidly determined to find faults unnecessarily will cook up
\nfalsehood in a futile effort to rake up murk where none exists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our attention has been drawn to an editorial published in the Nigerian Pilot of August 2, 2015 and an earlier report in which the total cost of President Muhammadu Buhari’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n