As the controversy over the incessant foreign trips of President Muhammadu Buhari continues, Senator Shehu Sani (APC – Kaduna Central) has expressed his support for the president.
According to Sani in an interview with Leadership newspaper, Buhari’s foreign trips are more purpose-driven than the ones embarked upon by his predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
He stated: “The travels of President Muhammadu Buhari are necessary. These travels are very necessary for him to work out a programme for the economy. All the countries that he has been to, he has secured a good deal for Nigeria. He was in Iran for the 3rd Gas Exporting Countries Forum(GEFC), because as you already know, Nigeria is a major gas exporter. He travelled to Malta for security and Agricultural development, and as you also know, Nigeria is a major agricultural country. He also travelled to France on the issue of environment and climate change. So you cannot have a President that would simply sit at home and not travel. It doesn’t work that way. The travels are an opportunity for the President to project Nigeria and also bring the attention of the world to Nigeria. So his journeys are not as frivolous as those of President Goodluck Jonathan. We are living in an inter-dependent world, so it’s not possible for a president not to travel, so those who are complaining that he is travelling are ignorant. They don’t know what it takes to run an economy. And I will want to say in very clear terms that, President Muhammadu Buhari is the most prudent President in terms of travels. His travels have not gulped the kind of resources, his predecessors’ travels gulped. And we should also not forget that the party in power made promises of revamping the economy, creating jobs, protecting our borders and ending corruption, and before you can fulfil all these promises, you must work with other global leaders. For example, our president wants looted funds stashed in some of these countries, to be returned home, and if we don’t cooperate with other nations around the world, these things cannot be achieved. How can we be able to repatriate the stolen funds, how can the president protect our borders without visiting those countries?”