Buhari’s Foreign Trips Already Fruitful—Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says the numerous foreign trips embarked on by President Muhammadu Buhari since his assumption of office have started to yield fruits.

Mohammed, in a statement issued Friday in Abuja, disclosed that the trips by the President were critical to the implementation of his administration’s key policies of enhancing security, jump-starting the economy, creating jobs and fighting corruption.

According to the minister, it is very important for Nigerians to analyze the actions of the President from an informed view. He stated that every citizen has the right to know what their leader is doing.

The minister rubbished insinuations that Buhari is merely wasting precious time globetrotting, adding that these trips have started turning the tide in the fight against the insurgents, attracting investments in the range of billions of dollars, and securing global support in the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

“Nigerians, whether in the ruling or the opposition parties, have a right to ask questions about the activities of their President, but it is absolutely important that they do so from an informed, rather than partisan or sensational, standpoint,” the minister said.
Furthermore, he said, “He (Buhari) was in Germany at the invitation of the G7 to solicit support from the Industrialized Nations for the war against terrorism. No one who has witnessed the killings and maiming in the past seven years by Boko Haram will call such trips frivolous. After all, the security and welfare of the citizens are the reason for the existence of any government.

“The President’s visit to South Africa was to attend the regular summit of the African Union; the trip to Ghana was aimed at fostering better relations with a brotherly country; the trip to India was for the India-Africa summit that provided the opportunity to explore ways of enhancing Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) from Indian investors, while the trip to Iran was to attend the forum of Gas Exporting Countries, a veritable platform for discussing how to better harness Nigeria’s abundant gas resources for industrial/domestic consumption and export, at a time of dwindling oil prices.

“The President also travelled to Malta to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, from where he travelled to Paris for the UN Conference on Climate Change. The President’s second trip to South Africa since assuming office is for the China-Africa forum.

“On the few occasions that the President has embarked on a State Visit, he has tied that to an agenda that will further the quest for support for the war against terror and the efforts to enhance FDIs, thus stimulating economic growth and creating jobs,” the Minister said.

He said that apart from rallying global support for the country’s wars on terror and graft or seeking foreign investments, it is important that Nigeria leverages on President Buhari’s brand, a high integrity quotient and an embodiment of committed and dedicated leadership, to further Nigeria’s relevance and visibility on the global stage.

”President Buhari is well respected on the global stage for his high integrity, his transparency, his patriotism and his purposeful leadership. It is important to leverage this respect in such a way that Nigeria can become a major player, either in the realms of economy or global diplomacy.”