An
estimated N2.7 trillion ($13.6 billion) worth of direct investment is part of
the immediate benefits accruing from President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent state
visit to the United States, the Presidency claimed yesterday.
The
presidency also affirmed that the visit cost the Nigerian treasury less than
N220 million contrary to assertions in some sections of the media. It further
explained that President Buhari’s son, Yusuf, did not receive any estacode for
the trip even as it contended that great savings were made by members of the
delegation against previous visits.
The five
governors who were in the delegation, the presidency said, paid their way while
permanent secretaries and other senior government officials only received their
entitlements.
File: US
President Barack Obama speaks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari during a
meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, July 20, 2015.
Obama welcomes Nigeria’s freshly elected president after the country’s first
ever democratic transition. AFP
The
presidency’s explanations followed news reports in some sections of the media
that the visit was wasteful, cost N2.2 billion and was not in anyway
beneficial.
In a
statement, yesterday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said besides the economic benefits, plans were
already in motion to lift hindrances to the flow of military support for
Nigeria’s war against insurgents in the North-East.
Some
immediate benefits
According
to him, “some of the more immediate benefits of the President’s trip to the US
include: the proposed $2.1 billion fund from the World Bank for the
re-development of the northeast battered by Boko Haram; $5 billion from US
investors in Nigeria’s agriculture sector; $1.5 billion investment in the Nigerian’s
health sector; and another $5 billion investment from the US in our country’s
power sector.
“Also, as
things stand, the embargo on weapons sales to Nigeria is in the process of
being removed. The trip to the US by President Buhari was definitely very
successful and beneficial to Nigeria. Only those rabidly determined to find
faults unnecessarily will cook up falsehood in a futile effort to rake up murk
where none exists.
“It is
very sad that in this age of free-flowing information and in this era of
change, a media organisation would make itself available as a vehicle to peddle
a lie of such low and ignominious quality.
“Contrary
to the newspaper’s assertions, the total cost of the trip to the Nigerian
taxpayer was at the most minimal, in line with the policy of this
administration to cut waste and extravagance.
Buhari’s
son didn’t receive estacode, govs paid their way
“In point
of fact, the total amount expended on the trip by the office of the President
amounted to nothing near 10 per cent of the speculated figure.
“Owing to
the free accommodation provided by the host government, all the personal staff
who accompanied the President on the trip received reduced allowances.
“His son,
Yusuf, received neither allowances nor estacode. The five governors on the trip
each paid their way. Permanent Secretaries who travelled on the delegation did
so in accordance with extant rules and none of them exceeded their estacode
entitlements.
“Apart
from the Nigerian pilot’s mischievous mathematics, it is shortsighted
and misleading of the newspaper to have claimed that President Buhari’s trip to
the US achieved nothing.
“Nigerian-US
relations had suffered severely over the past few years. That relationship has
now been reset. The benefits of this symbiotic relationship will become more
and more evident as the Buhari administration continues to tackle the
challenges of corruption, security and the economy.”
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