Tinubu on Tuesday evening returned to Abuja after a two-week private visit to Paris, the capital of France.
By Emma Ogbuehi
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday evening returned to Abuja after a two-week private visit to Paris, the capital of France.
Tinubu landed at the Presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja around 8:55pm.
The President was received by some of the senior members of his administration, including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Senator George Akume; his Chief of Staff, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila; the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FTC) Nyesom Wike
Also at the airport were Kaduna Governor Uba Sani; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri and the Director-General of the Department of State Service (DSS) Yusuf Magaji Bichi, among others.
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This last trip to France was the third since he became President. Two of the visits were private while one was official.
The first was in June 2023, three weeks after he assumed office while the second was in September 2023.
He left for the last visit on January 24 and stayed for two weeks.
The President returns amidst swelling crisis in many parts of the country over rising cost of living in the country. On Monday, youths and women took to the streets in Minna, Niger state and Kano, protesting the high prices of food items.
Apparently rattled by the uncertain developments, the Federal Government on Tuesday convened an emergency meeting to address the uncertain development.
The meeting which was presided over by the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, is at variance by a statement earlier in the day by the national Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in which the party accused the opposition political parties of orchestrating the protests – an explanation that Nigerians dismissed as absurd and unreasonable.
The parley was attended by members of the Special Presidential Committee on Emergency Food Intervention and was aimed at arresting the brewing crisis as a result of the soaring prices of food items and its attendant hardship on the citizenry.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting that lasted for about three hours, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, expressed President Bola Tinubu’s worry over the development.
He said that the President has directed that the situation should be arrested by the Presidential Committee in order to reduce hardship on the populace.
The Minister, who said that there is enough food in the country, added that some elements are trying to take advantage of the high food prices and the depreciation of naira to cause havoc.