Buhari runs away from his job for the fifth time this year alone
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Muhammadu Buhari will desert his job again today, first jetting off to Kenya for four days, then to the United Kingdom “for a maximum of two weeks”, his fifth overseas travel this year alone – three of them amid fuel scarcity gripping Nigeria.
He will participate in the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP@50) programme in Nairobi between 3 and 4 March.
Then “he will proceed to London for routine medical checks that will last for a maximum of two weeks,” his Media Adviser Femi Adesina said in a statement.
Buhari is both President and Minister of Petroleum which has been scarce for three weeks because of adulterated imported products. This is stoking pump price with multiplier effects on the costs of transportation and all other goods and services.
If another head of a Ministry, Department or Agency (MDA) in his administration negligently travels when chaos rages in the MDA will Buhari not sack him or her?
By the end of 2021, Buhari had gallivanted 131 times to 37 countries where he spent 312 days, building on a tally by Daily Trust in an editorial on 10 December 2021 which still echoes widespread criticism of his wasteful travels.
“On cost-benefit terms, the dividends of President Buhari’s visits have not been as spectacular as Nigerians expected. We are yet to see the direct foreign investments translate into jobs for our unemployed young men and women,” Daily Trust wrote.
The main beneficiaries of his junkets are his kitchen cabinet and attack dogs dressed as spokesmen, all of who collect estacode in foreign exchange and throttle lies to prop up an incompetent man who has rolled back Nigeria more than six decades.
Buhari’s first trip abroad this year was to The Gambia on 19 January, a day after he celebrated himself with a rice “pyramid of lies” in Abuja. It was his needless 132nd foreign junket that could at best be delegated to a subordinate.
Then he spent five days in Ethiopia between 3 and 7 February. And another five days in Belgium between 15 and 19 February.
Altogether Buhari has gallivanted 134 times to 40 countries where he spent 322 days – before his new foray beginning today.
When he returns from this latest junket, he would add two trips and two countries where he spent about 20 days.
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Buhari’s wasteful medical tourism
Nigeria’s health sector bleeds from multiple problems, one of which is underfunding, which averaged 4.72 per cent of budget allocation in the 10 years to 2011.
Inadequate funding leads to poor pay for healthcare personnel, a point driven home yearly by the exodus of medical doctors to foreign countries.
Nigeria’s healthcare system grapples with massive drawbacks but countless of its citizens excel in the medical profession abroad.
Nigerian-born medical doctor, Professor Iyalla Elvis Peterside, was named as one of the best physicians in the United States in 2020 by the US National Consumer Advisory Board.
Onyema Ogbuagu, another Nigerian-born doctor based in the US, was one of the scientists who discovered the Pfizer vaccine for the coronavirus pandemic.
Nigerian doctors number 9,189 in the United Kingdom, with 805 of them licensed by the British General Medical Council (BGMC) between July and 25 December 2021.
Since 2018, others have migrated East to Saudi Arabia where Nigerian doctors are highly priced.
After years of agitation, the monthly hazard allowance of doctors working in public hospitals in Nigeria was in December 2021 raised from N5,000 to between N32,000 and N40,000. Other health workers get between N15,000 and N34,000.
To put that in perspective, however, Senators receive N1.24 million monthly just to buy newspapers.
Buhari’s hypocrisy and failure
Buhari promised on the campaign trail in 2015 to upgrade medical facilities and end foreign medical tourism of public officials, including himself. But he fails to deliver on it and characteristically refuses to give account.
He fails to solve problems listed by doctors, and given his famous record of incompetence, callousness, bullying, and law breaking, he cannot (and will not) solve the problems – which include a lack of medical facilities and low pay.
Buhari himself knows about these problems in healthcare delivery.
But rather than fix them he travels abroad for medical treatment, at huge cost to the treasury. He does not even feel shame for failing to deliver on his promise. Nor does he bother to explain why.
In August 2021, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged Buhari to redirect the N4.87 voted to spy on citizens through social media, phone calls, and text messages to pay the salaries of striking doctors.
SERAP also asked that the sleuth money be used to improve the benefits of resident doctors as well as healthcare facilities for poor Nigerians who rely on those facilities and have no means for medical tourism abroad, like Buhari.
PREMIUM TIMES logs that since Buhari assumed office on May 29, 2015, he has spent 200 days in the UK for medical treatment in seven trips, the last of which he returned from on 13 August 2021.
His ailment has never been made public, even though his treatment has chalked up millions of pounds sterling – counting in his official entourage, family members, presidential jet maintenance and fuel cost, hotel bills – footed by tax payers.
Nigeria suffers significant capital flight for medical services abroad with low inflow for reciprocal services locally where healthcare delivery lacks adequate infrastructure and skilled personnel.
Healthcare allocation
Figures from the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) show that Nigerians spend an average $1 billion yearly on foreign medical treatment, 60 per cent across four areas – oncology, orthopaedics, nephrology, and cardiology.
A PwC survey found that more than 90 per cent of respondents described advanced healthcare in Nigeria as “low quality”.
Each new report of poor clinical care reinforces the belief among the populace that healthcare is substandard and should be avoided whenever an alternative is found.
Nigeria’s health sector, valued at N484.76 billion in 2020, accounts for 0.69 per cent of the economy.
Only 4.05 per cent of budget was allocated to the Ministry of Health in 2021, out of which 76 per cent was for recurrent expenditure and 24 per cent capital.
The data shows a decline in fund allocation to health over the past 10 years – 5.58 per cent (2011), 6.03 per cent (2012), (4.05 per cent (2021).
Buhari’s latest travel
The statement issued by Adesina read in part:
“Sequel to an invitation extended to him by his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta … Buhari will depart Abuja Tuesday, 1st March to participate in the Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP@50), scheduled for 3rd – 4th March, 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya.
“From Kenya, … Buhari will proceed to London for routine medical checks that will last for a maximum of two weeks.”
The theme of the special session is “Strengthening UNEP For The Implementation Of The Environmental Dimension Of The 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development.”
The organisers of the event said: “For 50 years, UNEP has coordinated a worldwide effort with Member States to address the world’s biggest environmental challenges.
“Member States are vital partners in formulating UNEP’s policy, implementing UNEP’s programme and championing solutions to our shared environmental challenges.
“UNEP@50 is a time to reflect on the past and envision the future. It provides an opportunity to reinvigorate international cooperation and spur collective action to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.
“No country or continent can solve these global crises alone. But each nation has a crucial role to play in protecting our people and planet.”
Buhari is expected to deliver the national statement of the country and participate in dialogue sessions on the environment.
Officials who will accompany him are
- Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama
- Environment Minister Sharon Ikeazor
- National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno
- National Intelligence Agency Director General Ahmed Abubakar
- Nigerians in Diaspora Commission Chief Executive Officer Abike Dabiri-Erewa
