The President as Chief Diplomat by Reuben Abati

I read an interesting article recently in which the author, objecting to President Muhammadu Buhari's frequent travels abroad pointed out that Presidential spokespersons since 1999, including this writer, have always justified such trips using essentially the same arguments. The fellow quoted copiously and derisively from my State House press statements and an article by me titled "The Gains of Jonathan's Diplomacy".

Those who object to Presidential travels abroad do so for a number of reasons: (a) the cost on the grounds of frequency and size of estacode-collecting delegation, with multiple officers performing the same function tagging along on every trip, (b) the need to make better use of diplomats in foreign missions and Foreign Ministry officials who can act in delegated capacity; (c) the failure to see the immediate and long-term gains of Presidential junket, thus creating the impression of a jamboree or mindless tourism, and (d) the conviction that the President needs to stay at home to address urgent domestic challenges, rather than live out of a suitcase, in the air. While these reasons may seem understandable, arising as they are from anxieties about reducing wastage and increasing governmental efficiency for the people's benefit, I still insist that Presidential trips are important, and that by travelling abroad, the President is performing a perfectly normal function.

The Gains of Jonathan's Diplomacy by Reuben Abati

The gains of President Jonathan's diplomacy are often overshadowed by misrepresentations of the size of his delegation, ignorance about the value of his foreign travels, and the positives of his constant engagement with the international community. I have had cause on more than one occasion to expose the lie about published figures about the size of his delegations. I intend to deal here with what is overlooked.

Given the damage that the Nigerian interest suffered a few years ago, the same interest needed to be clarified and strengthened. We are living witnesses to that short, critical, phase in Nigeria's foreign relations when the country failed to show up at important international meetings, lost many positions in multilateral associations, forsook obligations, and found itself in a situation where many of our allies started wondering what had gone wrong with Nigeria.