While critics grumble about president’s foreign trips, FDIS roll in, by Kola Amzat

Despite lacking the necessary temperament, emotional intelligence, large heart and key leadership skills required to lead a diverse and very complex country like Nigeria, Peter Obi continually gets obsessed with developments within Aso Villa prescient, including the president’s daily itinerary, most especially, C-in-C’s foreign trips.

It’s instructive to note that the former Anambra state governor was the first person to alert Nigerians that the president only stayed in the country for only 8 days in January, and committed the remaining 22 days to foreign trips.

How come the 2023 Labour party presidential candidate has suddenly become a self-appointed monitoring officer, monitoring the president’s activities, home and abroad! Is it for lack of engagement?    

While other great global leaders-US’s Donald Trump, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Great Britain’s Keir Starmer are in the aircrafts, all the times covering four corners of the globe attending business summits, international business sessions, and investment meetings with the aim of attracting high-octane investments into their respective countries, connect with global trends, engage in unparalleled networking that could boost growth & innovation in their domains, learning from global case studies despite the level of their advancement and having fresh insights into the world of technology, Peter Obi and his ilk prefer a Nigerian president that would be sedentary.    

As far as they’re concerned, the president should stay put at the Villa 24/7, attending to mundane and pedestrian matters that would not advance the cause of the country in any way.

They prefer a president that would make Villa his comfort zone; a president that would be committing valuable time dissecting opposition’s propaganda, falsehood and lies fabricated concerning government policies, programs and other strategic initiatives.

This president is too discerning, engaged, smart and visionary, as well as focus to fall into that trap.

It’s no more news that President Bola Tinubu is committed to chart a path towards a trillion dollar ($1 trillion) economy. Of course, this project requires a bold, and inclusive growth that will unlock growth, expand jobs and ensure shared prosperity.

The government also needs to create investor-friendly environment that would attract, in particular, foreign and domestic investors.

Peter Obi and cohorts should appreciate that a bold project of this nature requires reaching out to the global community for their collaboration.

It’s also instructive that for years, Nigeria has craved for a UN Security Council Permanent Seat. This call has particularly become profound since the inauguration of the President Bola Tinubu in 2023.

No shadow of a doubt, Nigeria is eminently qualified for the seat. Its status as a giant of Africa leads credence to this. It’s also germane to note that Nigeria remains a very strategic country within Sub-Sahara African.

Not to mention the country’s significant contributions to more than 41 Peacekeeping Operations Worldwide in terms of huge finance, logistics, troops, and the contribution of civilian experts. 

But, it goes beyond the aforementioned. The president must play the necessary international politics to make this come to fruition.

The country must sustain and intensify its bid for the all-important status until the project becomes a reality. No retreat, no surrender!

Of course, the president would ONLY achieve this by reaching out to influential countries around the globe that would speak for Nigeria, and not by sitting down in the Villa expecting manna to fall from heaven.

In any case, Nigeria president leading teeming population of about 240 million vibrant, hardworking, restless, very demanding and very innovative people is expected TO BE SEVERAL STEPS AHEAD of the country men & women, with respect to new ideas, technology, innovations, as well as new insight into contemporary and modern governance. This can’t be achieved by staying 24/7 in the Villa.  

These are the facts that Peter Obi and cohorts should appreciate before making frivolous, provocative, unfounded and uninformed comments about the president’s foreign trips.   

Meanwhile, even in the midst of the unwarranted criticisms, the president has secured $50 billion in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) with global leaders.

President Erdogan of Turkiye has equally resolved to increase bilateral trade with Nigeria to $5 billion, up from the current estimate of about $2 billion, a significant 66.7% increase.

The Turkish Leader announced plans to establish a Joint Economy and Trade Committee that would serve as a platform for unlocking investment opportunities, boosting trade volumes, as well as expanding Turkish business presence in Nigeria.

More importantly, Erdogan pledged to support Nigeria to fight against terrorism, particularly in the Sahel region, where it matters most, offering enhanced cooperation in military training, intelligence, sharing and defense industry partnerships.

It’s doubtful if Peter Obi and his cohorts, as well as all other busy bodies critiquing the president foreign trips are aware of the aforementioned.

If they do, then they’re just being hypocritical, as well as deliberately misinforming the Nigerian public.            

Kola AMZAT (FCA, FCIB)

Lagos based Financial & Management Consultants,

09077509348.