Presidency Refutes Claim Buhari Spent N2.2bn on US Trip

The presidency has refuted claim by a newspaper that  the cost of President Muhammadu Buhari’s to the United States of America was N2.2 billion.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Malam Garba Shehu, said: ”The total cost of the trip trip to the Nigerian taxpayer was at the most minimal, in line with the policy of this administration to cut waste and extravagance.

As a matter of fact, he said, 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 his own way. Permanent secretaries who travelled on the delegation did so in accordance with extant rules and none of them exceeded their estacode entitlements.”

He also said the trip was a huge success contrary to claim by the newspaper’s report.

According to him, Nigerian-US relations had suffered severely over the past few years.

He said: “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. 

“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 health sector; and another $5 billion investment from the U.S. in our country’s power sector.

“Also, as things stand at the moment, the embargo on the sale of 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.”