During their first 17 months in office, President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima travelled to 41 different nations on 23 separate occasions, spending 180 days, or six months, abroad.

According to analysis, Tinubu, who travelled farther, spent more than 124 days overseas, travelling to 16 different nations on 29 different occasions.

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; London, United Kingdom; Bissau, Guinea-Bissau; Nairobi, Kenya; Porto Norvo, Benin Republic; The Hague, Netherlands; Pretoria, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; New York, United States of America; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (twice); Berlin, Germany; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dakar, Senegal and Doha, Qatar are among the places the President has travelled so far.

Shettima, meanwhile, has travelled overseas for 56 days, going to 10 different countries on 12 different and frequent excursions. Additionally, he has accrued more than 93 flying hours.

Rome, Italy; St. Petersburg, Russia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Havana, Cuba; Beijing, China; Iowa and New York, USA; Davos, Switzerland; Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; and Stockholm, Sweden are among the places Shettima has currently travelled to.

Nigeria did not receive any foreign money from 11 of these nations in the first half of 2024, according to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, despite the strong diplomatic efforts.

There was no outcome from Tinubu’s efforts in Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Benin Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, and Qatar.

Similarly, Shettima’s attempts to reach out to Ivory Coast, Cuba, and Russia were unsuccessful in bringing in any new funding.

Notably, despite both Tinubu and Shettima’s visits to Kenya, there was no foreign investment in H1 2024, underscoring Nigeria’s difficulties in turning political contacts into real economic gains.

$5.06 billion from 12 nations

Twelve other nations, on the other hand, donated a total of $5.06 billion over the same time period, which represents a notable 201.7 percent rise over the $1.68 billion recorded in H1 2023.

Nigeria received $4.16 billion in investment inflows from countries Tinubu visited alone.

The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Germany, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Senegal, and Qatar are among these nations.

The UK had the biggest impact of them, increasing investments by 263.5 percent from $805.13 million in H1 2023 to $2.93 billion in H1 2024.

A smaller portion of the overall financial inflow, $56.09m, came from Shettima’s travels to Russia, China, Italy, Cuba, Ivory Coast, Sweden, and Switzerland.

China was one of Shettima’s most notable trips; in H1 2024, it provided $35.64 million, up from $0.25 million the year before.

Italy had a token influx of $0.04m for the first time, while Switzerland followed with a surge from $0.01m to $19.35m.

Both presidents travelled to Kenya, South Africa, and the United States, which resulted in $1.25 billion in capital inflows.

While Kenya had no inflows, South Africa’s contribution increased significantly by 267.5%, from $228.09 million in H1 2023 to $838.32 million in H1 2024.

On the other hand, US investments fell 53.5%, from $367.28 million to $170.86 million.

Another major contributor was the Netherlands, whose investment inflows rose from $65.88 million to $659.91 million, a 901.7 percent increase.

Improvements were also seen in Germany, where inflows increased from $0.81 million to $19.12 million, and Saudi Arabia, where investments increased from $0.03 million to $147.07 million.

Additionally, there was a consistent influx from the UAE, where investments increased somewhat from $209.41 million to $245.19 million.

In the meantime, our correspondent’s checks using GovSpend, a civic tech platform that monitors and analyses Federal Government spending, revealed that the State House spent a total of N44.88 million in March 2024 on obtaining visas for officials, including the president’s and vice president’s aides.

Four distinct transactions were displayed in the GovSpend data, underscoring the expenses associated with obtaining permanent access for official engagements overseas, especially to the UK and France.

Two payments totalling N13.01 million were processed by the State House on March 7, 2024.

A two-year multiple-entry visa to the UK was paid for with the first payment of N6.72 million, while Vice President Kashim Shettima was granted a five-year multiple-entry visa to France with the second payment of N6.29 million.

On March 27, 2024, more transactions showed that N31.87 million had been spent on visas for State House employees and assistants.

N6.07 million of this sum was used to provide visas for additional State House employees, while N25.8 million was set aside for long-term UK visas for a number of President Bola Tinubu’s advisers.

These payments highlight the substantial costs related to government officials’ overseas activity.

Auwal Rafsanjani, the Executive Director of the Abuja-based Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, previously told The PUNCH that while international travel is a necessary component of administration, leaders should only seek activities that provide the most benefits for Nigerians.

According to Rafsanjani, “I believe it is crucial that public officials comprehend that the country lacks the resources to go on trips that are not of substantial economic value to the country.”

“Public officers should minimise reckless and careless expenses when embarking on some of these trips, even though we cannot ask them to stop travelling entirely.”

Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the general elections of 2023, has previously criticised the recent overseas excursions, claiming that they occurred during a period when the nation was facing internal difficulties.

Obi stated that it was troubling that Tinubu and his deputy were absent from the nation when the people most needed them.

Although it could be argued that there isn’t a vacancy in the presidency because the president and vice president are not in the Villa, he wrote, “it’s concerning for a country with so many domestic problems when both of them are out of the country, as reported in the media yesterday.”

The DAILYPULSE revealed that foreign direct investment in Nigeria fell to $29.83 million in the second quarter of 2024, the lowest amount ever recorded based on statistics available up until 2013. This information was previously published by PUNCH

According to a study of data from the National Bureau of Statistics’ most recent capital importation report, foreign direct investment (FDI) decreased by 65.33 percent from the $86.03 million reported during the same time previous year.

Additionally, it decreased by 74.97% from the $119.18 million reported in the 2024 quarter before.

Speaking with The PUNCH, economists attributed the notable decline in foreign direct investment (FDI) to the depreciation of the naira and the unsteady foreign currency market, given that the naira lost about 40% of its value in the first half of 2024.

The drop in FDI underscores Nigeria’s difficulties in luring long-term investment in the face of a difficult international economic climate and internal problems, even though President Bola Tinubu claims that his administration has successfully secured $30 billion in FDI pledges.

The PUNCH also noted that during the reviewed quarter, FDI accounted for only 1.15 percent of the $2.60 billion in total capital imports.

Also, $2.55 billion, or 98.08 percent of the total inflows, came from foreign currency loans, which comprise direct loans and portfolio investments.

Due to investor caution, international investors are choosing safer financial instruments over long-term initiatives, as seen by their preference for loans over equity investments.

The use of foreign exchange loans emphasises the persistent pattern in which short-term loans and investments predominate in Nigeria’s capital import market.

Although these inflows might give the economy instant cash, they do not offer the same stability or potential for development as direct investments in infrastructure or tangible assets.