Dare Babalola
Ademola Oshodi, the Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs to President Bola Tinubu has stated that his principal’s extensive foreign engagements have earned Nigeria international recognition and strengthened global partnerships that will benefit ordinary Nigerians.
The presidential aide said this on Monday when he appeared on Channels Television, adding that the trips had positioned Nigeria favourably among international partners and multilateral institutions.
“On foreign affairs, which is my area, I can tell you that, based on what we are seeing right now, the Nigerian government has received a lot of accolades and praise for its reforms.
“It has had independent major institutions like the World Bank and the IMF praise its reforms. The Nigerian reform path has been seen as almost like a course on how reforms should be issued and executed,” he said.
In their 33 months in office, President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima have undertaken 69 trips across 35 countries, collectively spending 315 days, or over 10 months, on foreign engagements.
Tinubu alone has logged 245 days abroad, visiting 28 countries on 47 unique and recurrent trips.
He has covered approximately 240,000 nautical miles (445,000 kilometres) and accumulated over 380 flight hours.
The figures were aggregated from all officially announced presidential trips reported in State House statements, government sources, and available flight data, spanning from Tinubu’s first trip in June 2023 to his return on February 1, 2026.
Tinubu has visited Paris, France (11 times); London, the United Kingdom (nine times); Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (four times); and Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, Brazil (three times), among other destinations.
Shettima, meanwhile, has spent 70 days abroad, visiting 16 countries on 22 unique and recurrent trips. He has accumulated over 93 flight hours.
Oshodi responded to criticism of the $9m lobbying contract with DCI Group, acknowledging the government needs to improve its international narrative projection.
“I don’t think the government is doing enough to ensure we get our information out there, to get our narrative out there.
“We don’t want the misconception of, oh, there’s a massive killing of Christians that is focused only on Christians. We don’t want a situation whereby people feel as if the banditry is something that is political rather than economic,” he admitted.
He warned that failure to control the narrative could pose a “huge national security threat.”
On the economic impact of reforms, Oshodi urged Nigerians to exercise patience, comparing the current pain to reform experiences in other countries.
“When Margaret Thatcher did her reforms and attacked the coal miners, there was a huge uproar in the United Kingdom. Inflation went up. The same thing in China with the reforms they made.
“Even back home in Ghana, inflation was at a crazy rate a few years ago. Now Ghana’s inflation is at 3.6 per cent. That’s the effect of timely reforms, albeit painful,” he said.
He also highlighted improved security cooperation with international partners.
“Security is putting the backing of the Americans and all the world powers to ensure we fight this banditry, fight this insurgency. This is something that you’re not going to see immediately, but I’m very confident Nigeria is on the right path for stability and prosperity,” he added.
