By Peter Omopo
September 4, 2025
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday departed Abuja to begin a 10-day vacation in Europe as part of his 2025 annual leave, the Presidency has announced.
A statement signed by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the President would spend the period between France and the United Kingdom before returning to Nigeria.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart Abuja today, September 4, to commence a working vacation in Europe, as part of his 2025 annual leave. The vacation will last 10 working days,” the statement read.
However, the Presidency did not state whether Tinubu had transmitted a formal letter to the National Assembly, as required under Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), to empower Vice President Kashim Shettima to act in his absence. Both chambers of the legislature are currently on recess.
This is not the first time Tinubu has embarked on a foreign vacation without a formal handover. In October 2024, he spent more than two weeks in the UK and France on a similar “working vacation.”
Since assuming office in May 2023, Tinubu has become one of Nigeria’s most travelled leaders. A PUNCH Online report in October 2024 showed that in his first 17 months, he and Vice President Shettima undertook 41 trips across 26 countries, spending a combined 180 days abroad. Of this, Tinubu logged 124 days in 16 countries on 29 trips.
His most recent foreign visit was to Brazil in August 2025, where he met President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Both countries signed agreements on trade, aviation, energy, and security, including talks on restoring Petrobras’ operations in Nigeria and establishing a Lagos–São Paulo direct air link.
Earlier trips had taken him to the United States, China, South Africa, Germany, Tanzania, the UAE, France, and Japan, where he attended the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
Critics, however, argue that while the frequent trips project Nigeria’s visibility on the global stage, they have yet to deliver tangible economic relief for citizens grappling with inflation, insecurity, and rising living costs.
