Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima says President Bola Tinubu was briefed “almost every other day” during his four weeks abroad, as the presidency moves to close down questions over who was running the country.
Main image: DGBN graphic. Photo: Opeyemi Adelani / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mr Shettima spoke to journalists in Lagos on Saturday after meeting the president at his residence, four days after Mr Tinubu returned home from an extended working vacation in Europe.
“We have been in regular contact throughout his sojourn abroad,” the vice president said, according to Premium Times. He added that officials had kept the president updated on developments at home and that the government was “happy he’s back on the beat”.
A month away, and no formal handover
Mr Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August for London, where he spent about a week, before moving on to Paris. There he met French President Emmanuel Macron, the businessman Vincent Bolloré and other business leaders, and witnessed the signing of an agreement between the Ogun State government and DP World on a proposed deep seaport and economic zone at Ogun Waterside. He flew back into Nigeria on 29 September, days before the country marked its 66th independence anniversary.
The length of the trip drew public debate at home, largely because the president did not formally transfer power to his deputy while he was away. DGBN reported at the start of the trip that the presidency had stayed silent on whether Mr Shettima would act in his place: Tinubu begins three-week leave, Presidency mum on Shettima as acting president.
The presidency had already insisted that Mr Tinubu was directing affairs remotely, pointing among other things to his order for an independent panel to investigate the deaths of 37 illegal miners in Minna. Mr Shettima’s comments are the most detailed account yet from inside the government of how that arrangement worked.
“Tough times do not last forever”
The vice president also used the moment to defend the administration’s economic record. He said foreign reserves stood at a “staggeringly low” $3.9 billion when the government took office, not enough to cover a month of oil imports, and credited the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of exchange rates with rescuing the economy.
He acknowledged the strain on households. “We appreciate the pains Nigerians are going through, but tough times do not last forever. Tough people do,” he said.
Mr Shettima said the federal government would, in the coming weeks, roll out transport and logistics schemes in the North-east, including 10,600 electric tricycles and 300 buses and electric taxis. He also pointed to the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) as a lifeline for students from poorer homes. The message echoes the president’s own line in his independence address: Tinubu defends tough reforms in Nigeria’s Independence Day address.
Why it matters
With campaigning for 2027 already under way, the question of presidential presence and accountability is becoming a political weapon. “Politics is in the air, but we will combine politics and governance,” Mr Shettima said. For Nigerians at home and across the diaspora, the test will be whether the promised relief arrives as quickly as the reassurances.