President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday departed Abuja for the United Kingdom to begin a two-week vacation.
The vacation is “part of his yearly leave,” Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed in a statement he signed Wednesday.
“He will use the two weeks as a working vacation and a retreat to reflect on his administration’s economic reforms.
“He will return to the country after the leave expires,” the statement read in part.
Wednesday’s trip comes two weeks after the President returned from London where he met with King Charles III.
He is expected to return to the country on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.
The UK becomes Tinubu’s 27th foreign destination since he assumed office about 16 months ago and his fourth trip to the country.
So far, he has visited Equatorial Guinea, London (four times), the United Kingdom (twice); Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; Porto Novo, Benin Republic; Pretoria, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; New York, the United States of America; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (twice); Berlin, Germany; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dakar, Senegal and Doha, Qatar.
The Nigerian Constitution requires the president to write to the National Assembly informing them of his plan to embark on a vacation.
Section 145, subsection1 says, “Whenever the President transmits to the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the vice-president as acting president.”
Subsection 2 states, “In the event that the President is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of each House of the National Assembly, mandate the Vice-President to perform the functions of the office of the President as Acting President until the President transmits a letter to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that he is now available to resume his functions as President.’’
