The Presidency under President Bola Tinubu spent at least ₦34.39 billion on foreign exchange for international travel and related expenses between 2024 and 2025, fresh findings have revealed.
Data obtained from GovSpend, a public expenditure tracker operated by BudgIT, shows massive dollar purchases linked to the State House, Presidential Air Fleet, Office of the Chief of Staff, and operations involving the President, Vice President, First Lady and their aides.
According to the records, 2024 accounted for the bulk of the spending, with about ₦29.35 billion, while ₦5.04 billion was spent in 2025 — a sharp 82.8 per cent drop year-on-year.
The transactions covered foreign currencies for official trips, aviation operations, estacodes, training programmes and logistics for overseas engagements by top government officials.
Although the Presidency has consistently defended foreign travels as vital for diplomacy, investment drive and international relations, the scale of the spending has continued to attract public criticism, especially amid Nigeria’s economic hardship and persistent dollar scarcity.
Presidential Air Fleet tops spending list
A closer look at the data shows that the Presidential Air Fleet was the biggest spender, recording several multi-billion-naira forex transactions tagged as “presidential air fleet forex transit funds.”
The fleet, managed by the Nigerian Air Force, handles air travel for the President, Vice President and senior officials — but its high running costs have long drawn public outrage.
Between March and May 2024 alone, the fleet reportedly made repeated forex purchases of about ₦1.27 billion each on multiple dates, alongside larger tranches of ₦5.08 billion on April 23 and ₦2.43 billion on May 8.
Further transfers running into billions of naira were also recorded in July and August, significantly pushing up the total forex bill.
The heavy spending coincided with a period of intense naira instability and rising pressure on Nigeria’s foreign reserve.
Read Also: First Lady, Remi Tinubu spends N701m on foreign trips in three months- Report
