Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has left the West African country for
a vacation in the U.K., where he will undergo medical checks, a decision which
has angered some of his countrymen.
A statement from Buhari’s spokesman Femi Adesina on Thursday said Buhari,
74, would travel to Britain as “part of his annual vacation.” The president
would undergo “routine medical check-ups” during the vacation before returning
to work on February 6.
It is the second time in a year that Buhari has sought medical treatment
outside Nigeria ; he also traveled to London in June 2016 and saw an ear, nose
and throat specialist after contracting an ear infection.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in London Nigerian President
Muhammadu Buhari leaves after addressing delegates at the start of a conference
to tackle corruption at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London on May 11, 2016.
Buhari is traveling to the U.K. for a medical checkup, the second time in a
year that he has sought treatment in Britain.
Buhari, who was elected in March 2015 in Nigeria’s first democratic
transfer of power, has previously promised to clamp down on so-called “health
tourism”, where government officials travel abroad for treatment rather than
patronizing Nigerian doctors.
In a speech in April 2016 to the Nigerian Medical Association, Buhari
said the country lost around $1 billion to health tourism each year. The
president added that he would discourage government officials from going
elsewhere for treatment “especially when there is evidence of expertise in
Nigeria.”
Buhari’s own decision to travel abroad for medical treatment has irked
some Nigerians, particularly in light of the generous allocation given to the
state house clinic, which treats government officials, including the president,
in the country’s 2016 budget.
Buhari’s health came under scrutiny during the 2015 election campaign
when his opponents claimed he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer. The
former military general dismissed the allegations.
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