By Obinna Uballa
The Presidency spent no fewer than N34.39bn on foreign exchange purchases for international travel and related obligations between 2024 and 2025, data compiled from GovSpend, the government expenditure tracking platform managed by BudgIT, have shown.
The records, which track transactions by the State House, the Presidential Air Fleet, the Office of the Chief of Staff, and operations linked to the President, Vice President, First Lady and their aides, reveal a striking contrast in spending patterns across the two years.
An analysis of the data indicates that 2024 accounted for the bulk of the expenditure, with forex purchases totalling N29.35bn, while 2025 recorded N5.04bn, representing a year-on-year decline of 82.8 per cent.
The transactions were largely for the purchase of foreign currencies to fund official overseas trips, aviation operations, estacodes, training programmes and logistics for international engagements involving top executive officials.
Although the Presidency has consistently argued that foreign trips are necessary for diplomacy, investment promotion and bilateral relations, the scale and timing of the forex spending have attracted public scrutiny, especially amid Nigeria’s prolonged forex shortages and fiscal constraints.
A major driver of the 2024 forex outflows was the Presidential Air Fleet (PAF), which is managed by the Nigerian Air Force and is responsible for air transportation for the President, Vice President and other senior officials.
Between March and May 2024, the PAF Naira Transit Account recorded repeated forex purchases of about N1.27bn on March 7, March 9, April 6, May 11 and May 25. In addition, larger tranches of N5.08bn on April 23 and N2.43bn on May 8 were also recorded.
Further aviation-related payments of N205m in July, and multiple transfers in August – including N1.25bn, N2.21bn, N1.24bn and N902.9m – significantly swelled the air fleet’s forex bill.
These transactions once again highlight the long-standing concerns about the high cost of maintaining and deploying the presidential fleet for overseas travel at a time when the country is grappling with mounting debt service obligations.
Beyond aviation, the State House Headquarters recorded extensive forex purchases throughout 2024 tied directly to specific presidential, vice-presidential and first lady’s trips.
In February 2024 alone, the State House spent over N2.5bn on forex. The breakdown included N426.88m for the Vice President’s trip to Switzerland, N1.04bn for the President’s trip to Ethiopia, N750m for a trip to Dubai, N176.77m for Côte d’Ivoire, N149.79m for the First Lady’s trip to France and N86.76m for the Vice President’s trip to Liberia.
March saw additional payments, including N202.39m for the First Lady’s trip to Mozambique, N144.57m for Addis Ababa and N126.30m for London. The Vice President’s activities added N201.12m for Côte d’Ivoire and N169.54m for estacodes linked to training programmes in the UK and US.
Forex purchases intensified from July 2024, with multiple same-day transactions on July 17 alone totalling over N1.5bn. More payments followed on July 23, August 6, October 11 and October 28, including a notable N1.36bn purchase in late October.
By the final quarter of the year, spending remained elevated. In November, several forex purchases were recorded in a single day, while December added another N736.20m, reinforcing the pattern of sustained forex demand throughout the year.
Altogether, these transactions pushed total forex purchases linked to the Presidency in 2024 to N29.35bn, making it one of the most expensive years for official foreign travel and related forex spending in recent times.
However, the pattern changed markedly in 2025.
Total forex purchases for the year stood at N5.04bn, a sharp reduction from the previous year. Transactions were generally smaller in size and more spread out, suggesting a deliberate effort to rein in forex outflows.
Data from April 30, 2025, show multiple purchases ranging between N23.67m and N535.82m, far below the billion-naira tranches recorded in 2024.
Even the larger figures seen in mid-2025 – N1.29bn, N1.28bn and N626m linked to the Presidential Air Fleet – were fewer and spaced over several months.
By the second half of 2025, forex spending had tapered significantly. Transactions in August were as low as N7.67m and N11.14m, while November and December recorded modest payments by the Office of the Chief of Staff and the Air Fleet.
The reduction aligns with broader developments in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market in 2025, where policy reforms and improved dollar inflows contributed to the relative stabilisation of the naira.
The overall pattern points to tighter controls, improved planning around official travel and possibly a response to public criticism over the cost of governance.
Nonetheless, the cumulative N34.39bn spent over the two-year period continues to raise questions about the sustainability of such expenditures in a struggling economy and keeps the spotlight on the cost of running the Presidency in challenging economic times.
