President Bola Tinubu has departed Nigeria for Europe to commence what his office described as a “working vacation,” an integral part of his 2025 annual leave. The departure from Abuja occurred on Thursday, September 4, with the President slated to spend a period of 10 working days between France and the United Kingdom before returning to the country.

The announcement of the President's trip was made by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, who confirmed the details regarding the duration and destinations. This trip marks President Tinubu’s official working vacation for the year.

However, the terminology used to describe the trip, “working vacation,” has drawn criticism. Former Kaduna Central senator, Shehu Sani, expressed his perplexity on the social media platform X, stating, “I understand the word ‘working’. I understand the word ‘vacation’. The sentence ‘working vacation’ is something else.” His reaction highlights a public debate over the nature of the President's absence.

Prior to this European engagement, President Tinubu had undertaken other official international visits. In August, he embarked on a two-nation visit to Japan and Brazil, where he participated in the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama and conducted various bilateral engagements in Brasília.