President Bola Tinubu is planning to take a break from official duties and de-stress in the Caribbean nation of Saint Lucia by month’s end even as Nigerians grieve the hundreds of lives lost in the herders-farmers clash in Yelewata and Dauda communities of Benue state last weekend. 

Barely two months after returning from Paris, Mr Tinubu scheduled a week-long personal vacation trip to de-stress in the Caribbeans, a statement by Saint Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre said on Monday.

The president will reserve two days for official engagements while the remaining days will be for his personal vacation, Mr Philip stated. Mr Tinubu will arrive in Saint Lucia on June 28 and is expected to depart on July 4.

“Two of these days, June 30 and July 1, will be dedicated to an official visit, with the remainder of the trip set aside as a personal vacation for the president,” the Caribbean leader explained, stressing that this will “deepen the bonds between Africa and the Caribbean.”

“I believe that the visit of the president of Nigeria represents a unique and historic opportunity to deepen the bonds between Africa and the Caribbean.”

Mr Tinubu on Wednesday aborted his plans to visit Yelewata, where scores of farmers and their families were brutally murdered, as he blamed the “bad roads” and rain for the change of plans and said he had already seen the carnage “on camera.”

Yet in the same rain that the president sought to avoid, schoolchildren —all minors— lined up the streets waiting to wave and sing songs of welcome to the Nigerian leader.

Nigeria is battling inflation at record highs, insecurity, plummeting currency and a cost-of-living crisis that have further plunged millions into extreme poverty and stripped the West African nation of dignity among its international counterparts given the green passport is among the worst ranked in the world.