Vice President Kashim Shettima has returned to Nigeria after spending two weeks on leave, resuming duties two days earlier than the August 20 date originally scheduled for his return.
Shettima arrived in Abuja on Tuesday evening, August 18, according to officials familiar with his movements. He has since resumed official duties.
His return came ahead of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s commencement of political campaigns for the 2027 general elections on August 19.
Despite his return, the Vice President was absent from Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting, chaired by President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
Shettima embarked on the two-week break on August 6 with the approval of President Tinubu. It was his first official leave since he assumed office as Vice President on May 29, 2023.
At the time, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, said the break was intended to provide Shettima with time for “study, reflection and intellectual renewal.”
According to Nkwocha, the period was also designed to enable the Vice President to assess ongoing government programmes and gain deeper insight into emerging national and international policy issues as the administration moves into a more intensive phase of implementing its Renewed Hope Agenda.
Since taking office, Shettima has played a key role in coordinating several major government initiatives, particularly in economic development, food security, humanitarian response, digital transformation, employment generation and regional cooperation.
He also heads the National Economic Council, a statutory body comprising the governors of Nigeria’s 36 states, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and other key government officials.
