President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua will return to the country today from Germany where he received medical treatment for an allergic reaction, his Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, has said.
Speaking to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Weisbaden, Germany, Adeniyi said the President “is returning in good health and strength, fully prepared to lead efforts to confront critical challenges on his return”.
THISDAY learnt that the presidential jet bringing the President from Germany will arrive Abuja in the evening.
He is expected to be met on arrival by the Vice-President, Dr. Jonathan Goodluck, and other top officials of the government.
"The President intends to give priority attention to measures aimed at addressing the impact of the current global rise in food prices as it affects the ordinary Nigerian,” Adeniyi told NAN, adding: "He will continue to work with stakeholders to contain the incidence of militancy in the Niger Delta region.”
He also said the President is going to pay attention to the power crisis immediately.
"The power sector will remain the core of the President's efforts in the coming weeks as he awaits the report of the Oil and Gas Implementation Committee.
"He is also committed to the diligent implementation of the 2008 budget so that by the end of the current financial year, Nigerians would have begun to notice significant improvements in their material conditions," Adeniyi said.
The President flew out to Germany on April 14 after signing the 2008 Appropriation Bill.
Last Tuesday, Yar’Adua made a surprise call to Chief Gani Fawehinmi to convey his best wishes on the constitutional lawyer’s 70th birthday.
Fawehinmi, who has been ill for sometime, is also recuperating in a UK hospital.
Adeniyi confirmed to the media that Yar'Adua put a call through to Fawehinmi.
THISDAY had reported on Tuesday that the  Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamusddeen Usman, Minister of  Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr. Sayyadi Abba Ruma, and their  Justice counterpart, Chief  Michael Aondoakaa,  had left for  Germany to see the president.
The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, was also in Germany to see the president.

debosky:

hasty judgment wendymanda - his committee on the power situation just submitted its report a few weeks ago - the process of tackling it has begun - a private sector driven SPV is being created which will manage and implement the short term target of achieving 6000MW by end of next year through completion of NIPP projects. It may not 'solve' the problem completely, but I think that is a step in the right direction. The way you guys are going on about this health thing, you'd think he leaves naija for treatment every month.

with the appropriation bill recently signed, things can FINALLY begin to happen, since we know as apostle 'rule of law' he won't spend a dime not properly allocated. I don't know what time frame I'd put on things beginning to happen, but I'd say we'll start seeing real progress in the next 6 months or be really worried about his ability to deliver. from the article he has based his performance on implementation of the budget - the ball is in his court now, lets see what happens.

McKren:

I admire your optimism, but do you really believe its ok to produce just a report in 12 months its amazing how u think it will take 6 months to implement a report that took 12 months to produce.

Sky Blue:

Committee report? Is this for real? Is that really a valid arguement or excuse for lack of progress in a power sector that was meant to be in a state of emergency development? So this power problem just occured overnight and Nigerians have all been taken by surpise and bam, suddenly no light? How many reports have been written in the decades? So all those ones are null and void? People know what needs to be done to provide electricity and it is not rocket science. So how on earth is this so called committe report that has been one year in the making become an excuse for inaction? Can't we really apply that same excuse then to everything that is not working? We all know it will be trite, but we can say the federal roads like the lagos benin one that has been a death trap for how many years and has had billions of naira "spent" on it is still the way it is because they are also writing a committe report for that one too. If this was a sudden problem that might have caught the government by surprise then that excuse might have been viable but honestly please, come on, a committee report for a problem that is over 40 years old? What would this report say that the rest haven't? This seems like more and more excuses.

I assumed that when leaders experience the situation of the country first hand then they take the problems more seious. Apparently during one of Yaradua's speeches a couple of months ago, NEPA took light like 3 times and he promised that we will see the end of it. I thought since he had expericned it as opposed to the constant 24/7 light supply in Aso rock and government house Katsina, that he would take the problem more serious.

However, unconfirmed sources said the President’s health was far from being okay and that he was actually advised to move to the United States for better treatment because of his deteriorating condition.

However, pressure from home, particularly from the North, might have left the president with the option of returning home against expert advice.

The source had said that Yar’Adua was told in clear terms that the pressure of work in his office as president was too much for his health and he was consequently advised to “slow down,” which could mean his vacating office.