By Don Silas President Muhammadu Buhari will on Wednesday depart Nigeria for Kigali, Rwanda, to attend the 26th Commonwealth Heads o...
By Don Silas
President Muhammadu Buhari will on Wednesday depart Nigeria
for Kigali, Rwanda, to attend the 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
(CHOGM), being held from June 20 to 26, 2022.
This was disclosed by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the
President on Media and Publicity, on Wednesday.
At CHOGM 2022, Buhari will join other leaders to participate
in discussions focused on the progress and prosperity of the more than two
billion people living in the 54 independent countries in Africa, Asia, the
Americas, Europe and the Pacific that make up the Commonwealth.
The theme for CHOGM 2022 is ‘Delivering a Common Future:
Connecting, Innovating, Transforming,’ and the Heads of Government are expected
to reaffirm their commitment to upholding the Commonwealth Charter, which
focuses on democracy, human rights, the rule of law, as well as economic
opportunities and sustainable development.
Buhari will attend the official opening ceremony on June 24,
followed by high-level meetings of Heads of State and Government on Friday, 24
and Saturday, June 25.
The leaders are expected to consider a range of topical
issues, including post-COVID-19 economic recovery, debt sustainability, climate
change, poverty reduction, youth entrepreneurship and employment, trade, and
food security.
Prior to this, the Nigerian delegation was drawn from the
public, private, and youth organisations that participated in four forums
covering youth, women, business, and civil society; and will engage in
ministerial meetings and several side events.
On the margins of the meeting, the Nigerian leader is
scheduled to deliver remarks at the High-Level Session of Malaria and Neglected
Tropical Diseases Summit and participate in an Intergenerational Dialogue for
Youth.
President Buhari is also expected to hold bilateral talks
with some leaders from the Commonwealth countries.
Ahead of the biennial meeting, which was due to take place
in June 2020 but was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, President
Buhari, in an article published in The Telegraph, London, stressed that the
Commonwealth can become a real global power with improved collaborations on
trade and security, lending weight to each other in international bodies.
The President will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; the Minister of Finance, Budget and National
Planning, Zainab Ahmed; the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire; the Minister of
Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi and the Minister of Communications and Digital
Economy, Isa Ali Pantami.
Others in the President’s entourage are the National
Security Adviser, Maj-Gen Babagana Monguno (Rtd) Director-General, National
Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar, and the Chairman/CEO
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NidCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
The President will return to the country on Sunday, June 26,
2022.
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