News Editor
Peter Jerome
President Muhammadu Buhari will on Sunday, May 16, 2021, depart Abuja for Paris, France, on a four-day official visit to attend an African Finance Summit. The focus of the summit will be to review various perspectives of the African economy, as a result of shocks aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. The summit is expected to explore possibilities of getting relief especially from increased debt burden on countries in the Africa region.
The summit, which is to be hosted by the President of France Emmanuel Macron, hopes to draw major stakeholders in the global finance institutions and some Heads of Government to collectively discuss external funding, debt treatment and management for Africa, and private sector reforms.
Buhari in a statement by media aide, Garba Shehu, hopes to leverage on the opportunity ochestrated by this visit to engage the French President on the growing outcome of insecurity and threats in the Sahel and Lake Chad region, political relations, economic ties, climate change and partnerships to boost the country’s health sector particularly, in checking the spread of COVID-19, through the provision of more research opportunitues and vaccines.
President Buhari is also expected to meet with some key players in the oil and gas sector, engineering and telecommunications, European Council and European Union Representative for Foreign and Security Policy and Commission, and members of the Nigerian community in France during this visit to the French capital.
The President will be accompanied on this visit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed; Minister of Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, and Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire; alongside the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Mohammed Monguno (rtd), and Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Amb. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.
