PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja today, July 6, to participate in the International Development Association (IDA) Africa Summit in Dakar, Senegal.
This was disclosed in a statement released by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu.
This is the 13th foreign trip Buhari will make in 7 months, according to findings by The ICIR.
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Buhari’s travel destinations within this period include; Addis Ababa, Belgium, Gambia, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, France, Kenya, Portugal, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and The United Kingdom (UK) and Portugal.
The President made more than one trip to countries like Addis Ababa, UAE and the UK during this period.
According to the statement, Buhari will be accompanied on the trip by the ministers of foreign affairs Geoffery Onyeama, finance, budget and national planning Zainab Ahmed as well as industry, trade and investment Adeniyi Adebayo.
Others in Buhari’s entourage are the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele, Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar; Director-General, Debt Management Office Patience Oniha; and the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry Olukayode Pitan.
The statement said the IDA, an institution of the World Bank Group, is deepening its support to drive a resilient recovery for countries hit by the global crises of climate change and COVID -19 pandemic, growing levels of insecurity and more recently, by the impact of the war in Ukraine through its historic $93 billion 20th replenishment cycle (IDA20) which goes into effect between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2025.
According to the statement, Buhari is expected to join other African leaders in an open dialogue on development challenges and priorities as well as transformational initiatives that would lead to an outcome document, the Dakar Declaration, at the High-Level event slated for Thursday, July 7 and hosted by Senegalese President Macky Sall.
The presidential spokesman said the summit is expected to chart the way forward for the transformation of the economies of these nations in partnership with the World Bank/IDA.
Issues to be discussed at the submit include “Financing for Recovery and Economic Transformation in Africa; Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security; Human Capital; Digital and Technological Innovation; and Energy Transition and Climate Change.”
Buhari’s latest foreign trip is coming amid major incidents of insecurity in the nation’s capital and at his home state, Katsina, in the last 24 hours.
Bandits opened fire on a convoy of his advance team in Katsina on Tuesday.
The team was heading for Daura, the President’s hometown, when bandits ambushed them.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police was gunned down in Katsina on Tuesday.
Also, gunmen broke into Kuje prison in the nation’s capital and set inmates, including high-profile Boko Haram suspects, free.
Minister of Defence, Bashir Magashi, said all Boko Haram suspects in custody escaped during the attack.
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