*Addresses Assembly on Friday
*Returns to Nigeria next Sunday
President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to depart Abuja Sunday for New York, United States of America, to participate in the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA76).
This year’s UNGA session, which opened on Tuesday, September 14, has as theme: ‘Building Resilience through Hope – To Recover from COVID-19, Rebuild Sustainably, Respond to the Needs of the Planet, Respect the Rights of People and Revitalize the United Nations’.
President Buhari, according to a release issued on Saturday by his Media Adviser, Femi Adesina, will address the Assembly during the General Debates on Friday, September 24 when he will speak on the theme of the conference and other global issues.
In the course of the Assembly, the Nigerian leader and members of the delegation will partake in other significant meetings such as: The High Level Meeting to Commemorate The Twentieth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action on the theme ‘Reparations, Racial Justice and Equality for People of African Descent’.
The delegation will also participate in Food Systems Summit; High Level Dialogue on Energy; and The High Level Plenary Meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
The president will also hold bilateral meetings with a number of other leaders of delegations and heads of international development organisations.
He is being accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; and Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor.
Also on the president’s delegation are the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd); Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire.
President Buhari is expected back in the country on Sunday, September 26.
Buhari commiserates with Algerian President over Bouteflika’s demise
President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune of Algeria over the demise of the country’s former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
On behalf of the government of Nigeria, the president, in a release on Saturday by his Media Adviser, Femi Adesina, also sympathised with the family of the former president and the Algerian people as they mourn the loss of the remarkable leader who ruled the country for 20 years.
According to President Buhari, Bouteflika, as a veteran in the civil war that led to Algeria’s independence, Foreign Minister, President of the United Nations General Assembly during the 1974–1975 sessions and political leader, made significant contributions to the development of his country.
On the African front, the Nigerian leader noted that Bouteflika was a true Pan-Africanist and his legacy of securing the Algiers Peace Treaty between Eritrea and Ethiopia and supporting peace efforts in the Africa Great Lakes region will not be forgotten.
The president prayed for the peaceful repose of the soul of the departed and comfort for the Algerian people in their period of grief.
