President Muhammadu Buhari will on Sunday depart Abuja for Lome, Republic of Togo, to participate in two high-level meetings.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and
Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement made available to
journalists on Saturday.
On arrival in Lome, Shehu said the President would have an
interactive session with the Nigerian community based in Togo at the
Nigerian Embassy.
He added that on Monday, Buhari will attend the Joint ECOWAS/ECCAS Summit.
He said the summit would deliberate on common security threats to
countries in West Africa and members of the Economic Community of
Central African States with a view to forging concerted strategies in
tackling the menace of terrorism, trans-border crimes and other forms of
violent extremism.
He recalled that the President had expressed support for the
proposed ECOWAS/ECCAS Summit when he received the current Chair of the
ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Faure
Gnassingbe of Togo on June 29, 2018 in Katsina.
“Terrorism now transcends international boundaries, and no country can combat the scourge alone,” Buhari was qouted to have said.
While in Lome, Shehu added that the Nigerian delegation will also
participate in a meeting on a Single Currency for ECOWAS with the
deadline of 2020.
He said being the largest economy not only in West Africa but also
on the continent, Nigeria’s leadership role in the sub-regional
aspiration cannot be over-emphasised.
On Tuesday, the presidential aide added that Buhari will join other
leaders of the sub-region for the 53rd Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS
Authority of Heads of State and Government.
This session, he added, will be dominated by the political and
security situations in Guinea Bissau, Mali and Togo; institutional
reforms of the ECOWAS Commission to enhance its effectiveness; illegal
migration of Africans to Europe; and the worrisome violent clashes
between herders and farmers, among other issues.
The statement added, “At the end of the session, a new Chair of the ECOWAS Authority is expected to take over from the incumbent and host.
“President Buhari will be accompanied by Governors Ben Ayade
and Abubakar Bello of Cross River and Niger States respectively. Others
are Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Defence,
Mansur Dan-Ali; Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; Minister of Interior,
Abdulrahman Danbazau; and the Minister of Trade, Industry and
Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah.
“The National Security Adviser , Babagana Monguno; the Chief of
Defence Staff , Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin; the Director General of the
National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Abubakar; and the Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, are also in the President’s
delegation.”