President Muhammadu Buhari departed New York for Nigeria on Saturday afternoon after his participation at the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which officially opened on Sept. 18.
Buhari, in the company of his wife, Aisha, was seen off by a large entourage, including the Director-General of National Intelligence Agency Ahmed Abubakar, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Amb. Babagana Kingibe, Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama, and Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki.
The theme for this year’s Session was: ‘Making the United Nations relevant to all People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies’.
The highpoint of Buhari’s participation was his address on Tuesday to the General Assembly on the opening day of the General Debate.
The president, in his presentation of Nigeria’s National Statement, sought global cooperation on security, anti-corruption, irregular migration, climate change, and UN reforms, among others.
Buhari and his wife, Aisha, also attended a reception hosted by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his spouse for Heads of State and Government and their spouses.
The president and his delegation attended the high-level ‘Mandela Peace Meeting on Global Peace’ in honour of the centenary birth of late South African President Nelson Mandela.
The Nigerian delegation also participated in a high-level meeting on the ‘Fight against Tuberculosis’ organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as Nigeria currently ranks seventh amongst the high TB-burden countries globally, and second in Africa, where Mrs Buhari also delivered a statement.
The Nigerian delegation attended a high-level meeting on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit.
Others are the ‘Second Annual Bloomberg Global Business Forum, high-level Meeting on Action for Peace-Keeping’; ‘Commemoration and Promotion of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons’, high-level meeting on the ‘Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa’, and ‘Pathway to Localising a Global Agenda’.
During the course of his stay in New York, Buhari had bilateral meetings with many African and world leaders including Bill Gates with a view to promoting national and African interests.’’
President Buhari also had interactive sessions with a selected group of Nigerian professionals based in the United States and Canada.
Others in the president’s entourage were Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, Health minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, Industry, Trade and Investment counterpart minister, Okechukwu Enelamah, Budget and National Planning, minister, Udoma Udoma and Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibrin.
Nigeria’s ambassador to the U.S., retired Justice Sylvanus Nsofor, Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service Mohammad Babandede, and Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Ibrahim Magu and a host of other chief executive officers and aides were also on the presidential entourage.
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