Thursday is President Muhammadu Buhari’s departure from Abuja to attend the 36th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Implementation” is the AU Summit’s theme.
Three “high-level meetings on peace and security, climate change, and the political situation in some West African countries” will be Buhari’s participation in.
The first is the Peace and Security Council (PSC) meeting of Heads of State and Government on the situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (AUPSC High-Level AU), which will be presided over by the President of South Africa in his capacity as the Chair of the Council for the month of February, according to a statement released by Buhari’s Media Aide, Garba Shehu.
The meeting of the Committee of the Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), which is currently being presided over by the President of the Niger Republic, comes in second place.
Buhari will also attend an extraordinary summit of the Authority of Heads of State and the Government of ECOWAS outside of the annual meetings of the AU.
At the opening session of the Summit, which brings together leaders from a number of non-AU countries and international institutions accredited to the AU in Addis Ababa, the Nigerian leader will deliver remarks and present his National Statement.
On Monday, February 20, Buhari will return to Abuja, where he will be accompanied on the trip by a number of ministers and other high-ranking government officials.
This will occur at a time when Nigerians have complained about the scarcity of Naira notes.