Barely 24 hours after returning from Iran, has President Muhammadu Buhari has again travelled to Malta to participate in the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which kicks off in the island nation on Friday.
According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, President Buhari and other Heads of State and Government are scheduled to deliberate on fresh Commonwealth initiatives on development and climate change with a view to adding greater value to ongoing global efforts in these areas.
Adesina disclosed further that a new Secretary-General of the Commonwealth who would take over from the incumbent, Kamalesh Sharma, would be announced at the summit which would also feature the presentation of a progress report on the eradication of polio.
“Head of the Commonwealth, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, would formally declare the summit open and host a banquet in honour of President Buhari and other participating Heads of State and Government,” Adesina said.
According to the presidential spokesperson, at the conclusion of the summit on Sunday, President Buhari would leave Malta for Paris where he would present Nigeria’s statement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to open in the French capital on Monday.
“President Buhari would join over 100 other world leaders at the Leaders Event on the opening day of the conference which would be hosted by President Francois Hollande of France and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon,” Adesina disclosed.
Buhari, he hinted, would also participate in a summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic which had been scheduled to take place on December 2 in Paris on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.
“Deliberations at the Paris meeting of the Commission and Benin Republic would focus mainly on the war against Boko Haram and other security issues of common interest to participating countries.
President Buhari was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama; the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed and the National Security Adviser, retired Major General Babagana Monguno.
By Olisemeka Obeche