Buhari To Host Heads of State n Presidents of the Lake Chad

President Muhammadu Buhari will host a meeting of Heads of State and Presidents of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in Abuja.
In a bid to perfect Nigerian position for today’s meeting, President Buhari yesterday held a closed door meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Alex Badeh and the Chief of Naval Staff, Usman Jubrin, at Defence House.

 Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Mr Ismali Aliyu, said they came to brief the president on preparations for a scheduled meeting of Heads of State and Presidents today in Abuja to discuss on the Lake Chad Basin Commission.

He said that defence chiefs and Ministers of Defence of the member countries of the commission had earlier met necessitating meeting of presidents. According to Buhari, “the meeting held between the Chiefs of Defence Staff of the Lake Chad Basin and Ministers of Defence culminated in the presidents’ meeting tomorrow (today). What were discussed “We discussed the issue of the operationalization of the Multi National Joint Task Force and the siting of its headquarters in N’Djamena and the contribution from various states.

The objective was to fight the insurgency within that region for the purpose of peace, security and prosperity Among leaders expected to attend today’s meeting which will hold at the presidential lounge of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport are Paul Biya of Cameroon, Mohammadou Issoufou of Niger, Idriss Deby of Chad and the President of Benin Republic, Boni Yayi. Benin Republic is, however, not a member of the commission. $30m needed to set up MNJTF hqts in Chad Meanwhile, Executive Secretary of LCBC, Sanusi Imran Abdullahi, disclosed yesterday that about $30 million is required to set up the MNJTF headquarters in the next 12 months in Ndjamena, the Chadian capital.