President Buhari Leaves Nigeria For Mauritania Tomorrow

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Saturday, June 30 leave Nigeria for Nouakchott, Mauritania, to participate at the 31st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) taking place on Sunday, July 1 to Monday, July 2.

According to Thisday, the president will leave Abuja today, Friday, June 29, for his Daura country home in Katsina state, and will from there proceed to Nouakchott tomorrow to join other heads of government at the summit which had begun since June 25.

President Buhari will at the summit, deliver an address on the theme of the summit, “Winning the Fight Against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Africa’s Transformation.”

While AU chairman and Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, will present a report on AU institutional reforms, the president of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou will make a presentation on the Continental Free Trade Area. (AfCFTA).

In the same vein, Union Commission Chair, Moussa Faki Mahamat, will deliver a paper on the Western Sahara question and Africa’s position on Africa, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union relations after 2020.

Zimbabwe President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is expected to attend the summit, where leaders are expected to formally put in place the AfCFTA signed on March 21, 2018 in Kigali.

Other components of the summit include the Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee and 33rd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council. It will be rounded off with the Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the AU taking place on Monday and Tuesday.

Mauritania is hosting the AU summit for the first time since the birth of the union.

Meanwhile, former minister of education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to address the killings constantly reoccurring across the country.

Ezekwesili, the convener of the Red Card Movement, in a series of messages posted on her Twitter account on Monday, June 25, asked President Buhari to account for the dead in Plateau state.

The former minister who is also a former World Bank vice president, was reacting to the recent attacks in three local governments in Plateau state that resulted in the death of almost 200 locals.