President Bola Tinubu departed Abuja for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday to attend the 19th meeting of the G20 Leaders’ Summit taking place in the South American country.
The Summit will be held from Monday, November 18 to Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
“The Nigerian leader’s participation is at the instance of the Brazilian President and current President of the group, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva,” Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed in a statement on Sunday.
The statement is titled ‘President Tinubu to participate in G20 leaders summit in Brazil.
Monday’s gathering will bring together leaders from the world’s top 20 economies, including the European Union, the African Union, and multilateral financial institutions, among others.
This year’s meeting, under the theme, ‘Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet,’ will see the participants discuss the fight against hunger and poverty; reform of the institution of global governance and; sustainable development and energy transition.
Nigeria has always strongly advocated for a reform of the global governing institutions and often presented its impressive credentials as a strong contender for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Tinubu is also expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit in the advancement of Nigeria’s socio-economic reforms.
He will be accompanied by top government officials including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar; Ministers of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha; Art, Tourism, Culture and Creativity, Hannatu Musawa; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr Aliyu Abdullahi, and the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Mohammed Mohammed.
The President will return to Nigeria at the end of the visit.
Sunday’s trip is Tinubu’s first to Brazil as President and his 31st foreign trip since assuming office 17 months ago.
So far, he has logged 125 days abroad, visiting 16 countries and accumulated over 267 flight hours.
He has visited Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; London, the United Kingdom (four times); Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; Porto Norvo, Benin Republic; The Hague, Netherlands; Pretoria, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; New York, the United States of America; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (twice); Berlin, Germany; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dakar, Senegal and Doha, Qatar.
