West Africa: Tinubu in Guinea-Bissau for ECOWAS Summit, Visits Nigerian Troops

9 July 2023
Daily Trust (Abuja)
By Muideen Olaniyi

President Bola Tinubu has arrived Bissau, the capital of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau for the 63rd Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Tinubu also used the opportunity of the summit to visit the Nigerian contingent stationed in the country under the ECOWAS Stabilisation Force.

The president had earlier participated at the summit on "A New Global Financing Pact" in Paris, France, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron.

The 63rd Ordinary Session summit, which will open today, will be the first international engagement of the president within the African continent since he assumed office on May 29, 2023.

A statement by Dele Alake, his Special Adviser, Special Duties, Communication and Strategy, noted that Tinubu, whose plane touched down at the International Airport in Bissau at exactly 5.30pm local time, would be the centre of attraction at the summit.

"The 16 regional leaders are expected to address memoranda on pressing sub-regional issues, including the Report of the 50th Ordinary Session of the Mediation and Security Council (MSC) covering security challenges faced by the member countries, Report of the 90th Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Council of Ministers on the financial situation of the body and the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

"Other matters slated for consideration by the leaders are the Report on the status of Transition in the Republics of Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, Memoranda on the ECOWAS Single Currency Programme and the Report on Obstacles to Free Movement of Goods on the Abidjan- Lagos corridor," he said.

He said the president who visited the Nigerian troops under the ECOWAS Stabilisation Force in Guinea-Bissau, expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the soldiers and their commander, General Al-hassan Grema, for their dedication and service to Nigeria and their host country, adding that Nigeria would continue to support democracy in West Africa and around the world.

Brigadier-General Grema expressed the appreciation of the troops to President Tinubu for being the first commander-in-chief in Nigeria's history to visit his soldiers outside the shore of the country.

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