President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday left New York for Abuja after his outing at the 77th session of high-level meetings of the UN General Assembly.
Mr Buhari participated in no fewer than 12 high-level events, including bilateral meetings, after arriving in New York on September 18. He attended the opening of the ‘Transforming Education Summit’ the following day ahead of the General Debate. He also attended the Leaders Roundtable segment of the summit, where he delivered Nigeria’s statement.
During the education summit, the president spoke on the digital transformation of education and pledged inclusive digital learning for students in Nigeria.
On Tuesday, the president attended the opening of the UN General Debate in the company of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande. Others were his chief of staff, Ibrahim Gambari, finance minister Zainab Shamsuna-Ahmed and Sadiya Umar Farouq, the humanitarian minister.
On Wednesday, Mr Buhari was the first speaker to deliver Nigeria’s statement to the world leaders, assuring them of leaving lasting legacies and restated commitment to the constitutional term.
In his farewell reflection, he told the global body that his regime was determined to entrench a process of free, fair, transparent and credible elections through which Nigerians would elect their leaders.
On Thursday, the Nigerian leader reiterated Nigeria’s strong commitment to an energy transition plan to address climate change at a ‘Leaders’ Closed-Door Meeting on Climate Change’ convened by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.
On Friday, he inaugurated the Integrated National Financing Framework Report on Sustainable Development (NIFF) and attended a high-level side event on ‘Food Security Response: Combating Illicit Financial Flows and Securing Asset Returns for Sustainable Development’.
He also attended an event hosted by the humanitarian ministry, entitled ‘Strengthening Resilience and Sustaining Development: A Humanitarian Development Peace Approach to Leaving No One Behind’.
Later that day, Mr Buhari held bilateral talks with Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheal Martin, where he discussed the renewed efforts of the Nigerian military to address insecurity in the country.
Wrapping up his engagement on Saturday, he had a town hall meeting with Nigerians residing in New York, where he commended Nigerians living in the U.S. for their exemplary roles.
The Nigerian delegation participated in other high-level events such as ‘Africa’s New Public Health Order: Rejuvenating the Global Health Security Agenda’ and a high-level meeting on multilateralism. In addition, the delegation attended a UN high-level meeting to mark the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistics.