- Safiu Kehinde
President Bola Tinubu is set to depart Abuja for official visits to Japan and Brazil, with a brief stopover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
According to Onanuga, the President will depart Abuja on Thursday ahead of the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9), scheduled to hold in Yokohama, Japan from the 20th to 22nd of August.
The conference, themed “Co-create Innovative Solutions with Africa,” would focus on economic transformation, private investment, and institutional development across the continent.
TICAD9 also aimed to promote a resilient and sustainable African society grounded in peace, stability, and human security.
During the summit, Tinubu would, according to Onanuga, attend plenary sessions and hold bilateral meetings with world leaders, as well as Japanese business executives.
He further noted that the President was expected to engage with CEOs of Japanese companies that already had, or were considering, investments in Nigeria.
TICAD, an initiative of the Japanese government launched in 1993, is co-hosted by the United Nations, UNDP, African Union Commission, and the World Bank.
The summit, held every three years, alternates between Japan and African countries. The last edition was hosted in Tunisia in 2022.
Following the summit in Japan, President Tinubu would proceed to Brasilia, Brazil, for a state visit from 24th to 25th of August at the invitation of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
While in Brazil, he is expected to hold bilateral talks with his host and participate in a business forum aimed at attracting Brazilian investment to Nigeria.
His delegation, comprising key ministers and senior officials, would explore economic partnerships and is expected to sign various agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the Brazilian government.