President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to attend the Saudi-Africa and Arab-Africa summits in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on November 10 and 11, 2023.
In a statement on Sunday, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said participating in the summit is part of the president’s efforts to push for new inflows of foreign exchange (FX) into the Nigerian economy.
According to him, Tinubu will be leading Africa’s effort to leverage the opportunities that will be afforded due to the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
He said: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be heading to Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to attend two major summits. The first is the Saudi Africa summit, at which several areas of mutual concern will be addressed with respect to the economic ties between the regions with respect to the issues of counterterrorism the environment agriculture, and many other areas of mutual concern.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very keen on ensuring that Nigeria within the context of the continent is in a position to maximally leverage on opportunities that will be afforded by the implementation of the African continental Free Trade Agreement, where we will be having a single trade market of over one billion Africans.
“The Arab African summit, holding on November 11, where his excellency President Bola Tinubu in his capacity, not just as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but also as the ECOWAS chairman and the authority of heads of government, will be taking part in the summit ensuring that he is at the forefront of advocating for rallying a deepening partnership of the two regions, that is the League of Arab nations as well as the African Union with respect to how we can integrate in terms of our infrastructure.
“So we believe there’s a lot to be gained from these two summits. Of course, as we are there, you can fully expect that you will be briefed on a routine basis with concrete details as to what the outcomes are from not just the Saudi African summit, but also the Arab African summit, but obviously with a particular emphasis on what the Federal Republic of Nigeria stands to gain under the leadership of His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
He disclosed that President Tinubu will be aggressive in his pursuit of new foreign direct investment (FDI) during the summits at Riyadh, adding that he would push proactively for new inflows of FX into the Nigerian economy through investments.
