Amid the numerous economic and security crisis bedeviling Nigerians President Bola Tinubu has been scheduled to depart Abuja on Thursday (today) for official visits to Japan and Brazil.
The president’s media aide, Bayo Onanuga who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday states that Tinubu will have a brief stopover in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
According to Bayo, in Japan, the President would participate in the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9), scheduled to hold in Yokohama from August 20 to 22.
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, Onanuga said President Tinubu would 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 August 24 to 25 at the invitation of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Nigerian News Sphere reports that the president’s movement out of the country is scheduled when the country is apparently bleeding due to security and economic crisis.
According to a public affairs analyst, John Adole, “Tinubu’s decision to leave the country at this moment shows how insensitive he is to the plight of Nigerians”.
Adole told Nigerian News Sphere on Thursday in Abuja that “no reasonable president will abandon his people that voted him into power to go and rest in another country when his citizens are bleeding”.
“The Fulani herdsmen have renewed their attacks in Benue, Plateau, and other parts of the North.
“Unknown gunmen are still wrecking havoc across the five states in the Southeast.
“Most families are no longer able to afford just one square meal due to the abject poverty that this administration has brought, yet they don’t seem to care.
“Lives of Nigerians no longer matter to this people. What is so special with this travels that he cannot avoid?
“Since Tinubu assumed office in 2023, he has been traveling around the world using tax payers money.
“What has all the travelings brought to Nigeria? What have we benefited as a country? It is all about himself and nothing else”, Adole laments
