The Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, will leave Abuja on Sunday to travel to New York, United States, to take part in the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly. While there, he will focus on enhancing Nigeria’s economic connections and recruiting Foreign Direct Investments to the country.
Ajuri Ngelale, who serves as Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, made this information public on Friday when he addressed State House Correspondents on the President’s schedule of activities leading up to the 2019 United Nations General Assembly, which will take place from September 18 to September 26, 2023.
The media assistant shared the following information with the press: “His Excellency President Bola Tinubu will be traveling Abuja for New York on Sunday in order to participate in the United Nations General Assembly of 2023.”
Details regarding the assembly can be found on the website of the UN Foundation. The website states that at the assembly, world leaders will discuss and debate ways to “confront the global polycrisis and discover strategies to accelerate action on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
Ngelale made the following statement in reference to Tinubu’s economic development and diplomatic drive to attract foreign direct investment into the nation: “Tinubu is going to continue advancing very aggressively on his economic development and diplomatic push to attract foreign direct investment into the country.” He said this while highlighting the President’s trip to New Delhi for the G-20 summit and the resultant investments brought into Nigeria.
He stated that the President will host roundtable discussions with important international CEOs to discuss the digital revolution, innovation, and investment opportunities in Nigeria. Leaders from companies such as Microsoft, Meta, General Electric, and Exxon Mobil are among them.
Ngelale provided the following explanation regarding Tinubu’s planned meeting with the President of Microsoft, Brad Smith: “with respect to how we can deepen digital transformation in the country, and to how we can expand the digital economic footprint in the country to ensure that our micro and small enterprises will have access to the internet and have access to other smart technologies that will facilitate their ability to transact business quickly and efficiently.”
“is intended to be a wide-ranging dialogue with respect to how we might capitalize on emerging developments such as artificial intelligence and some other applications to impact the way that we conduct business in Nigeria,” Sir Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta Technologies, said in a statement.
In addition to that, he will speak with Larry Culp Jr., the Chief Executive Officer of General Electric. An assistant to the President stated, “We expect that to be a very crucial engagement,” while pointing out that General Electric has holdings in a variety of industries, including energy, aviation, and automobiles, amongst others.
In reference to Tinubu’s meeting with Exxon Mobil Chief Darren Woods, a Presidential aide stated, “We see this as a major opportunity to once again lay out in detail what Nigeria has to offer concerning the implementation of the petroleum industry Act and the fiscal and tax incentives that President Bola Tinubu is putting forward to advance investment in the oil and gas sector not just in terms of oil, but more in terms of gas.”
In addition to this, he mentioned that the President of Nigeria will have the opportunity to advocate for the welfare of Nigeria’s micro, small, and medium-sized businesses at the United Nations General Assembly.
According to Ngelale, the Nigeria Small and Medium Scale Business Summit is strategically aligned to guarantee “that we don’t just look at the major industry, that we hone in on opportunities being given by Nigerian-owned small and medium scale firms.” In other words, the summit is designed to ensure “that we don’t just look at the large industry.”
In addition to focusing on the economy, President Tinubu is expected to talk about other critical global concerns, such as the reconfiguration of the existing global financial system and the effects of climate change.
The Presidential assistant made it clear that he plans to outline a more inclusive international financial system and expound on Nigeria’s goal to attain net zero emissions by the year 2060 in these various venues. He emphasized that he will be doing so.
He mentioned that Tinubu will also take part in a number of conferences, some of which will focus on sustainable development goals and climate ambition.
In addition, bilateral encounters with leaders from around the world will further underscore the importance of economic development diplomacy.
According to the Ngelale, these engagements include bilateral meetings on the sidelines with the President of the United States, Joe Biden; the President of the Comoro Islands, Azali Assoumani, who is Chairman of the African Union; the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa; the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; the President of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune; the President of the European Union Commission
