President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart Abuja for Accra, Ghana on Saturday, July 20, to participate in the Sixth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union (AU), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Mechanisms (RMs), and African Union Member States.
According to a statement issued on Friday, July 19, 2024 by Presidential spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, Tinubu is attending in his capacity as the Chairperson of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
He said Tinubu will address the meeting on the status of regional integration across various areas in Africa, highlighting the achievements and challenges encountered in West Africa since the last meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in July 2023.
The president and chairman of ECOWAS will present the ‘2024 Report on the State of the Community,’ focusing on peace, regional security, governance, economic integration, humanitarian and social development, energy, mines, and agriculture.
The Mid-Year Coordination Meeting, conceptualized in 2017, serves as the principal forum for the AU and RECs to align their work and coordinate the implementation of the continental integration agenda.
President Tinubu, who was elected as the Chairman of ECOWAS in July 2023, delivered his maiden speech at the AU Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, where he stressed Africa’s strength and the need for unity.
The agenda for the Accra meeting includes evaluating the AU’s early warning and conflict prevention mechanisms and promoting cooperation among regional economic communities to accelerate integration.
A declaration will be adopted at the end of the meeting.
Since his inauguration in May 2023, Tinubu has visited Paris, France (twice); London, the United Kingdom; Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; Porto-Novo, Benin Republic; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates; New York, the United States of America; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Berlin, Germany, spending 55 days.
A report stated that the President spent N3.4bn on these trips within six months of assuming office.
The figure is 36 percent more than the N2.49bn earmarked for the President’s travel expenditure in the 2023 budget.
This means a total sum of N8.64bn was spent on local and foreign trips between June 2023 and March 2024.
The report also showed that the president received N650m as an honorarium.
