Buhari Returns to Abuja After 3-Day Visit to Turkey

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday returned to Abuja, the nation’s capital after a three-day official visit to Turkey.
The President who arrived the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International airport in the Nigerian Air Force 1 Presidential jet at about 4.35pm was immediately ferried in a chopper to the State House, Abuja.
On hand to welcome President Buhari to the State House were his Chief of Staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Permanent Secretary, State House, Tijjani Idris Umar; his Administrative Officer, Abubakar Maikano and his son, Yusuf Buhari, who was turbanned Talban Daura on Saturday.
The Chief of Staff, Prof Gambari, thereafter presented a big card to the President to commemorate his 79th birthday anniversary marked in Instanbul, Turkey last Friday.
President Buhari had last Thursday left Abuja accompanied by his wife, Aisha, six Ministers as well as two other top government officials to attend the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul which was hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey.
Apart from the President and his wife, others who went onthe trip included the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Defence, Maj-Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd); FCT, Mohammed Bello; Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; Agriculture, Mohammed Abubakar; Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo; the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd); and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar.
The theme of the Summit was ‘‘Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity’’ and the agenda included reviewing the cooperation between African countries and Turkey since the last summit in 2014.
The third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit came on the heels of President Erdogan’s recent State Visit to Nigeria during which several agreements in the fields of energy, defence industry, mining and hydrocarbons were signed to expand existing bilateral ties.
The Turkish leader had, during the visit to Nigeria, affirmed his commitment to immediately expand the volume of trade between the two countries to 5 billion dollars and the Nigerian delegation will seize the opportunity of the gathering in Istanbul to enhance cooperation with other partners for more trade and investment opportunities in the country.
The Summit provided guidelines and direction for cooperation with African countries for the next five years.