Buhari Back in Abuja after Attending World Bio Summit in Korea

Deji Elumoye in Abuja 

President Muhammadu Buhari Friday returned to Abuja after a six-day official visit to Seoul, the capital of South Korea, where he participated in the maiden World Bio Summit 2022.

The president, who arrived at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in Nigeria Air Force (NAF) 1 presidential jet,

was received by two governors, senior government officials and security chiefs.

Among those at the airport to receive the president were the Governors of Katsina and Niger States; Hon. Aminu Bello Masari and Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Musa Bello, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.

Others included the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Usman Alkali Baba; the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi and some other senior military and security officials.

While in Seoul, President Buhari delivered a speech at the Summit, held a number of high-powered consultations and bilateral/diplomatic meetings, including with the South Korean President, Yoon Suk-yeol, and the Speaker of the country’s National Assembly, Mr. Kim Jin-Pyo, in a separate meeting.

He used the opportunity to call for an expansion of the Nigeria/South Korea trade relations during his meeting with Suk-yeol, met with some South Korean investors, witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the rehabilitation of the Kaduna Refinery between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and the Daewoo Group.

The president also met with representatives of the Nigerian community in the country, charging them to be good ambassadors of Nigeria in the land of their sojourn.

Nigeria was invited to the summit based on her selection with five other African countries by WHO and the European Union (EU) during the last EU-African Summit in Brussels, Belgium in February this year for mRNA technology transfer and Global Training Hub for Bio-manufacturing of vaccines on the African continent.

Those who accompanied the president on the journey included Governors Aminu Bello Masari and Abubakar Sani Bello of Katsina and Niger States; Geoffrey Onyeama, Osagie Ehanire and Adeniyi Adebayo, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Health, Industry, Trade and Investment respectively; and Timipre Sylva, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources.

Others on the delegation were Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd), National Security Adviser; Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Director-General, National Intelligence Agency; Prof. Moji Adeyeye, Director-General, NAFDAC; Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, Director-General, NCDC; Bashir Jamoh, Director-General, NIMASA; Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman, NiDCOM, as well as other top government officials.

See Images