After a five-day state visit to Lisbon, Portugal, where both Nigeria and the European country signed Memorandums of Understanding in a number of areas, President Muhammadu Buhari arrived back in Abuja on Saturday night.
The Nigerian president participated in a number of bilateral meetings while in Lisbon, which led to the signing of agreements and memorandums of understanding between Nigeria and Portugal.
Political consultations, diplomatic training, research, and the exchange of information and documentation are among the MoUs that have been inked.
The partnership included working together in the areas of youth and sports, as well as the development, empowerment, and gender issues of women and girls.
President Buhari had earlier warned Nigerians overseas against using social media to trash and instigate from a safe and anonymous distance when he met with delegates of Nigerians residing in Portugal on Wednesday night.
Instead, Buhari asked them to constantly champion Nigeria’s unity.
The president believes that social media can be both a force for good and a force for evil, and he exhorts all Nigerians to use it for the benefit of society as a whole.
Also on Thursday in Lisbon, Buhari urged diversification into non-oil items and an expansion in trade with Portugal.
During his state visit to Portugal, the president made the announcement at a seminar involving businesses from Nigeria and Portugal.
The COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating effects on the world economy and, more recently, the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to the leader of Nigeria, have left the two nations in desperate need of new investment prospects.
President Buhari also stated that Nigeria is prepared to fill the natural gas shortages in Europe caused by the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Also on June 30, the president gave his approval for Patience Oniha to serve a second, five-year term as the director-general of the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The president met on Friday with Lisbon’s mayor, Carlos Moedas, and members of the city council to thank them for allowing Nigerians and Ukrainian refugees to stay with them.
Buhari also took the opportunity to congratulate him on becoming mayor of Lisbon and on his and his party’s political success.
The Nigerian leader thanked Carlis Moedas for kindly receiving the Nigerian team in the “beautiful and historic coastal city of Lisbon,” according to a statement from the President’s media secretary, Malam Garba Shehu.
Nigeria’s commitment to eliminating marine plastic pollution from land-based sources and activities was also reaffirmed by President Buhari.
The assurance was made by the president during an address made on his behalf at the 2022 UN Ocean Conference on Friday in Lisbon, Portugal by Secretary of State for the Environment Sharon Ikeazor.
Buhari noted Nigeria’s efforts to safeguard the wellbeing and sustainability of oceans, seas, and marine resources while announcing the formulation and establishment of a national plastic pollution strategy and a road map for addressing solid and plastic waste management.
Buhari noted that Nigeria had mainstreamed ocean management into the economy by creating a Presidential Committee on Sustainable Blue Economy. He praised the UN for driving the process of effective ocean governance.
He also disclosed that two marine protected areas were being established in Nigeria.
Additionally, President Muhammadu Buhari will open the new Presidential Wing of the State House Clinic in December, according to Tijjani Umar, the Permanent Secretary of the State House in Abuja, who made the announcement on July 1.
Umar disclosed that the construction of the appropriate medical facility has already reached a 75% completion level while speaking at the State House SERVICOM Unit Awards for the Year 2021 in Abuja.
He claims that one of the legacies the Buhari government would leave for next administrations in the nation is the multibillion-naira medical facility.
InsightnaijaTV reports that the president had official commitments before leaving for Lisbon on Tuesday, including the oath of office ceremony for Justice Olukayode Ariwoola as acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on June 27.
Following Justice Tanko Muhammad’s departure due to health reasons, Ariwoola, the next-highest ranking member of the Supreme Court, was sworn in as the new CJN.
On the same day, the president also met with the governor of Imo, Hope Uzodinma, who gave him an update on the state’s socioeconomic and security developments.
Uzodinma, who later talked with State House reporters, claimed that he took advantage of the encounter to express his gratitude to the president for sanctioning Imo’s hosting of this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration.
The governor also responded to the recent request by Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara for his citizens to apply for firearms for self-defense, saying Imo was exempt from such requirements.
A few senators from the APC were given an audience with the president to discuss the results of the party primaries and its ramifications for the party.
Before the general elections in 2023, Buhari gave assurances that the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership would continue the post-primary healing process to promote fairness, justice, and togetherness.
He stated that the National Working Committee has put in place procedures to handle complaints that had been made by some members.
