Buhari departs Abuja for London ahead of UK-Africa Investment Summit 


- President Muhammadu Buhari has departed Nigeria for London to participate in the UK-Africa investment summit - The summit which is the first of its kind will be held on Monday, January 20 - The event is being hosted by the new British prime minister, Boris Johnson President Muhammadu Buhari has departed Nigeria for London to participate in the inaugural UK-Africa investment summit hosted by the new British prime minister, Boris Johnson. The summit is scheduled to hold on Monday, January 20 and will provide Nigeria with the opportunity to project itself as a leading investment destination for new industries. 

Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe are on the entourage of the president. Photo credit: Bayo Omoboriowo 
Source: Twitter 
The event is expected to bring together African leaders, international business chief executives and heads of international organisations with a view to creating new partnerships that will deliver more investments and jobs to the benefit of people and businesses in African countries and the United Kingdom. 

While in the UK, President Buhari will hold a meeting with the head of the commonwealth, Prince Charles in Glasgow, Scotland and also have bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Johnson as well as heads of multilateral organisations. Governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe are on the entourage of the president. Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Boss Mustapha, IGP Mohammed Adamu and FCT minister, Mohammed Bello, were at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to bid the president goodbye. Meanwhile, the World Bank has predicted economic growth of 2.1% for the three consecutive years of 2020, 2021 and 2023 for Nigeria. The information was contained in the World Bank’s January 2020 global economic prospects released on Wednesday, January 8. The report, however, noted that Nigeria’s macro-economic framework is challenged by issues of multiple exchange rates, foreign restrictions and continued inflation. 

In a related development, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that the country’s inflation rate stood at 11.98% in December 2019, making it the highest inflation index in 19 months. The data released by the bureau on Friday, January 17, showed that the December 2019 inflation rate was 0.13% points higher than the 11.85% recorded in November. “On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.85 per cent in December 2019, this is 0.17% points lower than the rate recorded in November 2019 (1.02%),” the report released by the NBS read.