President Bola Tinubu has departed Nigeria for the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 78th session.
Ajuri Ngelale, the presidential communications aide, confirmed this in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
Tinubu will attend his first UNGA gathering since taking office as president in May.
On the margins of the conference, he is slated to hold bilateral discussions with other world leaders, including US Vice President Joe Biden and European Union Commission President Van der Leyen.
Ngelale also revealed that Tinubu would meet with Brad Smith, global president of Microsoft, and Nick Clegg, head of global affairs for Meta Technologies, to discuss strategies for accelerating Nigeria’s digital transformation and leveraging artificial intelligence.
Tinubu is also expected to deliver his inaugural national statement on the floor of the United Nations headquarters on September 19.
The Nigerian president will also address American business leaders at the US Chamber of Commerce and conduct the NASDAQ closing ceremony.
He will be Africa’s first president to do so.
The 78th UNGA session will be held in New York from September 18 to September 26.
The theme for this year’s UNGA is “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 agenda and its sustainable development goals towards peace, prosperity, progress, and sustainability for all”.
