Vice-President Kashim Shettima has departed Abuja for Dallas, United States, for the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit.
The summit, hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa, will take place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas.
According to a statement issued by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, the Vice President will join other political and business leaders from Africa, the US, and beyond for high-level dialogues, networking sessions, and plenaries.
African leaders expected at the summit include Presidents Joseph Boakai of Liberia, Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi, Joao Lourenço of Angola, Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, José Maria Neves of Cabo Verde, and Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara of Lesotho.
Shettima is scheduled to speak at various sessions, including the Roundtable on African Infrastructure Investment and a plenary session on Navigating Africa’s Energy Future.
He is also scheduled to speak on a high-level panel on agribusiness, focusing on transiting “from food insecurity to thriving agribusinesses”.
He will also chair a session promoting the ‘Invest in Nigeria’ initiative and attend other meetings and engagements on the sidelines of the summit.
Shettima, who is expected to return to Nigeria at the end of his engagements, travelled at a time when the whereabouts of President Bola Tinubu have generated concerns.
Africa Health Report Sunday, reported that President Tinubu has been away from the country for seven days by May 5, after the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which he attended had ended. He was expected back home. The Presidency has not released any statement on what was holding the president from returning to Nigeria.
This has led to speculations in some quarters that the president may have proceeded to Paris, France, where he had travelled to several times for medicals.
The two-day forum, which aimed to help public and private sector leaders address shared global challenges, opened on Sunday, 28th and ended on Monday, 29th April, 2024.
