President Buhari to attend China-Africa COVID-19 Solidarity Summit Wednesday

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Wednesday, June 17, via teleconference participate in the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19.

1st News garnered that the event slated for 12:50 pm will be presided over by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, and will also deliver a keynote address.

The summit is jointly proposed by China; South Africa, the rotating chair of the African Union (AU); and Senegal, co-chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Besides Buhari, leaders of African countries, including members of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government and rotating chairs of major African subregional organizations, and the chairperson of the AU Commission, will attend the summit upon invitation.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) are also expected to address the summit as special guests.

The Chinese foreign ministry had earlier in a statement released by its spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said:

“China has consistently attached great importance to the friendly relations of cooperation with Africa and is ready to work with African countries to build a closer community of shared future.

”Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China and African countries have offered assistance to each other and joined hands in fighting COVID-19.

“Currently the pandemic remains severe globally and the epidemic continues in Africa; adding that convening the summit at this crucial time shows once again the brotherhood between China and Africa.

”The summit will not only consolidate consensus between the two sides on solidarity against COVID-19 and advance China-Africa cooperation; but also inject a new impetus into multilateralism and global cooperation against COVID-19.

”China is willing to work with all participants to make the summit a success,” Zhao maintained.

Meanwhile, Buhari has approved a joint military and police operation specifically targeted at combing Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto States to rid the areas of bandits.

The president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday.

The president reassured Nigerians that the nation’s armed forces are fully capable of dealing with the challenges of banditry and terrorism.

He assured that surveillance would be improved, with more night vision aircraft already deployed under “Operation Accord’’.

The operation was launched three weeks ago.

He, therefore, called for more patience as “the military takes appropriate steps to block gaps being exploited to unleash mayhem on innocent citizens’’.