President Muhammadu Buhari has returned to Abuja from his four-day official trip to Paris, France where he attended the African Finance Summit.
The President’s aircraft arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja around 3:50pm along with the Minister and some of his aides who travelled with him.
He was welcomed by his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari; Director-General of the Department of State Service (DSS) Yusuf Bichi and acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, among others.
While in Paris, Buhari participated in the Financing Africa Summit at Grande Palais Ephemere on Tuesday with the theme: “External financing and debt treatment”.
He also engaged in various bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit.
At the opening of the summit on Tuesday, Buhari called on European countries and global financial institutions to consider reducing the devastating effects of COVID-19 pandemic on African economies by restructuring debt portfolios and providing complete debt relief.
He observed that many African countries were already experiencing debt distress and the debt service suspension by France and the G-20 was not far-reaching enough.
Buhari also stressed the needs for more sustainable and affordable financing solutions, including debt relief and further debt restructuring.
He also called for release of vaccines to Africa which, he said, had been left behind in the protection of majority of its citizens.
On May 19, Buhari and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, engaged in bilateral talks where they agreed to cooperate in fighting insecurity.