Buhari departs Jeddah for Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has departed the royal terminal of
King AbdulAziz International Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for
Abuja.

This was after attending the 14th summit of the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Makkah.

NAN reports that the presidential aircraft conveying the
president and members of his entourage left the Jeddah airport for
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 2:45pm local
time on Sunday.

Some senior officials of the government of Saudi Arabia led by
Prince Abdullah Bin Bandar Bin Abdulaziz, the deputy governor of
Mecca province, were at the airport to bid the president
farewell.

Also at the airport to bid Buhari farewell were officials of the
Nigerian embassy in Saudi Arabia.

While in Saudi Arabia, the president participated in the OIC
summit where he noted with delight the decision of the organisation
to support the inter-basin water transfer project, aimed at
recharging the Lake Chad.

According to him, the shrinking of Lake Chad to about 10 percent
of its original size had adversely affected over 30 million
livelihoods in the sub-region.

He further maintained that the shrinking had caused severe
economic deprivation and fuelled illegal migration to Europe.

The president added that it caused displacement of communities
and radicalisation of youth, forcing them to join the Boko Haram
group.

Buhari, during the summit, also thanked the organisation for its
various interventions under the special programme for the
development of Africa and the Islamic solidarity fund for
development.

According to him, the robust interventions of the various OIC
institutions, particularly the IDB group, had been effective in
such key sectors as trade and investment, agriculture, rural
development and food security.

“For instance, we in Nigeria appreciate the bank’s support for
our National Food Security Programme and the various road and
school rehabilitation projects and the second Niger Bridge,” he
said.

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