Nigerian President expects private talks with Putin during Russia-Africa Summit: Envoy

Nigerian Ambassador to Moscow Abdullahi Shehu announced that Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari wants to have a personal conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2022 Russia-Africa Summit. As per the reports of Sputnik, the ambassador stated that President Buhari looks forward to talking to Vladimir Putin in the near future by 2022 when the second summit is convened.

The Ambassador reiterated Nigeria's full support for Moscow's initiative to organise the second Russia-Africa summit in Africa. He stated that Nigeria has not been offered to host the next Russia-Africa summit, slated for the fall of 2022, but would welcome the decision to do so. He also said that Nigeria has not proposed, nor have even requested to host the second summit and he believes that there is a widespread expectation. Discussions over the host country are still ongoing at the highest political level, according to Sputnik.

First Russia-Africa Summit happened in October 2019

In October 2019, the first Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum took place in the Russian city of Sochi. The leaders of 54 African countries were invited to the occasion. Russia and Egypt shared the presidency of the summit. Talking about coal and oil, Abdullahi Shehu stated that developed countries should assist developing countries, particularly those in Africa, in reducing their usage of coal and oil to address climate change.

He stated that they are not at the same level of development as other countries, so when they are told to stop using coal, oil, and other things they expect that the more advanced countries would support the less developed countries to get to their own level of development so that they can move almost at the same mutual speed, according to Sputnik. The envoy also emphasised that African countries share a unified perspective on addressing climate change.

Nigerian Ambassador writes letter of credence to Russian President Putin 

Last week, Abdullahi Shehu wrote a letter of credence to Russian President Putin, who, according to Shehu, promised a meaningful debate on topical topics relating to maintaining global hydrocarbon market stability, combating terrorism, and countering religious extremism at the next Russia-Africa summit, according to the Nigerian media, Pulse. Shehu expressed his satisfaction with the strengthening of friendly relations between the two countries. On the other hand, as the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron, which was first detected in Southern Africa continues to grow, Ambassador Shehu stated that Nigeria is looking to purchase Russia's coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V.

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