By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu will depart Abuja on Thursday for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to participate in the 37th ordinary session of the assembly of the African Union (AU) heads of state and government.
This was disclosed in a statement on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Ajuri Ngelale.
He said President Tinubu would join other African leaders in high-level meetings on institutional reforms of the African Union; peace and security; specific thematic issues such as climate change, as well as modalities of participation and priorities of the continental body in the G20.
According to the presidential spokesman, the theme of the year’s summit is ‘Educate an African fit for the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa.’
Mr Tinubu will also attend an extraordinary summit of the authority of heads of state and government of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) in his capacity as the chairman of the regional body.
The President will be accompanied on the trip by some ministers and other top government officials.
He is expected to return to Abuja after the summit.
The 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU Heads of State is scheduled to take place from February 15-19, 2024.
In 2024, the AU is set to pay special attention to education and training with the theme of the year focusing on it.
The group believes that success in the education sector will have significant knock-on effects on sectors such as security, control of population growth, the empowerment of women and girls, agriculture, digitalization, and migration, among others.
Its theme for the Year 2024 is also devoted to pondering over an in-depth reform of education in Africa, with the prospect of training young people endowed with intellectual, scientific and ethical capacities to serve the transformation of the continent, it was indicated.