More
than 12 Heads of State arrived at the Presidential Wing of the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s
(today) centenary, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
The visiting Heads of State were received at the airport by some members of the Federal Executive Council.
Those that were received at the airport
include Presidents Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibi; Paul Kagame of Rwanda;
Yahya Jammeh of Gambia and Prosper Bazombaza of Burundi.
President Helen Sirleaf of Liberia and
the former Secretary-General of Organisation for African Union, Dr.
Salim Ahmed Salim, who led the Tanzanian delegation also arrived in
Abuja on Wednesday for the celebration.
Also arrived in Abuja were the President
of Mauritania, Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz; Ethiopian President, Mr.
Hailemarian Desalegh; and the European Union President, Mr. Jose Manuel
Barroso.
The Zambian Minister of Defence, Mr.
Edgar Lungu, will represent the Zambian President, Micheal Saata. Israel
is also being represented by its Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Yair
Shamir.
An official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who did not want to be mentioned, told NAN that 42 Heads of State were being expected to attend the celebration.
Meanwhile, United States President
Barack Obama has designated State Counsellor Thomas Shannon as the
leader of a presidential delegation to the centenary in Abuja.
A statement in Abuja on Wednesday by the
State Department said Shannon would meet with government officials and
participate in high-level activities with other world leaders during the
centenary.
The US official, who is expected to
deliver a message from Obama to Nigeria, would also travel to Lagos for
discussions on a range of issues of mutual interest and interact with
Nigerian youths.
Also, President of the Swiss
Confederation, Didier Burkhalter, has sent a letter of congratulations
to President Goodluck Jonathan on the nation’s centenary.
Burkhalter would be represented at the celebrations by the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Hodel.
“May the ties of confidence and
friendship which so happily exist between our two countries continue to
flourish in the coming centenary,’’ the Swiss president wrote.
The major highlight of the week-long
activities includes an international conference on peace and security in
Africa on Thursday to be attended by several world leaders.
The British colonial authorities had on
January 1, 1914 amalgamated what were then the separate protectorates of
Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria.
The amalgamation gave birth to the single geo-political entity known as Nigeria.
The celebrations will also feature the
conferment of honours on 100 Nigerians, with about 40 per cent of the
awards to be presented posthumously.
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