Osinbajo Heads to Italy to Honour Nigeria’s Invitation to G7 Summit

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo will this morning, depart Nigeria for Italy to honour Nigeria’s invitation to the G7 Summit and is expected to return to the country later in the day.

Senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity (Office of the Vice-President), Mr Laolu Akande disclosed plans for the trip in a tweet sent out early Saturday.

Osinbajo will be joining other world leaders like German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of the United States Donald Trump to deliberate on issues affecting the global economy and polity.

The G7 refers to a group of 7 advanced nations with more than 64% of the net global wealth ($263 trillion) according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The group consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The current and 43rd G7 summit commenced on Friday and is taking place in Taormina, Italy where members of the G7 have called on internet service providers to intensify efforts at cracking down on terrorist groups promoting themselves on the internet, according to the BBC.

World leaders present are however said to have failed to agree on steps to combat climate change. US President Trump, attending his first such summit for instance, held off from endorsing the 2015 deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In June 2015, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari attended the 41st G7 summit in Germany on the invitation of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.  The German Chancellor in April extended another invitation to Nigeria to attend this year’s summit but President Buhari is presently out of the country for medical checks in the United Kingdom.