UNGA president visits Nigeria to strengthen security support

Muhammadu Buhari with President (UNGA) Maria Fernanda

ABUJA, May 7 (Xinhua): Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday at his office held a closed-door meeting with the visiting President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Maria Espinosa.

Espinosa, president of the 73rd session of UNGA, is in the West African country on a two-day working visit.

A presidency source told Xinhua that the agenda of the bilateral meeting included issues bordering on insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin, development and environmental protection, among others.

Espinosa told reporters upon arrival on Monday that addressing the challenges in Africa was a priority of the UN.

Africa, according to her, was at the forefront of global development and her visit to the region for the second time since taking office clearly shows the interest of the UN in Africa.

"Basically, we are going to discuss the main challenges of Nigeria and the need to address the issues of peace and security together with the challenges of development and environmental protection," she said.

During her working visit here, the UNGA president would also hold meetings with Nigeria's cabinet officials including the foreign minister and the minister of women and social development to discuss strengthening bilateral ties, she said.