President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has returned to Aso rock, Abuja after attending the 2026 edition of the Sustainability summit in Abu Dhabi.
One of the president’ core at the summit was signing of a trade agreement between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
Tinubu’ return was made public by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement released on Saturday.
The statement titled ‘President Tinubu returns to Nigeria after Abu Dhabi trip, explains how the president departed Nigeria for Paris on Sunday, December 28, 2025, for the second half his annual leave.
From Paris the President proceeded to Abu Dhabi for the Sustainability summit, which helf from January 11th to 15th.
The cores of the summit is that, Nigeria and the UAE signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
This agreement grants producers duty-free access into the UAE market and will strengthen economic cooperation, boost bilateral trade and investment, enhance technology transfer, and expand collaboration across key sectors, including energy, infrastructure, agriculture, mining, and renewable energy.
The agreement was signed by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole. The UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi signed for UAE. Both President Tinubu and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan witnessed the signing.
Reacting to the bilateral trade agreement, Oduwole said the agreement would give Nigerian exporters direct access to global markets. This means that Nigerian businesses would be able to open offices in the UAE.
The 2026 edition of the summit, themed “The Nexus of Next: All Systems Go,” focused on pacts among countries required for sustainable transitions across finance, technology, energy, and human capital.
In his keynote address at the summit, President Tinubu announced that Nigeria will set aside $30bn annually for climate and green industrial finance. This is to accelerate energy transition reforms and expand electricity access nationwide.
Tinubu also stated that Nigeria will be hosting a joint Nigeria-UAE Investopia summit in Lagos in February.