President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will depart Abuja today for Rome, the capital of Italy, which will be his 16th foreign trip in 2025.
A statement by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, the president in Rome will participate in the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government Level Meeting, which focuses on security crisis in West Africa.
The meeting, which will begin on October 14, will bring together heads of state and government, senior intelligence and military officials from African countries, and representatives of intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations to discuss the evolving security challenges in West Africa.
The Aqaba Process meeting is a counter-terrorism initiative launched by King Abdullah II of Jordan in 2015.
It is co–chaired by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Italian government.
The meeting recognises the complex security challenges confronting West Africa, including the expansion of terrorist networks, the growing crime-terror nexus and the increasing overlap between land-based terrorism in the Sahel and the maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
According to the statement, participants at the meeting will exchange assessments of the current security landscape in West Africa and foster collaboration between regional and international partners to address cross-border security challenges.
Participants will also develop strategies to counter the terror threat on land and the sea.
The meeting will discuss ideas on how to coordinate efforts to combat online radicalisation and disrupt digital networks that facilitate terrorist propaganda and recruitment.
In addition to attending the plenary sessions of the Aqaba meeting, Tinubu will hold bilateral talks with other leaders to explore ways of addressing the rising security challenges across the subregion.
Tinubu will be accompanied by Bianca Ojukwu, minister of state for foreign affairs; Mohammed Badaru, minister of defence; Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser (NSA); Mohammed Mohammed, director-general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA); and other government officials.
Tinubu’s 2025 foreign trip so far
With his latest trip, President Tinubu has now embarked on 16 international journeys across 12 countries in 2025 alone, and at least 44 foreign trips since taking office in 2023.
Years He recently returned from a 10-day annual vacation in Europe, during which he met with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Tinubu’s travels have spanned high-level summits, bilateral meetings, presidential inaugurations, and a few personal breaks.
His 2025 foreign trips started on January 6, when he travelled to Accra, Ghana, for the inauguration of President-elect John Mahama.
Days later, from January 12 to 16, he attended the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Summit in the United Arab Emirates, holding side meetings with Gulf investors and government officials on trade and energy cooperation.
Later that month, from January 27 to 28, Tinubu was in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for the Africa Heads of State Energy Summit. In February, he travelled to France and then to Ethiopia for the 37th African Union Summit, where African leaders discussed regional security, climate action, and trade integration under AfCFTA.
Between April 2 and 21, Tinubu undertook a two-week working visit that took him to France and the United Kingdom. In mid-May, he was in Vatican City for the historic inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in Rome.
From June 28 to July 4, the President made a landmark state visit to Saint Lucia, where he addressed Caribbean leaders in Castries before heading to Brazil for the 17th BRICS Summit (July 4–7).
He returned to Brazil in August for a two-day state visit after attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Japan, where he met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss maritime security and digital infrastructure.
Before arriving in Japan, Tinubu made a brief stopover in Dubai on August 15, which is his second visit to the UAE this year, before proceeding to Yokohama on August 18.
From September 4 to 17, he was again in France and the UK for a working vacation, part of his 2025 annual leave. That visit came nearly a year after his two-week vacation in the UK in October 2024.
His latest trip, beginning October 12, takes him to Rome for the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government Level Meeting.
