President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has returned to Abuja after participating in the Aqaba Process Heads of State and Government-level Meeting held in Rome, Italy.
The Aqaba Process, launched in 2015 by His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan, is a global counter-terrorism initiative co-chaired by Jordan and Italy. The Rome session focused on strengthening international and regional cooperation to combat terrorism and violent extremism, with special attention to the security situation in West Africa.
According to a statement issued on Saturday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the high-level meeting took place on Wednesday, October 15, at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.
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World leaders present included King Abdullah II of Jordan, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the Presidents of Nigeria, Chad, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Also in attendance were Azouz Nasri, President of Algeria’s Upper House, and delegations from Côte d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Senegal, and Uzbekistan, as well as special envoys and security experts. The meeting was held behind closed doors.
On the sidelines of the event, President Tinubu held bilateral meetings with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Massad Boulos, Senior Adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump on Arab and African Affairs. He also met with the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, where discussions centered on promoting religious harmony in Nigeria and addressing misinformation portraying the country as intolerant of religious diversity.
Since its inception in 2015, the Aqaba Process has held 33 sessions across various levels — from Heads of State summits to technical expert meetings — focusing on prevention, coordination, and closing operational gaps in global counter-terrorism efforts.