Jonathan To Visit Trinidad And Tobago, Jamaica

SAN FRANCISCO, July 30, (THEWILL) - President Goodluck Jonathan will depart Abuja on Tuesday to attend the Trinidad and Tobago Emancipation Day and Jamaica’s Independence Anniversary Celebration.

President Jonathan, accompanied by First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, will review the Kambule Street Procession, the major event marking the Trinidad and Tobago Emancipation Day on Wednesday, August 1, with the prime minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

According to statement signed by Dr. Reuben Abati, special adviser to the president (media and publicity), he will present a goodwill message to the Procession, pay a courtesy call on Prof. George Maxwell Richards, president of Trinidad and Tobago, and his wife, Dr. Jean Ramjohn Richards, and meet with members of the Nigerian community in Trinidad and Tobago.

“President Jonathan and Dame Patience Jonathan will attend the Emancipation Day Cultural Programme at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village, and be hosted to a State Banquet by the President of Trinidad and Tobago,” read the email statement to THEWILL.

“The president’s official visit to Jamaica will commence on Thursday, August 2, with a Special Commemorative Session of Parliament in his honour, after which he will be hosted by the Jamaican Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller.”

Other activities of President Jonathan in Jamaica will include participation in a Mello Go Round at the National Stadium, a bilateral meeting in the Prime Minister’s office, a meeting with the Nigerian Community and a luncheon hosted by the governor-general of Jamaica, Patrick Allen. He is expected back in Abuja on Saturday, August 4, 2012.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Emancipation Day is celebrated to mark the end of slavery for Africans in the British Caribbean on August 1, 1838, and has been observed as a national holiday since 1985. Jamaica attained independence from Great Britain in 1962.