French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to visit the famous New Africa shrine in Lagos, built in 1970 in honour of legendary Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti.
Macron’s visit will make him the first French president to visit Nigeria in years, as past leaders have tended to focus their African trips on France’s former colonies.
He will become the first foreign president in office to visit the shrine – otherwise known as the Fela Shrine – since it was built.
Macron spent six months as an intern at the French Embassy in Lagos in the early 2000s, and has a lot of praise for the West African country.
“I like Nigeria a lot. It’s an appealing country. I’ve got a lot of memories… that haven’t left me,” AFP news agency quotes him.
Fela Shrine shrine contains a photo gallery of Fela and records regular stage performances by his sons, Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti.
Macron’s visit to Nigeria comes after his trip to Mauritania, where he attended the African Union summit to push for security measures in the troubled Sahel region, with particular focus on the formation and deployment of the G5 Sahel Force.
