His Excellency Professor Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), received His Excellency Ambassador Mansour Gosimi Abdul Karim, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Jeddah, and his accompanying delegation, on Monday 25 Jumada Al-Awwal 1444H corresponding to 19 December 2022G at the headquarters of the Secretariat General of the Academy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

His Excellency the Secretary General welcomed his honorable guest, thanking him for the visit, and expressing his appreciation and gratitude to the State of Nigeria for its support and care for the Academy since its inception to the present day. His Excellency also provided the guest and his accompanying delegation with a comprehensive overview of the activities of the Academy and the recent developments, noting in this regard the prestigious position and great respect that the Academy enjoys among the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and outside it in the field of promoting the values of moderation, fraternity and peaceful coexistence between peoples and religions. His Excellency explained that a number of OIC member states have held sessions of the Academy in order to benefit from the outputs of those sessions to address some of the local issues that concern them in addition to other issues of concern to Muslims around the world. His Excellency expressed his hope that the State of Nigeria will host one of the sessions of the Academy in the near future.

For his part, His Excellency the Consul expressed his pleasure and honor to visit the Academy and his thanks and gratitude to His Excellency the Secretary General for the good reception and warm welcome to him and his accompanying delegation, stressing his keenness to establish strong and sustainable relations with the Academy and to benefit from it in addressing many local and regional issues that concern his country and the region. His Excellency also expressed his admiration and appreciation for the great and important developments that the Academy has witnessed at all levels since His Excellency assumed his duties as Secretary General of the Academy, praising the pioneering scientific and intellectual position that the Academy occupies internationally and its pivotal role within the OIC as the first Fiqh reference for the Muslim Ummah. His Excellency concluded by welcoming the idea of holding one of the Academy’s sessions in Nigeria in order to strengthen relations of cooperation and communication between the Academy and Nigerian official scientific institutions that are active in the field of spreading the values of tolerance, fraternity and peaceful coexistence between religions, and serving issues that concern Muslims in Nigeria in particular and in Africa in general.

The meeting was attended by His Excellency Mr. Ismail Abdulquadir, Head of Chancery at the Consulate General, His Excellency Mr. Hassan Abu Bakr Khamis, Second Secretary at the Consulate General, Dr. Alhagi Manta Drammeh, Head of International Cooperation and External Relations Division at the Academy, and Mr. Mourad TLiLi, Advisor to His Excellency the Secretary General for Media Affairs.