The President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd . ) , abruptly lost connection while address a United Nations event .

The virtual meeting tagged “ High -Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID- 19 and Beyond” , was at the instance of the United Nations Secretary – General , António Guterres .

Canadian Prime Minister , Justin Trudeau and his Jamaican counterpart , Andrew Holness , co -hosted the high – level discussions, with over 50 world leaders participating.

Buhari ’ s connection from Abuja had hitches right from the start , as he went on and off for seconds before the video connection went off completely .

The organisers quickly called on the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan- o – cha , to make his own presentation.

Chan- o – cha too seemed to have connection issues , but he substituted his presentation with a pre – recorded video speech .

A number of connections from other leaders also had brief hitches .

Before his connection went off, Buhari had highlighted the impact of COVID – 19 on African countries , particularly their loss of revenues , making it difficult for them to fund their 2020 budget .

For Nigeria , he said it was hard – hit by the crash in oil revenue , the mainstay of its monolithic economy .

However , Buhari informed his co -participants that his regime had introduced measures , including retooling the economy through “ home- grown strategies ” to ensure that Nigeria survived the pandemic now and beyond .

Punch