Gambia's new leader, Adama Barrow says he expects a "triumphant welcome" in the capital Banjul on Thursday when he returns "to start building his country", a report says.

According to IB Times UK, Barrow said this during an interview in Dakar, Senegal.

"I am returning tomorrow and I am expecting a big welcome, the biggest welcome in the history of our country, for the simple reason that we were able to remove from power the previous president who was there for the past 22 years," the 51-year-old leader was quoted as saying.

Barrow took the oath of office in Senegal last week during a whirlwind political crisis that sent the tiny nation's longtime leader, Yahya Jammeh, into exile.

Barrow defeated Jammeh in December elections that the then ruling party challenged.

Reports indicated that the eagerly awaited president was set to hold a new inauguration ceremony on the Gambian "soil" where he would address his people.