NIGERIA’S Vice-President Kashim Shettima has met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York, where they discussed Nigeria’s push for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council alongside other matters of mutual concern.
Addressing newsmen after the meeting on Friday, September 26, Shettima’s Media Assistant, Stanley Nkwocha, said the UN Secretary-General lauded his principal for underscoring Nigeria’s demand for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Stressing the importance of the demand, he said “UN taking steps to support Nigeria even more so that we achieve more. We are aspiring to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
The ICIR reported that Shettima, who delivered President Bola Tinubu’s address at the 80th UN General Assembly on Tuesday, demanded for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, warning that the credibility of the world body depended on its ability to reflect current global realities rather than the post-Second World War order.
He urged member states to embrace sweeping reforms that would give Africa’s most populous country a stronger voice in international decision-making.
Nkwocha noted on Friday that both leaders engaged in bilateral talks centered on advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), tackling climate change, fostering collaboration to strengthen democracy in Nigeria and across Africa, and deepening partnerships with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on regional initiatives for democracy and security.
Providing further insight into the UN visit, Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar also highlighted that the UN maintained a significant presence in Nigeria, with numerous agencies operating within the country.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, noted that the Nigerian delegation held a highly cordial engagement with the UN Secretary-General.
Tijani pointed out Guterres’ remarks on artificial intelligence, noting his hope and expectation that Nigeria would maintain a leading role in the field.
“He was extremely happy when we mentioned that Nigeria, just a few days ago, released our first multilingual and multimodal large language model the first of its kind on the African continent, backed by any government.
“Even as we were leaving, he (Guterres) mentioned that he would love to see Nigeria support other African countries to ensure Africa is not left behind in artificial intelligence and that we can leverage it properly for development,” the minister said.
The Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Yusuf Sununu, who was also at the meeting noted that the meeting with the UN Secretary-General was highly productive, emphasising the Tinubu administration’s commitment to tackling humanitarian challenges and reducing poverty.
“We highlighted that we have one of the largest national social registers containing almost 18.9 million households, and we have reached over 8.1 million Nigerians through conditional cash transfers. We also highlighted the government’s efforts to promote inclusivity for people with disabilities,” he said.
Sununu further explained that funding cuts to UN agencies had impacted the humanitarian ministry, pointing out that the World Food Programme (WFP) was assisting about 1.3 million Nigerians with emergency food transfers.
He explained that both sides exchanged ideas on sustainable solutions to the prevailing challenges, stressing that the Federal Government was making concerted efforts to “fill the gap”.
He revealed that the UN Secretary-General pledged continued support for Nigeria to strengthen the ministry’s capacity, validate its national social register, and mobilise additional funding for intervention and poverty alleviation efforts.
“Generally, the Secretary-General thanked the Nigerian government, especially the president, for ongoing support to the United Nations and assured us that the UN would continue to support Nigeria’s wishes and aspirations,” Sununu said.
The ICIR reported that Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, called on global investors to embrace emerging opportunities in Nigeria’s oil sector while delivering a keynote address at the UNGA.
He cited strong reforms, enhanced production capacity, and regional influence as key drivers of growth in the sector, noting that all inactive blocks during the period of no investments into Nigeria were up for grabs. He explained that there were new opportunities for new investors, both in the upstream and other sectors.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.