UN Secretary-General: Nigeria Will Support Candidate Backing Africa’s Aspirations- Shettima

Just before returning to Nigeria, the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, met with the Costa Rican candidate for the position of the United Nations Secretary-General, Rebeca Grynspan.

During his interaction with Grynspan, Senator Shettima said Nigeria will stand for equity, justice, and fairness in its support for any candidate seeking the position of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN).

According to him, the country will also support a candidate who believes in Africa’s aspirations in global affairs, specifically securing positions in key decision-making bodies and promoting multilateralism.

In a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, he said he would recommend the choice of the Costa Rican diplomat on the basis of Nigeria’s relationship with Latin America and gender inclusion, among other factors.

“Thank you for seeking Nigeria’s perspective for your candidature of the United Nations Secretary-General. Nigeria and Costa Rica share a common historical background connecting both countries and their regions.

“We also have a cordial relationship with Latin America, and we do not wish to jeopardize it. Beyond our historical ties and relations rest our interest in conflict prevention, multilateralism, and the peace of our nations,” the VP noted.

He emphasised the need to reform the global governance architecture, which has changed between 1945 and 2026 but has yet to reflect the integration of Africa, with its huge population estimated at over 1.3 billion people.

Earlier in her remarks, Grynspan, who met with VP Shettima to seek Nigeria’s support for her candidature for the position of UN Secretary-General, said she was eager to lead the UN to implement the needed reforms and changes that most countries, particularly in the Global South, are advocating for.

“coming from the global south, I represent the interest and demands of the region. I also have a soft spot for Africa. I know the continent and its aspirations,” the Costa Rican candidate stated.

She added that her candidature will promote an agenda that prioritiaes peace above other interests, assuring that Africa’s ambition of being a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council will be given urgent attention and actualised.

In a related development, Nigeria and the Netherlands have agreed to deepen collaboration to improve financial inclusion across different levels of the Nigerian society.

Under the arrangement, the Netherlands will leverage its expertise and experience in financial health to support programmes implemented by Nigeria on financial inclusion.

This was part of resolutions reached during a bilateral meeting between Vice President Kashim Shettima and the Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Maxima, in New York, United States.

In his remarks, the Nigerian Vice President welcomed the offer of support from the government of the Netherlands on improving Nigeria’s drive for financial inclusion, targeting women and vulnerable persons in the society.

Senator Shettima said the Netherlands’ focus on financial health and inclusion is not only apt but timely, noting that for Nigeria, the policy has a direct link to education, security, and poverty reduction.

He listed some of the programmes already being implemented by government to boost the policy to include, the conditional cash transfer initiative and schemes in the agricultural sector, emphasising that the results were already yielding fruits across different sectors.

The VP also disclosed that government policies have positioned some of Africa’s top fintech companies to play critical roles in Nigeria’s journey to achieving financial inclusion for most of its excluded population.

While justifying the reforms undertaken by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Vice President said the reforms are inevitable given the state of the economy at the onset of the administration in 2023.

For her part, Queen Maxima, who also doubles as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health, acknowledged and commended the strong growth recorded by the Nigerian economy under the current administration.

She acknowledged some of the efforts of the administration in boosting financial inclusion, pledging the support of the government of Netherlands to improve financial health for Nigerians by sharing experience and expertise in insurance, credit guarantee and data generation, among others.

The Queen added that the financial health programme, as advocated by her government, was aimed at increasing the resilience of citizens, protecting their investments, and boosting insurance schemes for the people.

She emphasised the need for stakeholders in the private sector to regard the financial health of their customers as critical determinants to the company’s future and progress as well as begin to prioritise it.

On what the Tinubu administration has done to improve the fiscal space, the Minister of Finance, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has earlier said in addition to existing policies on insurance and pensions, the recent announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would boost access to and cost of credit in Nigeria.

He added that financial inclusion is vigorously being pursued by the Tinubu administration to help poor Nigerians succeed and live better lives.