UNGA 80: Shettima Meets UN Chief On Security Council Seat Bid, SDGs

Vice President Kashim Shettima met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN headquarters in the United States to discuss key issues including Nigeria’s quest for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and other matters of mutual interest.

In a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, Vice President Shettima emphasised the need for the UN to support Nigeria’s aspiration to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

The two leaders also held bilateral discussions focusing on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change, collaboration on strengthening democracy in Nigeria and the African region as well as partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on regional initiatives for democracy and security.

Speaking about the visit to the United Nations, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar disclosed that the UN has a very strong presence in Nigeria, with many of its agencies domiciled in the country.

Tuggar told journalists that the UN Secretary-General commended the Vice President after the meeting for emphasising Nigeria’s need for a permanent position on the UN Security Council.

Providing insight into the VP-UN Secretary-General meeting, Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, Dr ‘Bosun Tijani said the Nigerian delegation had a very cordial engagement with the UN Secretary-General.

Tijani highlighted Guterres’ comments on artificial intelligence and his expectation that Nigeria will continue to play a significant role in that 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,” he disclosed.

Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, stressed that the Nigerian government had fruitful discussions with the United Nations Secretary-General, highlighting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s efforts in addressing humanitarian crises and poverty reduction.

“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,” the minister added.

Furthermore, he stated that both parties shared ideas on durable solutions to address ongoing challenges.

Sununu added that the humanitarian ministry was affected by funding reductions to UN organisations, noting that the World Food Programme (WFP) currently supports about 1.3 million Nigerians receiving emergency food transfers.

The minister stressed that the federal government was working earnestly to “fill the gap.”

He disclosed that the UN Secretary-General assured Nigeria of continued support to improve the ministry’s capacity, authenticate its national social register, and secure more funding for intervention and poverty reduction activities.

Earlier in the day, the Vice President held a bilateral meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Lammy MP.

The UK and Nigerian leaders pledged to deepen cooperation in trade, economy, defence, and migration.