Vice President Kashim Shettima has declared that Africa’s continued exclusion from permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council weakens the fairness and legitimacy of the global governance system, as Nigeria reaffirmed its support for urgent UN reform on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York.
Shettima made the remarks during a meeting with United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Hajiya Amina Mohammed, where he restated Nigeria’s commitment to remaining a dependable partner in efforts to rebuild trust among nations, defend international law, and confront hunger, violence and exclusion around the world.
The Vice President commended UN Secretary-General António Guterres for his consistent advocacy for a more representative Security Council, particularly his description of a 21st century Council without permanent African representation as unjust and indefensible.
“A continent cannot be summoned to bear the burdens of the international order and then denied an equal hand in directing it,” the Vice President said.
Shettima, in a statement on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, maintained that Nigeria would continue to back reforms aimed at making international institutions more representative, responsive and credible, insisting that global decisions must better reflect today’s geopolitical and demographic realities.
He also praised Guterres for defending international law and human dignity amid widening global conflicts and rising geopolitical tensions, describing the Secretary-General as a voice of reason at a time when individual states are drifting from the obligations they assumed under the UN Charter and the rules of international law.
“You have insisted that sovereignty carries duties, that might confer no licence to injure, and that the worth of a human life cannot vary with the flag above it,” he told Guterres.
The Vice President warned that diplomacy must never lose sight of the human toll of war and instability, noting that the mother searching for her child, the family driven from home, and the hungry child awaiting food must never become abstractions in the language of states.
Shettima also commended Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed for her contributions to multilateral diplomacy and sustainable development, describing her service at the UN as a source of pride to Nigeria.
“Nigeria will remain a willing ally in the work of restoring trust among nations and dignity to lives diminished by hunger, violence and exclusion. We owe our children a world in which conscience has authority and the law has meaning,” he said.
He added that the credibility of the international system would ultimately hinge on its ability to respond fairly to human suffering and give every region a meaningful voice in global decision making, stressing that civilisation endures only when the suffering of a stranger becomes a claim on the world’s conscience.
Responding, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed expressed profound gratitude to Nigeria and the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for their support to the United Nations as an institution and to her office as deputy scribe of the global body.
“It’s a deep honour to have your esteemed delegation here to come and surprise me. I am truly honoured and grateful,” she said. “I want to thank, through you, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and you for embracing me wholeheartedly not just as the DSG but as a daughter of the soil. He has been an incredible support to me, and he has also supported this institution.”
The Vice President was accompanied on the visit by Governors Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, Hyacinth Alia of Benue, Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers, and Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, along with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, among other senior officials.
