Nigeria is set to renew its campaign for permanent representation on the United Nations Security Council as Vice-President Kashim Shettima leads the country’s engagements at the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Shettima, who is representing President Bola Tinubu at the General Assembly, is expected to use a series of high-level meetings and forums to advance Nigeria’s position on reforming the UN system, securing stronger development outcomes for developing countries and attracting greater international investment into the country.
The priorities were outlined after Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, briefed the Vice-President on the country’s agenda and strategic engagements for the UNGA high-level week.
According to Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Office of the Vice-President, the delegation would build on positions Nigeria had advanced during previous UN engagements, particularly its advocacy for reforms capable of making multilateral institutions more representative and responsive to developing countries.
He said Shettima would convey President Tinubu’s positions across several high-level forums during the General Assembly.
“The Vice-President will, at all the forums, present President Tinubu’s message across different sectors, including Nigeria’s push for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council”, Nkwocha stated.
Nigeria’s renewed campaign for a permanent seat on the Security Council comes against the backdrop of long-standing calls by African countries for the restructuring of the UN’s most powerful decision-making body.
The 15-member Security Council currently has five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), all of which possess veto powers. The remaining 10 members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms.
Africa, despite having 54 UN member states and being a major focus of the council’s peace and security agenda, does not have a permanent seat.
Nigeria has consistently supported the African Union’s position that the continent’s historical exclusion from permanent membership is no longer consistent with contemporary geopolitical realities.
The broader African campaign seeks permanent representation for the continent on the Security Council as part of a wider reform of the UN system. The question of whether and how African representation should be structured remains part of the continuing intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform.
The issue is receiving renewed attention at the current UNGA after Secretary-General Guterres again backed permanent African representation.
Speaking at the fifth annual Global Africa Business Initiative, known as “Unstoppable Africa”, in New York, Guterres said Africa needed permanent seats on the Security Council to enable the continent to contribute more fully to global peace, dialogue and decision-making.
The UN chief has repeatedly argued that the composition of global institutions should reflect present-day realities rather than the power structures that existed when many of the institutions were established.
Earlier this year, Guterres described the absence of permanent African seats on the Security Council as “indefensible”, stressing that the world had changed significantly since the establishment of the UN in 1945.
The renewed Nigerian campaign also coincides with Guterres’ call for a fundamental change in the way Africa’s natural resources, particularly critical minerals, are exploited.
At the Unstoppable Africa gathering, the UN Secretary-General called for an end to the export of African minerals primarily as raw materials, arguing that the continent should retain more of the economic value generated from its resources.
He said Africa’s vast natural wealth should create jobs, skills, industries and broader economic opportunities for Africans instead of being extracted and processed elsewhere.
Guterres also called for reforms to the international financial architecture, arguing that global financial institutions need to become more responsive to developing countries, particularly those in Africa.
The UN chief linked the resource question to Africa’s growing economic importance, pointing to the continent’s large mineral reserves, expanding workforce, renewable-energy potential, technology sector and growing consumer market.
He cited developments in several African countries, including renewable-energy expansion in Kenya, drone technology in Rwanda and advances in artificial intelligence in Tunisia, as evidence of the continent’s expanding economic and technological capabilities.
Guterres said Africa’s economy grew by 4.4 per cent last year despite conflicts and turbulence in the global economy, while trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area was on course to reach about $230 billion in 2026.
He nevertheless warned that global conflicts, unpredictable tariffs and competition for critical minerals were disrupting food, fertiliser, fuel and other supply chains.
