Shettima Reiterates Calls For UN Reform

Vice President Kashim Shettima has called for urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council, saying Africa’s continued exclusion from permanent membership weakens the fairness and credibility of the global governance system.

Shettima made the remarks during a meeting with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Vice President said Nigeria would continue to support efforts to make international institutions more representative, responsive and reflective of today’s geopolitical realities.

He praised UN Secretary-General António Guterres for supporting greater African representation on the Security Council, referencing Guterres’ 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,” Shettima said.

He argued that decisions affecting global peace and security must include voices from regions that carry much of the responsibility for addressing international challenges.

The Vice President also commended Guterres for defending international law and human dignity during periods of conflict and instability.

“You have remained a voice of reason as individual states drift from the obligations they assumed under the United Nations Charter and the rules of international law,” Shettima said.

He added that diplomacy must continue to recognise the human impact of conflicts, saying, “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 expressed Nigeria’s commitment to rebuilding trust among nations and addressing issues affecting vulnerable communities.

“Nigeria will remain a willing ally in the work of restoring trust among nations and dignity to lives diminished by hunger, violence and exclusion,” he said.

During the meeting, Amina Mohammed thanked Nigeria and President Bola Tinubu’s administration for their support to the United Nations and her role as deputy secretary-general.

“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,” Mohammed said.

She described Nigeria’s support for the UN as significant to the organisation’s work.

Shettima was accompanied by several state governors, including Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara, Hyacinth Alia of Benue, Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers and Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, alongside Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jimoh Ibrahim.