Koko Maxwella 
Vice President Kashim Shettima delivering Tinubu’s statement at UNGA 80
ABUJA, Nigeria – President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has renewed Nigeria’s demand for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, insisting that the global body must reflect “the world as it is, not as it was.”
Delivering Nigeria’s national statement at the 80th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Wednesday through Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tinubu outlined four priorities: securing a permanent seat for Nigeria, promoting sovereign debt relief, ensuring mineral-rich nations benefit fairly from resources, and closing the global digital divide.
The UN Security Council currently has five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — none representing Africa.
Tinubu stressed that Nigeria’s size, population, and peacekeeping record justify its inclusion. “When the UN was founded, we were a colony of 20 million people, absent from the tables where decisions about our fate were taken. Today, we are a sovereign nation of over 236 million, projected to become the world’s third most populous country,” he said.
Calling Nigeria “a stabilising force in regional security and a consistent partner in global peacekeeping,” Tinubu argued that permanent representation would ensure fairness, credibility, and inclusivity at the UN. He backed the UN80 reform initiative, adopted in July 2025, as a “bold step” toward efficiency and relevance.
The President also urged urgent debt relief and reforms to the global financial system, calling for a “binding mechanism” to manage sovereign debt. He pressed the UN to invest in education, housing, technology, and climate resilience, warning that without equity, peace cannot be sustained.
On global conflicts, Tinubu reaffirmed Nigeria’s support for a two-state solution in the Israel–Palestine crisis, describing it as “the most dignified path for both peoples.”
He concluded that “values and ideas, not just military might, deliver the ultimate victory.”
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