By Ayomide Otitoju
Vice President Kashim Shettima met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in New York on Friday to advance Nigeria’s global aspirations during the ongoing 80th UN General Assembly (UNGA80).
The talks, held at UN headquarters, focused on Nigeria’s bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council, as well as cooperation on climate change, artificial intelligence, and sustainable development.
Shettima pressed Nigeria’s case for permanent membership, urging the UN to “support Nigeria even more so that we achieve more.” Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar said Guterres commended Nigeria’s determination to secure a Council seat.
Discussions also touched on strengthening democracy in Africa, accelerating the Sustainable Development Goals, and deepening collaboration with the UN Development Programme.
Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, revealed that Guterres lauded Nigeria’s progress in artificial intelligence, particularly its new multilingual and multimodal large language model. He encouraged Nigeria to assist other African countries in AI adoption to ensure the continent shares in the benefits.
Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, Yusuf Tanko Sununu, outlined government efforts to reduce poverty, noting that 18.9 million households are on the national social register and 8.1 million Nigerians have benefited from conditional cash transfers. He said UN funding cuts had affected humanitarian programs, but Nigeria was working to bridge the gap. According to him, Guterres pledged continued UN support to bolster Nigeria’s humanitarian capacity and funding access.
Strengthening Partnerships
Earlier, Shettima held talks with UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, where both sides agreed to deepen cooperation in trade, defence, and migration.
He also addressed the Global Leadership Council at UNICEF headquarters, highlighting Nigeria’s digital economy agenda and affirming the government’s focus on youth and women’s empowerment. “We are poised to take opportunities in the digital space to engage youth and empower women,” Shettima said.
At the UN General Assembly, President Bola Tinubu, represented by Shettima, reiterated Nigeria’s call for sweeping UN reforms, warning that the organisation risked irrelevance if it failed to adapt to global realities.
Tinubu condemned ongoing conflicts and humanitarian crises as “stains on our collective humanity,” while presenting Nigeria’s economic transformation as a potential model for other developing nations.
