World leaders will converge on New York, United States, for the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 8 September. Debates will last for five days, beginning on 22 September, on shared global concerns or goals. This would be the last for the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, whose two-term tenure expires in December.
It would, therefore, be a cherished moment for global diplomacy as the august assembly selects Mr Guterres’ successor, and seeks solutions to global challenges and pathways to confront the series of existential threats facing the United Nations itself.
Nigeria will be among the 150 member-nations attending, with its own agenda.
Vice President Kashim Shettima represented President Bola Tinubu at the 2025 UNGA, when Nigeria canvassed UN reforms in sync with the new world order, especially Africa’s inclusion in the Security Council’s permanent membership. The country’s programme of action on global climate change, projection as an investment hub in rare earth minerals, and its $200 billion energy transition plan were espoused.
Previous such international engagements had been jamborees of sorts for government officials, for which they incurred the ire of the public. Nigeria, for instance, had one of the largest contingents to the COP28 climate conference in Dubai in 2023, with 1,411 delegates. Spouses and children of senior government officials, including President Tinubu’s son, attended. Also, government agencies that had no business being there were present. In a pushback, the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, disclosed that only 422 out of the 1,411 delegates were sponsored by the government. Even that figure was unreasonably high.
