Vice President Kashim Shettima has met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today at the UN Headquarters during the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA80).
The meeting focused on Nigeria’s quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and strengthening collaboration across multiple sectors.
Shettima stressed the need for greater support from the global body, stating that the UN must “support Nigeria even more so that we achieve more,” particularly as the nation “is aspiring to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
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The leaders also engaged in bilateral discussions on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), addressing climate change, and partnering with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on regional initiatives for democracy and security.
Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, noted that the meeting with Guterres was very cordial.
He highlighted the Secretary-General’s praise for Nigeria’s recent technological milestone.
“He was extremely happy when we mentioned that Nigeria, just a few days ago, released our first multilingual and multimodal large language model—the first of its kind on the African continent, backed by any government,” Tijani disclosed.
He added that Guterres encouraged Nigeria to support other African countries to leverage artificial intelligence for development.
Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Yusuf Sununu, provided insight into the government’s efforts to tackle humanitarian crises.
He informed Guterres that the administration maintains one of the largest National Social Registers, comprising almost 18.9 million households, and has reached over 8.1 million Nigerians through conditional cash transfers.
Sununu also raised concerns about funding reductions to UN organisations, which have impacted aid like the World Food Programme’s support for approximately 1.3 million Nigerians.
The Minister confirmed that the Federal Government is working “earnestly to fill the gap” and received assurances from the Secretary-General of continued UN support for capacity building and poverty reduction initiatives.
Earlier in the day, Shettima held a separate bilateral meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Lammy MP.
The two nations pledged to strengthen cooperation in key areas, including trade, economy, defence, and migration.
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Additionally, he attended the Global Leadership Council Meeting at UNICEF Headquarters, where he affirmed that inclusivity is a cornerstone of Tinubu’s agenda.
He vowed that Nigeria is “poised to take opportunities in the digital space to engage our youth and, most importantly, to empower our women because they are the backbone of our society.”
