Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has met with the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, at the UN headquarters in New York to advance Nigeria’s quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and strengthen global partnerships.
During the high-level talks, Shettima underscored Nigeria’s growing leadership role on the continent and urged the UN to “support Nigeria to achieve more,” reaffirming the country’s aspiration to join the permanent members of the Security Council.
The discussions also focused on collaborative strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), tackle climate change, strengthen democratic governance across Africa, and deepen Nigeria’s partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on regional democracy and security initiatives.
Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar said the meeting reinforced the UN’s long-standing presence in Nigeria, where several agencies already operate. He added that Guterres acknowledged Shettima’s emphasis on Nigeria’s push for a permanent Council seat.
Providing further insight, Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, revealed that Guterres commended Nigeria’s strides in artificial intelligence (AI). He noted that Nigeria recently launched its first multilingual and multimodal large language model—the first of its kind in Africa backed by any government.
“Even as we were leaving, he (Guterres) mentioned that he would love to see Nigeria support other African countries so Africa is not left behind in AI,” Tijani disclosed.
Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, also highlighted Nigeria’s presentation on its poverty alleviation programmes. He noted that the government is addressing humanitarian challenges through initiatives like the national social register, which contains data on 18.9 million households, and conditional cash transfers that have reached over 8.1 million Nigerians.
He added that inclusivity for persons with disabilities was also a key priority in the discussions.
Earlier, Vice President Shettima held a bilateral meeting with the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy MP, where both countries pledged to deepen cooperation in trade, economy, defence, and migration.
Shettima later joined world leaders at the Global Leadership Council Meeting, held at UNICEF Headquarters in New York. The gathering brought together heads of state, CEOs, UN agency leaders, civil society actors, and youth representatives to co-create innovative global solutions.
At the event, Shettima reaffirmed that Nigeria is committed to leveraging the digital economy to empower youth, women, and girls while positioning itself as a continental leader in technology and innovation.
