By Cecilia Ologunagba
Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Amb. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has urged the Nigeria’s delegation at the ongoing 78th session of UN General to work for good of the county and vision of the session.
The correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 78th session of the UN General Assembly opened on Sept. 6, with the inauguration of a new President, Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago.
Muhammad-Bande told NAN in New York that Nigeria, an important member of the global body, deserved that respect, noting that the delegation should work to continue to justify this trust.
The envoy urged the delegation to work effectively for the good of the country and shun any form of distraction.
He said the Nigerian delegation had always made its stand known on the issues discussed at the gathering.
“We are effective, we are very clear as to where we stand on global issues and all actions relating to the 78th session must work within that vision.
“We negotiate; we go into agreement or disagreement on the basis of that parameter,’’ Muhammad-Bande said.
Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu will arrive New York on Sunday for the high-level meetings to join other world leaders to contribute to ddiscussions on global peace, development and justice.
High-level political forum on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit will hold on Monday Sept. 18, while the high level General Debate will hold from Tuesday, Sept. 19 to Friday, Sept. 29.
President Tinubu will address the Assembly on Tuesday, Sept 19.
He further told NAN that Tinubu would lead the Nigerian delegation to participate at the highest-level mandated events and the key events at the gathering.
In addition, he said that the President would also be attending some bilateral meetings as collated by the mission.
According to him, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will be attending some meetings.
“Obviously, some will clash but the position of Nigeria is to take bilateral when it can.
“We will take bilateral whenever we can because it’s an opportunity to strengthen our relationships financially culturally, economically, even legally, for both countries, and globally.
“For instance, we got new requests when the President was in India for G20 summit.
“Some countries will want to also interact with the new president, that is natural but throughout, Nigeria is an important country.
“Nigeria is an important country because we have a lot to give to the world.
“We have a lot to learn from the world and there is a lot of expectations from Nigeria as a very important country,’’ the envoy said.
He, however, expressed dissatisfaction over some stories reported by a session of the media, describing Nigeria as inconsequential, saying the country was significant, in spite of its challenges.
According to him, no country is free from challenges.
“Nigeria is working hard to address its challenges, especially challenges caused by COVID-19 pandemic,” he declared.
He said Nigeria, along the global community living in Post- COVID era, had not fully recovered from it and that a lot of people didn’t understand this fact.
“For instance, the supply chain, people just used to think is a small matter, but it has affected the global community and it still affects even a strong country such as the U.S.
“Although, the U.S. is in a better position than many countries to address some of these things because they have a stronger economy.
“I think the future is brighter; two years ago, we could not have UNGA because of COVID-19, but we are emerging out of it,’’ he said.
The theme of the General Assembly, including the general debate, will be rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity, accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all. (NAN)
