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After 30-years, Nigeria set to produce next UNGA president
Nigeria is set to produce the president of the United Nations General Assembly after a three decades, Daily Trust reports.
Joseph Nanven Garba, had in 1989 presided over the UNGA, the last time the position was held by a Nigerian.
Professor Tijjani Muhammad Bande is expected to emerge the next President of the UNGA should he be elected, the present UNGA president Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcè, hinted during an official visit to Nigeria.
Bande is currently the permanent representative of Nigeria to UN.
She said: “Looking forward to a transition, good and smooth transition to the incoming president of the General Assembly, a Nigerian diplomat and professor that is really putting the name of Nigeria very higher.
“I’m looking forward to continue with this very smooth and organize transition to the next presidency.”
Garcès who is from Ecuador, assumed the presidency of the UNGA in September 2018.
The office of the UNGA changes every year between the five geographic groups: African, Asian, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European.
If elected Bande would become the second Nigerian to presides over the assembly which was established in 1946.
In his reaction, the minister of foreign affairs Geoffrey Onyeama hopefully the outgoing UNGA president will be handing over to Professor Bande.
Onyeama said: “The president of UN General Assembly will hopefully be handing over as President of the General Assembly to a Nigerian.”
“So, Nigeria will assume the presidency hopefully in a few months time, in the person of Nigeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), Professor Tijjani Bande,”the minister said.
Bande, a former director-general of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, Plateau state was born in Kebbi State in 1957.
He holds M.A in Political Science from the Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA in 1981 and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1987.
He was the Vice-Chancellor Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, between 2004 and 2009.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Espinosa arrived Abuja on Monday, May 6, on a working visit to Nigeria, stating that addressing the challenges in Africa was a priority of the UN.
Espinosa said that Africa was at the forefront of global development and her visit to the region for the second time as 73rd president of the UNGA indicates the interest of the UN in Africa.
She said that in the course of her visit, she would be meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Women and Social Development to discuss strengthening bilateral ties.