Vice President Kashim Shettima on Thursday met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres at UN Headquarters in New York to advance Nigeria’s diplomatic and development agenda, including its longstanding quest for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Gatekeepers News reports that Shettima reaffirmed Nigeria’s readiness to shoulder greater global responsibilities and called for stronger UN support. The discussions also touched on climate change, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), strengthening democracy in Africa, and expanding collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar, who briefed reporters after the meeting, said Guterres “acknowledged Nigeria’s leadership role and welcomed its Security Council ambitions.”
Technology and innovation were also on the agenda. According to Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Minister ‘Bosun Tijani, Guterres praised Nigeria’s launch of Africa’s first government-backed multilingual, multimodal large language model, urging the country to help other African states leverage artificial intelligence for inclusive growth.
On humanitarian issues, Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, said the talks highlighted challenges from declining donor funding, including World Food Programme cuts affecting 1.3 million Nigerians. He noted that Nigeria’s social register now includes nearly 18.9 million households, with 8.1 million people benefitting from conditional cash transfers. Sununu added that the UN pledged support to strengthen national interventions.
Earlier, Shettima held bilateral talks with UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, where both sides agreed to deepen cooperation on trade, defence, migration, and the economy.
The Vice President also addressed the Global Leadership Council Meeting at UNICEF Headquarters, emphasizing Nigeria’s focus on digital innovation, youth empowerment, and women’s inclusion.
“Be assured that we are poised to take opportunities in the digital space to engage our youth and, most importantly, empower our women because they are the backbone of our society,” Shettima said, stressing that inclusivity remains central to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
