Nigeria Renews Push for Permanent UN Security Council Seat, Calls for Debt Relief, Digital Inclusion
Nigeria Renews Push for Permanent UN Security Council Seat, Calls for Debt Relief, Digital Inclusion
Nigeria has renewed its demand for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), arguing that the country’s growing population, economic potential, and peacekeeping record make it a natural candidate for greater representation in the global body.
In a speech delivered at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Nigerian leader outlined four key priorities for global reform: securing a permanent UNSC seat for Nigeria, urgent sovereign debt relief and access to trade financing, ensuring mineral-rich countries benefit from their resources, and bridging the digital divide.
“Nigeria must have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. The United Nations will only recover its relevance when it reflects the world as it is, not as it was,” he said, stressing that the country’s trajectory demonstrates the urgent need for reform.
“When the UN was founded, we were a colony of 20 million people, absent from the table where decisions about our fate were made.
Today, we are a sovereign nation of 236 million people soon to be the third most populous in the world with one of the youngest and most dynamic populations on Earth.
Nigeria is a stabilising force in regional security and a consistent partner in global peacemaking,” he added.
On the global financial system, Nigeria pressed for urgent measures to ease the debt burdens of developing nations while ensuring fairer access to trade and financing opportunities.
The country also called for reforms in resource management, insisting that nations endowed with minerals must directly benefit from their natural wealth.
Addressing technology and innovation, the Nigerian leader warned against widening inequalities, demanding stronger efforts to close the digital divide.
“As our Prime Secretary General has said, AI must stand for Africa Included,” he declared.
Nigeria also endorsed the UN80 initiative spearheaded by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and backed by a UNGA resolution adopted on July 18, 2025. The initiative seeks to overhaul the UN system for greater efficiency, effectiveness, and relevance in tackling 21st-century challenges.
“We support the drive to rationalise structures and end duplication of responsibilities and programmes, so that this institution may speak with one voice and act with greater coherence,” the Nigerian leader stated.
With Africa’s largest population and economy, Nigeria has long campaigned for a permanent UNSC seat. Its latest call comes amid growing global pressure to reform multilateral institutions to reflect shifting power dynamics and the rise of emerging economies.
