Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged sweeping reforms to the United Nations system, pressing for a permanent seat for Nigeria on the Security Council, while also backing a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and demanding fairer rights over Africa’s mineral wealth.
Speaking on behalf of President Bola Tinubu at the 80th UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Shettima stated that the Security Council can only regain credibility if it reflects the realities of today, not those of 1945.
“When the UN was founded, we were a colony of 20 million people, absent from the tables where decisions about our fate were taken," he told delegates.
"Today, we are a sovereign nation of 236 million people, projected to be the third most populous country in the world, a stabilising force in regional security, and a consistent partner in global peacemaking.
“Our case for a permanent seat at the Security Council is a demand for fairness, for representation, and for reform.”
Turning to the Middle East, Shettima condemned violence against civilians in Gaza and said peace can only come through recognition of Palestinian statehood alongside Israel.
“A two-state solution remains the most dignified path to lasting peace for the people of Palestine,” he said.
“The people of Palestine are not collateral damage in a civilisation searching for order. They are human beings, equal in worth, entitled to the same freedoms and dignities that the rest of us take for granted.”
The vice president also urged the Assembly to address the long-standing instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo, linking it to the exploitation of critical minerals.
He warned that exporting raw materials without local value addition fuels conflict and inequality.
“Africa, and I must include Nigeria, has in abundance the critical minerals that will drive the technologies of the future,” Shettima said.
“But when we export raw materials as we have been doing, tension, inequality, and instability fester. Communities that produce strategic minerals must benefit in terms of investment, partnership, local processing, and jobs.”
Shettima’s remarks placed Nigeria firmly within calls for multilateral reform, economic fairness, and conflict resolution.
