Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged the United Nations to support Nigeria’s aspiration for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Shettima made the call during a meeting with the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, at the UN headquarters in New York, United States.

“We are aspiring to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” the Vice President said, stressing that the UN must “support Nigeria to achieve more.”

According to a statement from the Nigerian delegation, discussions also touched on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change, democracy, and regional security partnerships.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, noted that the UN has a strong presence in Nigeria, with several agencies domiciled in the country.

He disclosed that Guterres commended Shettima’s push for Nigeria’s inclusion on the Security Council.

Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, said the delegation had a cordial exchange with Guterres, who praised Nigeria’s recent launch of its first multilingual and multimodal large language model.

“He was extremely happy when we mentioned that Nigeria… released our first multilingual and multimodal large language model—the first of its kind on the African continent, backed by any government,” Tijani said.

He added that Guterres encouraged Nigeria to support other African nations to leverage artificial intelligence for development.

We Have Reached Over 8.1 Million Nigerians Through Conditional Cash Transfers

On his part, Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Yusuf Tanko Sununu, stressed that the meeting highlighted Nigeria’s humanitarian efforts under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“We highlighted that we have one of the largest national social registers containing almost 18.9 million households, and we have reached over 8.1 million Nigerians through conditional cash transfers,” Sununu explained.

He added that inclusivity for persons with disabilities was also a major point of emphasis.

Earlier, Shettima held bilateral talks with UK Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, where both sides pledged to deepen cooperation in trade, economy, defence, and migration.

On the same day, Shettima participated in the Global Leadership Council Meeting at UNICEF Headquarters, New York, where he reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to harnessing opportunities in the digital space to empower youths, women, and girls.

The event gathered Heads of State, UN agency chiefs, CEOs, civil society leaders, and young innovators to chart innovative global solutions.