Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Nigeria finds respect

While the news was full of stories about Saudi Arabia turning down a chance to fill a seat on the UN Security Council, Nigeria was anxious to accept a seat and claim the international recognition and respect that Nigerians wanted.

Nigeria Elected to UN Security Council

After months of canvassing for Nigeria’s inclusion in the United Nations Security Council, the country, Thursday, finally got elected to occupy one of the non-permanent seats on the council…

Hailing Nigeria’s inclusion as a Security Council member, President Goodluck Jonathan welcomed the development and conveyed Nigeria’s appreciation of the support of all member countries of the UN who voted for the country’s election…

Security Council seats are highly coveted because they give countries a strong voice in matters dealing with international peace and security in places like Syria, Iran, North Korea as well as the UN’s far-flung peacekeeping operations.

The 15-member council includes five permanent members with veto power – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France – and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms…

President Jonathan

A statement issued by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said… “The president believes that today’s endorsement of Nigeria’s candidature for the Security Council seat by the vast majority of member-countries is a glowing expression of support and encouragement for Nigeria’s active participation in the promotion of peace, security and political stability in Africa and other parts of the world.

“This is the fourth time since it became independent in 1960 that Nigeria is being elected to the UN Security Council. It is also the second time (2010-2011 and 2014-2015) that Nigeria will be elected to the Council under the Jonathan presidency…

Also the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described Nigeria’s election as an unprecedented feat and a testament to the achievements of the Jonathan-led PDP administration.

The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said the development had clearly shown that the world recognises the efforts of the present administration in repositioning our country through the president’s transformation agenda…