Sept. 20, 2021

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amb. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has advised the new President of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid to focus on the prosperity of Member States.

Muhammad-Bande told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that the new President of the Assembly should understand the concerns and fears of all Member States and find a middle ground to address their fears.

The 76th session of the General Assembly opened on Tuesday, Sept. 14, with the inauguration of Shahid from Maldives, who took over from President of the 75th session, Volkan Bozkir of Turkey.

“The new President should also deal with prosperity of Member States so that some countries that are lagging behind can meet their goals: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Year 2030 is the target but not many countries will be able to meet the SDGs. We appreciate the difficulties in meeting the goals, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Nevertheless, there is a lot of efforts to push that substantial achievements are recorded by all countries,’’ he said.

“Each of them has a different history and different tradition and each of which, by joining the body, has signalled their intentions of solving their problems.

“It is important to listen attentively to members and try to find a middle ground as much as possible to carry members along,’’ he said.

Muhammad-Bande noted hat capacities of member States are different because what might bean urgent issue for some countries would have been passed long time ago for others.

“The UNGA President should use whatever instrument within the system to help those countries address their fears because a world that everybody feels comfortable and is not driven by fears is a far safer one. (NAN)