Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Amb. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has emerged President of the 74th UN General Assembly.

Muhammad-Bande, the sole candidate for the position, was elected through acclamation at the 87th plenary meeting of the Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

He is the second Nigerian to hold the office after Joseph Garba, a retired military officer and diplomat, who led the organ between 1989 and 1990.

He will be inaugurated in September.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Sunday, June 2 sent a Federal Government delegation to support Prof. Tijjani Muhammad- Bande

The President had also in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja, quoted Buhari as saying, “Nigeria hopes to build on progress made under Ecuador’s Presidency of the 73rd Assembly led by María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, and further promote key themes that championed on the global stage since 2015, which include climate change, combating terrorism and violent extremism, and establishing functional anti-corruption mechanisms to assist countries like Nigeria recover and repatriate stolen funds.”

(NAN)