At the United Nations, Vice-President Kashim Shettima advanced a more forceful Nigerian case for affordable capital, technology transfer and a stronger African voice in global affairs. Anule Emmanuel writes that, the real measure of success will be whether President Bola Tinubu’s government can translate New York’s high diplomacy into investment, jobs and tangible economic gains at home.
Vice President Kashim Shettima arrived in New York, United States, on Monday, September 21, carrying a familiar Nigerian brief to the United Nations: Africa’s most populous country wants the global order to work differently.
Nigeria’s message at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, (UNGA 81), went beyond the usual appeal for development assistance. The national statement eloquently delivered by Shettima projected a broader argument: investment rather than dependence; technology rather than limited transfers; climate finance rather than moral lectures; and a greater African role in the international institutions whose decisions shape global security, debt, trade and development.
President Bola Tinubu, who mandated Vice President Shettima to lead Nigeria’s delegation, used the annual gathering of the world leaders to advance a diplomatic line increasingly associated with his administration: Nigeria will remain committed to multilateralism, but it expects multilateral institutions to become more representative of contemporary economic and demographic realities.
“Our message in New York was clear. Nigeria believes in multilateralism, but the institutions that govern our world must become more representative, equitable, and responsive to the realities of today,” Shettima said on arrival in New York.
Such a formulation places Nigeria within a wider African and Global South argument. The world’s rules were substantially designed after the Second World War, when many African, Asian and Latin American States were still colonies or peripheral actors in world affairs.
Eight decades later, developing countries have larger populations, more complex economies and greater exposure to shocks generated elsewhere – from interest-rate decisions in Washington to conflicts that disrupt food, energy and shipping markets.
Yet, their influence within the United Nations Security Council, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other major institutions remains disproportionately limited.
For Nigeria, this imbalance is no longer simply a matter of diplomatic prestige. It has consequences for jobs, debt, energy access, food prices, industrialisation and national security.
Nigeria’s national statement was delivered by Vice President Shettima during the general debate of the UNGA -81 on Thursday, September 24. The theme of this year’s Assembly was: “Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all.”
The Vice President was accompanied to the session by a high-level delegation including Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, Governor of Kwara State AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq, Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, Professor Babagana Zulum- Governor of Borno State, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bianca Ojukwu, Minister of State for Budget and Economic Planning Dr. Doris Anite Uzoka, and other senior government officials. The presence of Governors alongside federal officials reinforced the practical nature of Nigeria’s UN diplomacy.
The country’s development needs are not abstract.States require investment in roads, housing, water systems, schools, health services, digital infrastructure and employment-generating industries.
Nigeria’s mineral-producing regions need capital and processing technology. The nation’s coastal and oil-producing areas face environmental risks. Northern States confront insecurity, climate stress and an acute need for agricultural investment.
Nigeria’s position as articulated during the global event, is that these challenges cannot be effectively addressed through humanitarian relief alone.
For decades, the language of Africa’s engagement with richer nations has often revolved around aid, debt relief and emergency assistance. Those tools remain important, especially where conflict, displacement, disease outbreaks or natural disasters demand rapid intervention.
But Shettima argued that aid cannot substitute for productive investment. Nigeria’s central economic challenge is not merely a shortage of goodwill from abroad. It is the difficulty of mobilising capital on terms that enable African countries to build infrastructure, expand manufacturing, process raw materials, develop renewable energy and create jobs for rapidly growing populations.
Nigeria possesses the market size, natural resources and entrepreneurial energy that investors often seek. The country also faces some of the continent’s most difficult constraints: unreliable electricity supply, high logistics costs, currency volatility, insecurity, weak industrial capacity and an expensive borrowing environment.
The cost of capital lies at the heart of the argument. Wealthier countries can often borrow more cheaply and deploy public financing to support their industries, energy transitions and infrastructure.
African governments, by contrast, frequently face higher interest rates because of perceived risk, even where their economic fundamentals may not justify such premiums.
That disparity matters at a time when many developing countries are being asked to finance climate adaptation, protect forests, transition to cleaner energy and provide social services while meeting debt obligations.
In his address, Shettima echoed Nigeria’s position that the international financial system should not penalise countries for trying to develop. The Tinubu administration’s economic diplomacy continues to aim at securing not merely funding, but better funding: long-term capital, lower-cost financing, risk guarantees, investment partnerships and financing structures capable of drawing private capital into sectors where public resources alone cannot meet the scale of need.
Such an approach at the global scene fits President Tinubu’s domestic economic agenda, which has emphasised attracting investment, rebuilding confidence in the economy, and broadening Nigeria’s productive base.
The government’s challenge is to translate diplomatic statements into tangible transactions that Nigerians can see in factories, power projects, technology hubs, mines, farms and transport corridors.
Technology access also featured prominently in Nigeria’s UN engagement. In the 21st century, the divide between wealthy and developing countries is increasingly defined not only by income, but also by access to advanced technologies, data infrastructure, research capacity, and skilled human capital.
Nigeria’s youthful population gives it an advantage in the global digital economy. The nation’s technology sector has produced successful payments platforms, financial-technology firms, software developers and creative businesses.
However, the country still faces significant gaps in broadband coverage, computing capacity, technical education, electricity supply and research investment.
For a country of Nigeria’s size, the question is no longer whether technology will shape society. It is whether Nigeria will simply consume technologies designed elsewhere or participate meaningfully in building, adapting and regulating them.
That distinction extends to Artificial Intelligence (AI), financial technology, health innovation, agricultural systems, digital identification, satellite services and clean-energy solutions.
It also applies to more traditional industrial technologies needed to process minerals, raise agricultural yields, reduce post-harvest losses and manufacture goods that are currently imported. Technology transfer, a phrase that can sound bureaucratic in diplomatic communiqués, is ultimately about economic power. Countries that design advanced systems tend to capture the higher-value segments of global supply chains.
Vice President Shettima therefore sought partnerships that go beyond ceremonial memoranda of understanding. Nigeria needs access to knowledge, equipment, financing and market connections. It also needs arrangements that build domestic capacity rather than leaving local firms and institutions dependent on foreign suppliers.
The country’s push for a fairer global economic structure at UNGA-81 is therefore closely linked to its ambition to industrialise. The government under President Tinubu wants to move from exporting crude oil and unprocessed minerals towards producing more refined petroleum products, processed agricultural goods, manufactured materials and digital services.
Another theme of Nigeria’s national statement was that global responsibility must be matched by global fairness. “We reject the false choice between development and climate action,” Shettima told the world leaders.
Nigeria, like other African countries, is highly exposed to climate-related risks despite contributing relatively little to historic global emissions. Flooding, drought, desertification, heat stress and pressure on farmland are not merely environmental concerns. They affect food prices, migration patterns, public health and security.
The country faces a difficult balancing act. It must expand energy access for millions of people and sustain industrial growth while also participating in the global transition towards cleaner energy.
Natural gas is central to Nigeria’s argument. The Federal Government sees it as a transitional fuel capable of supporting industrialisation and power generation while renewable-energy capacity expands.
Vice President Shettima argued that climate policy must give developing countries room to grow. A just transition cannot mean asking nations with large energy deficits to accept permanent underdevelopment in the name of emissions targets established by countries that industrialised through centuries of fossil-fuel use.
That does not absolve Nigeria of its responsibility to improve environmental standards, reduce gas flaring, support renewable energy and strengthen climate resilience. However, it reinforces Nigeria’s demand for climate finance that is accessible, affordable and sufficient.
The issue is especially important because climate funding is often announced in impressive figures but reaches vulnerable countries slowly, conditionally or in the form of loans that add to already heavy debt burdens. Vice President Shettima was clear: climate finance should become a development instrument, not another source of fiscal pressure.
The political centre of Nigeria’s message, as delivered by the Vice President, also highlighted the debate about representation in world body. Africa has 54 countries at the United Nations and accounts for more than a quarter of its member states.
The continent has a young and rapidly growing population, substantial mineral reserves and a central role in global discussions on migration, peacekeeping, food systems, climate change and public health. Yet, Africa has no permanent seat on the Security Council.
Nigeria has long argued that this arrangement is indefensible because it reflects an international order that has not kept pace with shifts in global population, regional influence and geopolitical importance. The Security Council’s permanent membership still mirrors the power structure of 1945 more than the realities of 2026.
Nigeria’s message, as delivered by Shettima, was succinct: reform is not an abstract institutional debate.
The country called for at least two permanent African seats, with the rights and responsibilities of permanent membership – including veto power for as long as it exists—as well as five non-permanent seats for Africa.
Security Council decisions affect peacekeeping missions, sanctions, conflict mediation and the authorisation of international action in places where African lives and interests are directly involved. A more representative Council, Nigeria argues, would improve legitimacy and strengthen compliance with international decisions. It would also give African states greater influence over the security questions that most immediately affect the continent.
Vice President Shettima’s meetings with world leaders, international organisations and development partners provided an opportunity to advance these positions in private as well as in public.
Such bilateral engagements are where diplomatic language is tested against national interests, investment calculations and political commitments.
The most concrete economic message from Nigeria’s UNGA engagements came through the country’s co-hosting, with Italy, of the Global Partnership for Education’s “Multiply Possibility” campaign.
The initiative aims to mobilise $5 billion in global education financing, based on the premise that public budgets in lower-income countries cannot close education gaps on their own.
Shettima’s characterization of education was politically useful: it should be treated not as “an expenditure at the margins” of development, but as an investment in productivity, prosperity and stability.
That is more than rhetoric. Nigeria’s challenge is not only to get more children into school, but also to improve foundational learning, teacher capacity, technical skills and the transition from schooling to productive employment.
The Tinubu administration linked this argument to its HOPE-EDU programme with the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education, which it says is expected to reach about 29 million children and 500,000 teachers.
If implemented effectively, the programme would rank among the largest human-capital interventions in Africa.
Yet, its scale also makes execution paramount: funds must reach classrooms, teachers must be trained and retained, and learning outcomes must be independently measured.
This year’s UNGA also featured a series of high-level sideline meetings focused on a continental effort to develop mineral processing, manufacturing and value-added industries around critical resources. At one of the sideline meetings, Shettima urged African countries to move beyond the export of raw minerals and build industries that translate mineral wealth into jobs, industrial growth and improved living standards.
The Ministry of Defence led by General (rtd) Christopher Musa hosted a sideline event during the UNGA-81, where the call on international partners to collaborate with Nigeria in confronting terrorism, banditry, oil theft, cybercrime and other threats was also re-echoed.
At UNGA-81, Vice President Shettima presented Nigeria not as a supplicant seeking sympathy, but as a consequential partner demanding a fairer bargain. The test now lies beyond the applause of New York: but remain whether President Tinubu and his government can turn the nation’s case for cheaper capital, technology partnerships, climate finance, value addition and African representation into investable projects, credible reforms and measurable gains at home.
