Shettima Says Africa’s Exclusion from UN Security Council Subverts Global Governance Legitimacy
New York/Abuja—September 27, 2026—Vice President Kashim Shettima has declared that Africa’s continued exclusion from permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council undermines the fairness and legitimacy of the entire global governance system.
Speaking during a high-level meeting with United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, Shettima reaffirmed Nigeria’s strong support for urgent institutional reforms that would give the continent a permanent voice at the world’s most powerful decision-making table.
“A continent cannot be summoned to bear the burdens of the international order and then denied an equal hand in directing it,” the Vice President said.
He praised UN Secretary-General António Guterres for consistently describing a 21st-century Security Council without permanent African representation as “unjust and indefensible.”
Shettima was accompanied by several state governors, Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, among other senior officials.
He stressed that Nigeria remains a dependable partner in efforts to rebuild trust among nations, defend international law, and confront hunger, violence and exclusion.
The Vice President also highlighted the human cost of conflict, warning that diplomacy must never lose sight of real suffering: “The mother searching for her child, the family driven from home, and the hungry child awaiting food must never become abstractions in the language of states.” He added, “Civilization endures only when the suffering of a stranger becomes a claim on our conscience.”
Amina Mohammed, a Nigerian, expressed deep gratitude to President Bola Tinubu’s administration for its support of the United Nations and her office, describing the warm embrace she has received “as a daughter of the soil.”
The remarks build on Nigeria’s formal demand, delivered by Shettima on behalf of President Tinubu earlier at the General Debate, for at least two permanent Security Council seats for Africa—complete with veto power for as long as the privilege exists—plus five non-permanent seats. The position aligns with the long-standing African Common Position under the Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration.
Nigeria and the African Union have long argued that the Council’s structure, rooted in the 1945 post-war order, no longer reflects contemporary geopolitical and demographic realities.
Africa accounts for a large share of the Council’s agenda yet holds no permanent seat among the five veto-wielding members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States).
Shettima’s latest intervention keeps the pressure on for meaningful reform, underscoring that the credibility of global institutions ultimately depends on their ability to give every region a genuine stake in decisions that shape the world.
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