Nigeria will assume the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) when the next term begins, the presidency has announced.
According to a post on Twitter by Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communications, the announcement was made by Maria Espinosa, the incumbent UN General Assembly President, and Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at a joint press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.
Espinosa had earlier met President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Read Also: Nigeria’s Permanent Representative Declares UNGA Presidential Bid
Newsbreak recalls that Tijani Muhammad-Bande, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, had last Friday declared his intention to contest for the President of the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“President of UNGA and Minister of Foreign Affairs disclose that Nigeria will be assuming Presidency of U.N. General Assembly when the term of the incumbent expires,” Ogunlesi tweeted.
“Nigeria’s current Permanent Representative to the U.N., Prof. Tijani Muhammad-Bande, is expected to assume the next Presidency of the U.N. General Assembly.”
According to a statement on its website, UNGA said its presidency for the 74th General Assembly was zoned to Africa “full respect of the established principle of geographical rotation”, among other reasons.
Muhammad-Bande, a professor of Political Science, is the first candidate from the continent to declare his bid for the office, according to Espinosa.
The election for the UNGA President will take place at the UN headquarters in New York on June 4.
The UNGA President is elected for a one-year tenure.
Among other positions he has held both locally and internationally, Muhammad-Bande was the Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) between 2010 and 2016.
He served as the Vice-President of the General Assembly during the 71st session and serves in various capacities at the UN.
 when the next term begins, the presidency has announced.){kind=link}