Guterres and Kenya’s Ruto separately echoed the demand at UNGA the same week, adding weight to Nigeria’s long-standing push for reform.

Vice President Kashim Shettima has demanded a radical reform of the United Nations, including restructuring the Security Council to grant Africa permanent representation, while warning against a world where propaganda shields aggressors from justice.

Shettima delivered President Bola Tinubu’s national statement on Thursday at the general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Why Nigeria wants Security Council reform

Shettima said the Council’s current structure still reflects the world of 1945 and no longer suits contemporary realities.

“The reform of this institution must begin with the reconstitution of the Security Council, for the world of 2026 cannot remain captive to the distribution of power in 1945. Africa cannot continue to fill the Council’s agenda while remaining absent from its permanent membership,” he said.

Citing the African Union’s Ezulwini Consensus and Sirte Declaration, he laid out Nigeria’s specific demand.

“Nigeria demands, in accordance with the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration, at least two permanent seats for Africa, with all the rights and responsibilities of permanent membership, including the veto for as long as it exists, and five non-permanent seats in total. The authority to speak for humanity carries an obligation to represent it,” he said.

Nigeria’s demand echoed similar interventions from other leaders at the same UNGA session. UN Secretary-General António Guterres separately described Africa’s continued exclusion from permanent Security Council membership as “unjust and indefensible,” while Kenyan President William Ruto said the continent “cannot be shut out” of the body responsible for global peace and security decisions affecting it most.

Nigeria calls for an end to global conflicts

Shettima said the persistence of conflict worldwide recalls the UN’s founding purpose.

“The persistence of conflict across the world recalls the purpose for which the United Nations was founded: to spare succeeding generations the devastation of war. We must therefore return to the founding principles of dialogue, mutual respect and collective responsibility,” he said, adding that “Nigeria stands by the Charter and its promise of a world in which diplomacy prevails over coercion, cooperation over isolation and international law over the arbitrary exercise of power.”

He pointed to Nigeria’s peacekeeping record in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Darfur, Mali and The Gambia as evidence of the country’s readiness to take on greater responsibility in restoring peace across Africa, and said Nigeria continues to advance mediation, democratic governance, counter-terrorism and maritime security through ECOWAS, the African Union and its Gulf of Guinea partnerships. He also called for urgent diplomatic intervention in Sudan and other war-torn countries.

Climate, financing and AI

On climate change, Shettima rejected the notion that development and climate action are mutually exclusive, saying developing countries must be allowed to industrialise and expand energy access through low-carbon pathways backed by technology transfer and climate financing.

He noted Africa contributes less than 4 per cent of global emissions despite bearing a significant share of the climate burden, and said Nigeria is targeting net-zero emissions by 2060 under its Energy Transition Plan.

He also renewed Nigeria’s call for reform of the international financial architecture, wider access to concessional financing, and debt sustainability frameworks that account for developing countries’ needs.

“One of the greatest obstacles to sustainable development is inadequate financing,” he said, noting many developing countries spend a disproportionate share of resources on debt servicing at the expense of education, healthcare and infrastructure.

On artificial intelligence, Shettima said Nigeria would not let fear dictate its technological future, describing AI as a tool shaped by human intent and pointing to the country’s expansion of digital public infrastructure, broadband deployment and technology entrepreneurship.

Security and the propaganda warning

Shettima said Nigeria’s experience fighting Boko Haram, ISWAP and other armed groups shows no country can fully secure itself against threats sustained beyond its borders.

“No nation, however formidable its defences, can secure itself completely against dangers sustained beyond its borders,” he said, adding that lasting security gains require education, economic opportunity, accountable governance and respect for human rights alongside military action.

He closed with a pointed warning about the erosion of truth in global conflicts.

“We should all be afraid of a world in which we can no longer tell the victim from the aggressor. When our investment in propaganda shields perpetrators from justice to the point that telling the truth becomes a crime, the promise of this institution stands betrayed,” he said.

“A reformed, inclusive and effective United Nations is indispensable to the peaceful, just and sustainable world that future generations deserve. Whatever our differences, we must remember that humanity is our oldest citizenship, and peace is the inheritance we owe every child.”

Separately during UNGA week, Shettima also co-hosted a high-level education event alongside Global Partnership for Education President Jakaya Kikwete and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, and led Nigeria’s “Hire From Nigeria” talent-export push in Manhattan.