Nigeria Begins Fifth Tenure on UN Security Council

Nigeria's fifth tenure as a member of the United Nations (UN) Security Council formally commenced on Thursday albeit the council did not sit courtesy of the New Year's Day holiday.

Nigeria was elected on 16th October 2013 to the council on a non-permanent basis for a two-year term running from 2014-2015, officially commencing form 1st January 2013, after raking in a total 186 votes out of 193 possible.

Nigeria will join the five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States - and nine other non-permanent members elected for two years by the 193 members of the UN General Assembly. Permanent Representative of Jordan to the UN, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein is President of the Security Council for the month of January.

After the election, Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the United Nation, Professor Joy Ogwu promised that promoting preventive diplomacy for peace would be at the heart of the country's agenda, in fulfilment of its determination to address issues of peace, security and development both on the African continent and elsewhere in the world. She pledged to work with other members of the council to professionally represent all other member states and fulfil the renewed mandate.

Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri also gave assurances on Nigeria's willingness to work for the promotion of preventive diplomacy.

'We need to have a strong voice to help the UN to deal with issues in Africa', he said. 'African issues are the majority of issues facing the UN Security Council today'.