DAVOS 2025: Nigeria makes case for permanent UN Security Council membership

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has advocated for Africa’s permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council while promoting Nigeria’s suitability to represent Africa on the global body.  Speaking during a panel discussion themed “Africa’s Momentum” at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Sweden, on January 21, 2025, Minister Tuggar […]

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has advocated for Africa’s permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council while promoting Nigeria’s suitability to represent Africa on the global body. 

Speaking during a panel discussion themed “Africa’s Momentum” at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Sweden, on January 21, 2025, Minister Tuggar decried Africa’s exclusion from the UN Security Council while stating that about 60 per cent of the Council’s resolutions concern issues related to Africa. 

He also noted that many of the laws promulgated by the Council have adverse implications for Africa, including the Deforestation Law, which bans the purchase of produce from deforested land while ignoring the technological companies that produce the machinery that enables deforestation on the continent. 

He further disclosed that Nigeria’s global outlook under President Bola Tinubu’s administration is premised on the accentuation of Nigeria’s strategic autonomy and nonalignment principle in its relations with the rest of the world.

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The discussion which featured other African leaders including the Foreign Ministers of Tunisia, Mohammed Ali Nafti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and the Ugandan Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija, was moderated by the Director of Chatham House, Bronwen Maddox. 

The conversation also highlighted the role of Africa in global governance and the implications of the first 2025 G20 Summit scheduled to be held in South Africa. 

Minister Tuggar postulated, “The G20 summit in South Africa presents an opportunity for us to make a strong case, in the case of Nigeria becoming a G20 member and of course, South Africa is a brotherly neighbour, we have strong ties.” 

He also highlighted Nigeria’s significant role in not only supporting South Africa’s liberation from Apartheid but also in providing asylum to Thabo Mabaki during the years of South Africa’s struggle for liberation. 

Enumerating Nigeria’s strength and qualifications and why it should lead Africa on the global stage, the Minister opined: “It is important for a country like Nigeria to be a member of the G20 because we are used to making a case for Africa, we have got a lot of goodwill, we have got soft power.” 

Tuggar also disclosed that as part of its soft powers, Nigeria through its Technical Aid Corp sends volunteer professionals including medical doctors, engineers, and university lecturers to other African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries to support their development. 

He further stated that Nigeria is a non-threatening power that is friendly with its neighbours and does not have land or boundary disputes, such issues come up, they are resolved in most cases with Nigeria conceding to its neighbours. 

He enthused that Nigeria’s nonthreatening nature has earned the trust of its neighbours who support Nigeria to represent them globally. 

Minister Tuggar added that Nigeria is the only African country with a permanent seat in the African Union’s Peace and Security Council.

Furthermore, Minister Tuggar, said that it is important for Nigeria to be at the table because the G20 was created to review global economic and financial issues such as the utilization of Special Drawing Rights to fund the energy transition in Africa.