Nigeria on Wednesday criticized the obsolete and old-fashioned
composition of the UN Security Council, and described it as
undemocratic.
The Security Council is the UN’s most powerful principal organ with
the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace
and security as well as accepting new members to the UN.
The Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Prof. Tijjani
Bande, told journalists in New York that there was an urgent need to
reform the body.
Bande stated that Nigeria and some countries, currently left out,
‘rightly’ deserved a permanent seat in the Council considering the
current realities. He said, “First of all, the fundamental question is that in the
current global reality, where everybody is talking democracy, United
Nations must show example. “
According to him, it is an anachronistic notion to have a body
composed of few countries that can veto the entirety of the global
community. “It is an anomaly and I think that has been recognised but the
politics of the reform not just of the UN in terms of the powers of the
General Assembly and its functions.”
“But this journey, at the official level, started 25 years ago. Nigeria
is at the forefront of that effort and doesn’t read this as a selfish
move. “
“This (permanent seat) is the right of Nigeria and other serious
nations to push and this is what other countries are also pushing.
“Be they small states which are pushing, be they Africa that has not
any representation, this is not something that would go away.
“Nigeria and others are committed that we cannot have a democratic system which does not represent the majority of countries.
Bande said, “Our continent is completely out of contention; whether
we get two or three, the debate is we have to be on the Security
Council.”
The body has five permanent members – the Russian Federation, the
United Kingdom, France, the People’s Republic of China, and the United
States – and 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to
serve two-year terms.
The five permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council
resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or
candidates for Secretary-General.
This, the Nigerian ambassador stressed, meant few countries overruling the entirety of the global community.
“The debate is still ongoing whether it is even right to have veto
power,” he said. The Nigerian envoy exuded confidence in the chance of
Nigeria to get on board of the prestigious Council on its own global
credentials or through the Africa’s continental slot.
“We have every reason to be hopeful in terms of the contributions of
Nigeria to the global community since 1960. I think we have good
credentials,” he said.
