President Bola Tinubu will attend the United Nations General Assembly in September, sitting in the front row alongside US President Donald Trump and other world leaders, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jimoh Ibrahim, disclosed after meeting the president at the State House.
Ibrahim, who came from New York to brief Tinubu in his capacity as chairman of the UN Budget Committee ahead of the assembly, said the president has generously agreed to attend and will deliver a speech on his administration’s reform record, alongside side event meetings on power and energy issues, education and hospital management, kept deliberately limited so as not to overcrowd his itinerary. The president also reflected his commitment to border policing, so this time around, the President will be working with the United Nations to look into the West Africa border, Ibrahim said, describing the region’s borders as porous and drawing significant peacekeeping attention, and said Tinubu is prepared to put considerable effort into border policing across West Africa, having given specific directives on immediate next steps. Ibrahim said he intends to return to the UN to advocate using West Africa as a case study for border policing more broadly, ensuring the region’s security is better guaranteed, calling it exactly the kind of work the UN exists to support, with the world body expected to back the effort.
Asked whether Tinubu would hold a one on one meeting with Trump at the assembly, Ibrahim declined to confirm details but said he could say clearly that Tinubu will be seated very close to Trump in the assembly’s front row, speaking around 10:45am New York time, which corresponds to about 2pm in Nigeria, ensuring Nigerians can watch him live.
