Nigeria has renewed calls for Africa to be granted at least two permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, insisting the seats must come with veto powers for as long as such privileges exist.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima made the demand on Tuesday while delivering President Bola Tinubu’s national statement at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
He also called for five non-permanent seats for Africa, reaffirming the continent’s long-standing common position on Security Council reform.
Shettima said the Council’s current structure no longer reflects today’s geopolitical realities and undermines the legitimacy of global decision-making. “The world of 2026 cannot remain captive to the distribution of power in 1945,” he said, adding that Africa could not continue to be excluded from permanent membership while issues affecting the continent dominate the Council’s agenda.
He said Nigeria’s position aligns with the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration, both adopted as the African Union’s Common Position — which seeks two permanent seats with full privileges and five non-permanent seats for the continent. The African Union restated this demand in May, describing Africa’s exclusion from permanent representation as a historical imbalance in need of correction.
Beyond Council reform, Shettima reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the UN Charter, stressing support for a global order where diplomacy takes precedence over coercion and international law governs relations between states.
He pointed to Nigeria’s contributions to peace operations in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Darfur, Mali and The Gambia, along with ongoing work through ECOWAS, the African Union and Gulf of Guinea security mechanisms covering mediation, counter-terrorism, democratic governance and maritime security.
Shettima also flagged the conflict in Sudan and other crises as needing urgent diplomatic attention given their humanitarian, economic and geopolitical toll, and warned against a global climate where propaganda blurs the line between victims and aggressors, complicating accountability.
The UN Security Council currently has five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the UK and the US — each holding veto power. Africa has no permanent representative on the Council, despite the African Union’s reform model calling for at least two permanent African seats with veto privileges, alongside five non-permanent seats.
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