Professor Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the United
Nations General Assembly (UNGA), arrived Nigeria to a rousing welcome on
Thursday night on a five-day official visit to the country, the News
Agency of Nigeria has reported.
Muhammed-Bande, who arrived at
the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja at 11:45pm, was received
by the UN Resident Coordinator, Ms Comfort Lamptey; Representative of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Charge d’Affaires of the
Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations, Amb. Samson
Itegboje, among others.
The UNGA president, who was visiting
Nigeria for the first time since his inauguration in September, had as
part of his entourage, his Chef de Cabinet Mari Skåre, Senior Adviser
Alex Tope, Special Assistant Muyiwa Waheed Onifade, Advisor Emanuel De
Jesus Da Costa Tilmann and Communication Adviser Kristina Klein.
Muhammed-Bande,
while speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said he was excited
to be at home and to learn about the issues relating to the Regional
Expert Conference on the Human Rights situation of older persons in
Africa.
“Well I’m excited to be here and also very keen to learn
about issues at home, but basically we are here to discuss issues of
ageing in relation to how the life of the aged are advanced”, he said.
For
being the second Nigerian to be elected UNGA President in 30 years and
how this reflects on the nation, Muhammad-Bande advised that Nigerians
continue to do the things that endears us to the international community
and make our nation proud.
“I think that we should continue to
do the kinds of things that makes us acceptable to others by doing our
bit in the international community and doing also great things for our
country,” he added.
Similarly speaking on his experience so far
as President of the UNGA Muhammad-Bande credited his good start to the
support he enjoyed from his colleagues.
“I’m happy that the support of all colleagues has gotten us to a good start”, he said.
Muhammad-Bande
is in Nigeria to attend a Regional Expert Conference on the Human
Rights Situation of Older Persons in Africa as an Inter-sessional Event
of the United Nations General Assembly Open-ended Working Group on
Ageing.
The conference, which is for the purpose of strengthening
the protection of the human rights of older persons, will hold in Abuja
on Nov. 25.
It will have as participants, governments, national
human rights institutions, civil society organisations, academia, older
persons, regional organisations as well as intergovernmental
institutions and United Nations organisations.
The Conference will also witness the participation of non-African member states and is open to a global audience.
It
is also expected to provide a better understanding of progress made and
challenges faced in ensuring those rights, as well as exchange-related
experiences and lessons.
While in Nigeria, Muhammad-Bande will
meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Geoffery Onyeama, and the Minister of Women Affairs and Social
Development, Mrs Pauline Tallen.
He will also visit the ECOWAS Secretariat in Abuja as well as the reconstructed UN House.
Muhammad-Bande’s
election, was the second time that Nigeria has produced the president
of UNGA in three decades and since joining the UN as its 99th member in
1960.
The first was in 1989, during the tenure of late Gen. Joseph Garba, which was usually described as a flamboyant era.
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