Nigeria assumes UN Security Council presidency today

Nigeria will today, assume the one-month rotational Presidency of the United Nations (UN) Security Council as the country’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Joy Ogwu, takes over from Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, the Permanent Representative of New Zealand, who held the Presidency for the month of July, 2015.

 This was contained in a statement made available to press, yesterday, in Abuja by the Spokesperson to Mrs Ogwu, Dr. Tope Adeleye Elias-Fatile.

According to the statement, this will be the first time in the history of the UN that an elected member of the Security Council would assume presidency of the Council for the 4th time in two separate tenures within 5 years.

Nigeria was elected a non-permanent member of the Council on 17 October, 2013, and is serving for the period 2014 – 2015.

“This is the fifth time since independence that Nigeria has been elected to serve on this most powerful decision-making organ of the United Nations charged with the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security.  Nigeria previously served on the Council from 1966 – 1967, 1978 – 1979, 1994 – 1995 and 2011 – 2012.