Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Chinese Government has pledged to fund the office of the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, for the next one year.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, made the disclosure after President Muhammadu Buhari’s meeting with the special envoy, Yang Jiechi.
Bande, was Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who was elected as President of the 74th UN General Assembly in June.
He was aslo the sole candidate for the position elected through acclamation at the 87th plenary meeting of the Assembly in New York.
He is the second Nigerian to hold the office after Joseph Garba, a retired military officer and diplomat, who led the organisation between 1989 and 1990.
“On the global level, the Chinese have agreed to support with the United Nations reform for Africa to be presented in the security council.
We have as you know had a Nigerian representative at the United Nations, Prof. Bande, elected as the next President of the General Assembly. The Chinese have provided a funding for that office so that he can function effectively over the next one year.” Onyeama said.
Onyeama said at the meeting with Buhari, he was presented with an overview of the support and cooperation between China and Nigeria and how that can be taken forward.
According to him, “In the area of power, the president emphasized the mambilla power project and the importance of getting that moving again. They looked at the issues of airport, the progress of the airport terminals that the Chinese are helping to construct across the country.
We also discussed the support of the cooperation in the area of agriculture as well and also encouraging Nigeria to export more to China. We talked about the China exhibition by the end of this year which will be a platform for us to also showcase what we can export, not just agricultural products but also finished products.”