“The chaos that shadows our world is a reminder that we cannot afford the luxury of inaction,” Vice-President of Nigeria Kashim Shettima declared, stressing that the United Nations was “born from the ashes of despair” as a vehicle for order and human solidarity.  He emphasized that Nigeria’s commitment was not “a posture of moral superiority but an undying faith in the redemption of humanity”.  Reflecting on the Organization’s 80th anniversary, he cautioned that it must not be “a sentimental retreat into nostalgia” but instead “a moment of truth” to measure shortcomings and turn values into action.

He warned that the “pace of change across borders is a force without pause”, manifesting through technology, finance, corrosive ideologies, climate pressures and irregular migration.  These challenges are “stains on our collective humanity”.  While some have grown disillusioned with multilateralism, he reaffirmed that “existing structures are not set in stone”, urging “real change, change that works and change that is seen to work”.  Central to that vision is Nigeria’s demand for a permanent seat at the Security Council — a matter of fairness and representation for a country that has grown from a colonial outpost to a stabilizing force of over 236 million people.

He outlined four priorities: debt relief and access to trade and finance, fair benefit from minerals, closing the digital divide, and reforming global governance.  “AI must stand for ‘Africa Included,’” he stressed, while calling for an international mechanism to manage sovereign debt, likened to “a Court of Justice for money”.  Nigeria’s case, he insisted, was not charity but necessity:  “None of us can achieve a peaceful world in isolation.”  He concluded that “a renewed commitment to multilateralism, not as a slogan but as an article of faith, remains our surest path forward”.