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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not attend the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, SaharaReporters has exclusively learnt.

A top source close to the Presidency revealed on Friday that Tinubu would not be attending the annual gathering of world leaders, which begins next week.

“Tinubu will not be attending the UN General Assembly,” the source said, without disclosing the reason for the President’s decision.

The development comes after weeks of reports and official statements indicating that Tinubu was scheduled to attend the UNGA and deliver Nigeria’s national statement during the General Debate.

A provisional list of speakers obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had indicated that Tinubu was scheduled to be the 10th speaker during the morning session on the second day of the high-level General Debate on Wednesday, September 23.

He was expected to address the assembly between about 11:30 a.m. and noon New York time, or between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Nigerian time.

The 81st session of the UN General Assembly opened on September 8, while the high-level General Debate is scheduled to hold from September 22 to 28 at the UN headquarters in New York.

The expected attendance of Tinubu had also been confirmed publicly by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim.

“The president was able to give us his word. Now, he will come to UNGA this September,” Ibrahim had said recently.

The envoy had said Tinubu’s participation would provide an opportunity for Nigeria to showcase reforms being implemented by his administration to the international community.

Ibrahim also said the President was expected to use the UN platform to engage international stakeholders on border policing in West Africa, describing the region’s porous borders as a major security challenge.

“So, border policing will be fine. These are the kind of things that the UN is established for,” the ambassador said.

He said the Federal Government was collaborating with the UN on a regional border-policing initiative and planned to seek broader international support for the effort during the assembly.

Ibrahim had also disclosed that there could be a meeting between Tinubu and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UNGA.

Tinubu’s reported decision not to attend the gathering means Nigeria’s representation at the General Assembly will now have to be determined by the Presidency. Tinubu will likely be represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

The President attended the 78th UN General Assembly in person in 2023, while Vice-President Shettima represented him at the 79th and 80th sessions in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Shettima delivered Nigeria’s national statement at both sessions.

The latest development also follows Tinubu’s recent overseas engagements.

On August 30, SaharaReporters reported that Tinubu departed Abuja for Europe to begin a three-week annual leave, with London as his first destination.

According to a statement by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the trip was described by the Presidency as a working vacation.

Tinubu subsequently travelled to France, where French President Emmanuel Macron hosted him to a private dinner at the Élysée Palace.

Tinubu said after the meeting that his conversation with Macron reaffirmed the strong friendship between Nigeria and France and their commitment to deepening bilateral cooperation.

“Our conversation reaffirmed the strong friendship between Nigeria and France, as well as our shared commitment to deepening cooperation and building a mutually beneficial partnership between our two nations,” Tinubu said in a post on his official X account on Friday.

“I thank President Macron for his warm hospitality and friendship,” he added.

Meanwhile, Singapore has invited Tinubu to visit the country as it seeks to strengthen its relationship and deepen cooperation with Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, disclosed this in a statement by the Nigerian Mission House at the United Nations in New York.

According to Ibrahim, Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Burhan Gafoor, visited the Nigerian Permanent Mission House and delivered a letter from Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam inviting Tinubu to visit Singapore.

The UNGA 81 is being held under the theme, “Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all.”

The annual high-level gathering brings together heads of state and government, ministers and senior officials from around the world to deliberate on global issues, including international peace and security, climate change and sustainable development.

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Former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has condemned the deaths of 37 miners who died while in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Minna, Niger State.

Babangida described the incident as tragic and deeply disturbing, while expressing condolences to the families of the deceased and the people and government of Niger State.

In a statement issued in Minna through his media department and signed by Dr. Danladi Umar Abdulhameed, Babangida commiserated with the bereaved families and prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased.
He also prayed for God to grant the families the strength to bear the loss.

The former military president commended the Niger State Government for its immediate response to the incident, particularly the constitution of a committee of inquiry and the commencement of medical and forensic examinations to establish the circumstances and actual causes of the deaths.

According to the statement, the state government has confirmed the deaths and declared a three-day mourning period, while cancelling a planned political rally in Minna.

Babangida appealed to residents, particularly youths and families of the deceased, to remain calm while investigations continue.

He said the ongoing probe was necessary to establish the facts surrounding the deaths and ensure that appropriate action was taken based on its findings.

The former military president also urged all parties to avoid actions capable of escalating tensions or disrupting peace and security in the state.

He expressed hope that the investigation would be conducted transparently and provide answers to the bereaved families and the people of Niger State.

Babangida said establishing the truth about the incident was important to restoring confidence and ensuring that lessons were drawn from the tragedy.

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…urge parliaments to demand accountability

By Gloria Ikibah

Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has urged the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to break the prolonged deadlock over food security and investment facilitation, warning that delays are weakening confidence in the multilateral trading system.

Kalu made the call on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, while contributing to the 57th Session of the Steering Committee of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO (PCWTO), attended by WTO Director-General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as a special guest.

The session, jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the European Parliament, was co-chaired by Hon. Bernd Lange of the European Parliament and IPU Secretary-General, Ms Anda Filip. It brought together parliamentarians from national and regional legislatures, representatives of the European Parliament and IPU, as well as trade policy experts.

The committee reviewed developments in multilateral trade negotiations, follow-up actions from the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference and recommendations from the PCWTO session held in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The meeting also considered stronger engagement with parliamentary trade committees, increased participation in PCWTO activities, cooperation with business and civil society, and preparations for the 2026–2027 programme.

Kalu acknowledged progress recorded by the WTO on fisheries subsidies and development issues but said the organisation’s credibility would ultimately depend on its ability to deliver tangible outcomes, particularly for developing countries.

He expressed concern that a permanent solution had yet to be reached on public stockholding for food security, 13 years after the commitment made at the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference.

Nigeria, he noted, had co-sponsored the demand by the African Group, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group and the G33 for a permanent solution.

He said: “Thirteen years cannot be explained as an ordinary negotiating delay. Behind every delayed outcome are farmers, workers and families living with the consequences of decisions we defer”.

As an interim measure, Kalu proposed that WTO members consider a waiver under Article IX:3 of the Marrakesh Agreement to cover qualifying public stockholding programmes.

He argued that the absence of consensus should not make an explicit treaty mechanism permanently unusable when countries were facing pressing food security needs.

The Deputy Speaker also raised concerns over the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, as he said broad support for the agreement had remained stalled by a single formal objection.

He called for greater accountability from national parliaments and proposed that participating legislatures submit reports on concrete actions taken to advance PCWTO and WTO outcomes before each Steering Committee meeting.

“Yaoundé revealed problems that are already well understood. The challenge now is to create political accountability for governments to explain what they are actually doing about them. If credibility is the issue, accountability must be the response.

“I propose that before each Steering Committee meeting, participating parliaments should report on concrete steps taken within their own jurisdictions to advance the outcomes of Yaoundé and MC14, identifying the responsible authority, the action taken, the government’s stated position and the current status.

“Too often, our discussions focus on what Geneva has or has not done. We should devote equal attention to what our own governments and legislatures have done since the last meeting. Accountability must run in both directions.

“We should hold ourselves to the same standard of accountability we ask of Geneva. Nigeria commits to doing so.

“Distinguished colleagues, behind every delayed outcome are farmers, workers and families living with the consequences of decisions we defer.

“The WTO’s credibility is not measured by the sophistication of its rules. It is measured by whether the members who need it most have rational grounds to trust it.

“Nigeria is not here to add to the diagnosis. We are here to help restore that trust”, Kalu said.

He further cautioned that improving attendance at WTO-related meetings alone would not resolve the challenge of parliamentary relevance in global trade governance.

According to him, many legislatures are briefed only after negotiating positions have already been finalised.

Kalu therefore proposed that future PCWTO sessions should be built around focused economic agendas covering contentious issues such as public stockholding, investment facilitation, the e-commerce moratorium and digital trade rules.

He said this would allow parliamentarians to communicate clear conclusions and areas of disagreement to trade ministers ahead of negotiations.

Kalu, who joined the PCWTO Steering Committee in February 2025, also secured a reaffirmation from the IPU Secretary-General of the organisation’s commitment to work with him towards the successful hosting of the PCWTO event scheduled for Abuja in 2027.

He reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to a fair, credible and development-oriented international trading system.
Okonjo-Iweala backs deeper parliamentary role
In her address, Okonjo-Iweala presented an update on WTO reforms covering decision-making, development, special and differential treatment, fairness and dispute settlement.

She noted that while consensus was intended to guarantee an equal voice for all WTO members, its application as unanimity had allowed single objections to block outcomes enjoying broad support.

The WTO Director-General urged parliamentarians to move beyond criticism and put forward practical solutions for rebuilding confidence in the organisation.

She identified greater transparency and improved notifications as possible confidence-building measures and invited written submissions from parliamentarians on the reform process.

Okonjo-Iweala also backed deeper engagement between parliamentarians and Geneva-based actors, including national WTO representatives, the Chair of the General Council, reform facilitators and committee chairs.

Such engagement, she said, will give legislators a more direct role in the reform debate while preserving the member-driven character of the WTO.

The WTO chief acknowledged concerns that the multilateral trading system had not served many developing and poorer countries effectively.

She defended the continued relevance of special and differential treatment and called for a more credible framework that takes different levels of development among WTO members into account.

Okonjo-Iweala also underscored the importance of investment facilitation for developing economies and confirmed that restoring an effective two-tier dispute settlement system remained on the reform agenda, even if its eventual design differs from the previous arrangement.
The discussions came amid wider efforts to reform the multilateral trading system. The WTO has recently warned that global trade is at a critical juncture, with geopolitical tensions and disagreements over trade rules placing additional pressure on the organisation.