Bola A. Akinterinwa argued that presidential attendance and speeches at the United Nations General Assembly carry limited significance, calling the UNGA an instrument of great power politics rather than a forum for genuine global cooperation. His analysis comes as Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, referred to as PBAT, has sent Vice-President Kashim Shettima to represent the nation at the 79th, 80th, and ongoing 81st UNGA sessions after attending in person only once in 2023.
The critique challenges the foundational premise of multilateral institutions. Akinterinwa wrote that the conduct and management of international affairs at the UN emphasize national protectionism over global collective interests, and that the UN preaches democracy it doesn't allow within the organization itself. Nigeria has long participated in UN General Assembly work, especially in peace support operations, but the returns on that investment remain questionable.
The Financial Reality
Akinterinwa noted the United States once accounted for almost 50% of UN budget and voluntary contributions, but later reduced its contributions to about 22%. This shift in funding reflects a broader truth about institutional leverage. Those who pay the bills shape the agenda, and when the primary funder pulls back, the organization's effectiveness suffers accordingly.
He cited Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari's four concentric circles of foreign policy: Nigeria and contiguous immediate neighbours; the rest of West Africa; the whole of Africa minus West Africa; and the whole world minus Africa. Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji agreed with Gambari but stressed the need to ask what gains there are for Nigerians in each concentric circle, describing his own view as Constructive and Beneficial Concentricism. The question in relation to UNGA attendance is what Nigeria, through PBAT, has to gain or lose.
PBAT's 2023 Address
When PBAT addressed the General Debate of the 78th Session of UNGA on 20th September, 2023, he laid out a clear indictment of the current system. He said: "Many proclamations have been made, yet our troubles remain close at hand. Failures in good governance have hindered Africa. But broken promises, unfair treatment and outright exploitation from abroad have also exacted a heavy toll on our ability to progress."
PBAT said Africa had been asking for the same level of political commitment and devotion of resource that described the Marshall Plan, while recognizing that the causes of Africa's economic challenges were different from post-war Europe. He said: "we are not asking for identical programs and actions. What we seek is an equally firm commitment to partnership. We seek enhanced international cooperation with African nations to achieve the 2030 agenda and Sustainable Development Goals."
He also said that if the year's theme was to have any impact at all, "global institutions, other nations and their private sector actors must see African development as a priority, not just for Africa but in their interests as well." PBAT said democratic governance was the best guarantor of the sovereign will and well-being of the people, and said military coups were wrong, as was any tilted civilian political arrangement that perpetuates injustice.
PBAT identified West Africa as locked in a protracted battle against violent extremists, saying mercenaries and extremists with lethal weapons and vile ideologies were invading the region from the north, undermining peace and stability. He said the fourth important aspect of global trust and solidarity was securing the continent's mineral-rich areas from pilfering and conflict, noting that many such areas had become catacombs of misery and exploitation. He said the world economy owed the Democratic Republic of the Congo much but gave her very little, despite the strong UN presence there.
On climate change, PBAT said northern Nigeria is hounded by desert encroachment on once arable land, the south is pounded by rising coastal flooding and erosion, and the middle suffers floods that kill and displace multitudes. He said African nations would fight climate change but must do so on their own terms. His concluding remarks emphasized sovereignty: "As for Africa, we seek to be neither appendage nor patron. We do not wish to replace old shackles with new ones. Instead, we hope to walk the rich African soil and live under the magnificent African sky free of the wrongs of the past and clear of their associated encumbrances."
The Security Council Problem
Akinterinwa said the UNGA has a universal character, but that universality is neutralized by the United Nations Security Council, which he described as a problematic. The UNSC has become a primary instrument of power rivalry and geopolitical competition, suffering from paralysis because of frequent use of veto power and shifting coalitions. When the UNSC is paralyzed, power shifts to the UNGA, where major powers come up with different narratives and use the UNGA to isolate adversaries.
The big powers, particularly the United States, China, and Russia, often lobby for the adoption of UNGA resolutions and support them even if they aren't binding. Akinterinwa cited the 1950 Uniting for Peace Resolutions, saying the United States initiated UNGA Resolution 377A, which enabled the UNGA to recommend collective military measures when the Soviet Union was frequently boycotting or vetoing UNSC actions. When Russia vetoed UNSC resolutions condemning its invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its Western allies passed resolutions such as Resolution ES-11/1 to condemn Russia and isolate it diplomatically.
He said the United States and EU countries often sponsor UNGA resolutions targeting the human rights records of geopolitical adversaries like Iran, North Korea and Syria. The United States has also lobbied against upgrading Palestine's status, though Palestine still holds Non-Member Observer State status.
Shettima's Representations
Vice-President Kashim Shettima stood in for PBAT at the 79th Session of the UNGA on 25th September 2024 in New York. Shettima said the UN stands for inclusiveness, anchored on peace, sustainable development and human rights, but that these pillars are threatened by the pursuit of individual national priorities rather than collective needs. He said singularity and nationalism are undermining the peaceful and collective resolution of global challenges.
Shettima noted that from the previous summit and previous years, the world had carried over terrorism, armed conflict, inequality, poverty, racial discrimination, human rights abuses, food crises, hunger, irregular migration, piracy, global pandemics, hyper-inflation, nuclear proliferation, grinding debt burden, climate change and other vexations. He said billions of dollars were being committed to wars and the fanning of conflict. He said the adoption of the "Pact for the Future" should change the narrative, reposition economies and translate into concrete measures for developing and least developed countries.
At the 80th UNGA on 24th September, 2025, Shettima raised the same issues again, including governance, climate change, global debt burden, the summit of the future, UN reform and expansion of the UNSC. Akinterinwa noted the official letter-head of the statement read: "Statement Delivered by His Excellency, Kashim Shettima, GCON, Vice-President, Federal Republic of Nigeria during the General Debate of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York." No reference was made to PBAT, and Shettima spoke in his capacity as Vice-President. He said: "it is, therefore, with profound humility that I stand before you today, as Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to renew this pledge on behalf of my country."
Shettima said Nigeria must have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council as part of wider institutional reform, that urgent action was needed to promote sovereign debt relief and access to trade financing, that countries hosting minerals must benefit from those minerals, and that the digital divide must close. At the ongoing 81st session, Shettima said the persistence of conflict across the world recalls the purpose for which the United Nations was founded: to spare succeeding generations the devastation of war. He said Nigeria demands, in accordance with the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration, at least two permanent seats for Africa, with all the rights and responsibilities of permanent membership, including the veto for as long as it exists, and five non-permanent seats in total.
The Unchanging Themes
Akinterinwa said PBAT can't be faulted for repeating the same issues every year because the themes of the UNGA sessions also revolve around the same problems. The 78th session in 2023 was themed "re-building trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and Its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all." The 79th session in 2024 had the theme "leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations." The 80th session in 2025 had the theme "better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights." The 2026 theme is "Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all."
He said the weak countries want multilateralism while the big powers underscore bilateralism, and that the weak countries want expansion of the UNSC and general UN reform but don't have the institutional right to undo Articles 108 and 109 of the UN Charter, which require unanimity of the veto powers to amend, review, revise, alter or modify the Charter. He concluded that the UNGA is a good platform for Africa's hide and seek children game and said PBAT ought to be commended for staying above the political intrigues that presidential attendance and speeches entail.
Why This Matters:
Akinterinwa's analysis exposes the structural limits of international institutions when power asymmetries determine outcomes. The UN's founding documents require unanimity among the very nations that benefit from the current arrangement to change that arrangement — a Catch-22 that ensures perpetual disadvantage for emerging economies. Nigeria's repeated calls for Security Council reform, debt relief, and equitable resource sharing have produced no binding commitments, only recurring themes at annual gatherings. The financial reality matters too: when the largest contributor reduces its share from 50% to 22%, institutional effectiveness declines, yet demands on member states continue. PBAT's decision to send his vice-president rather than attend personally reflects a cost-benefit calculation that many leaders in the Global South now share. The UNGA remains a talking shop where speeches don't translate into enforceable action, and where the interests of sovereign nations — particularly those outside the permanent Security Council — carry rhetorical weight but little institutional power. That's not cynicism. It's recognition of how international institutions actually function when national interest trumps collective commitment.