By John Okeke
The President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has challenged Nigeria to continue to ensure that it asserts itself as a leader both at the regional level and the global stage.
Muhammad-Bande who is from Nigeria, gave the charge during a virtual interaction with Nigerian journalists.
He noted that Nigeria had been providing leadership in Africa, but urged the country to ensure that it continues to play positive roles.
“Nigeria has been a very important member of the global community.
“It has provided leadership and it should continue to improve its own processes and continue to give leadership to Africa and also continue to play very positive roles in the global body.
“We have the technical and other resources to play increasingly important roles, and we are being looked up to by many, and I think we should continue to play our roles as leaders in the region and sub-region.
“Nigeria has a lot of things that people look up to it for, and we pray that we do the hard work required to continue to be leaders in the world community.’’
On efforts to defeat the insurgency, the UNGA president charged the nation not to relent, noting that Boko Haram had greatly affected Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
He, however, noted that the situation had improved, adding that the UN will not relent in supporting nations to ensure that terrorism is rooted out.
“It is clear, Boko Haram has done a lot of damage to Nigeria, Cameron, Niger Republic and Chad.
“The situation has improved, the UN has been very supportive of the efforts to deal with terrorism around the world, including in parts of West and Central Africa.
