--- title: 'Nigeria Cannot Keep Treating the UN General Assembly as Optional' url: 'https://www.contextura.world/africa/nigeria-cannot-keep-treating-the-un-general-assembly-as-optional' markdown: 'https://www.contextura.world/africa/nigeria-cannot-keep-treating-the-un-general-assembly-as-optional.md' date: '2026-09-24' description: 'President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is once again absent from the United Nations General Assembly, and this time the absence is particularly difficult to ignore because it is the third consecutive year that Vice President Kashim Shettima has represented him at the gathering. Shettima represented Nigeria in…' --- # [Nigeria Cannot Keep Treating the UN General Assembly as Optional](https://www.contextura.world/africa/nigeria-cannot-keep-treating-the-un-general-assembly-as-optional) 24th Sep 2026 President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is once again absent from the United Nations General Assembly, and this time the absence is particularly difficult to ignore because it is the third consecutive year that Vice President Kashim Shettima has represented him at the gathering. Shettima represented Nigeria in 2024 and 2025 and is again leading the Nigerian delegation at the 81st UN General Assembly. The Presidency says there is nothing unusual about the decision. Tinubu is currently on an extended working vacation in Europe, and the government maintains that his absence does not diminish Nigeria's diplomatic standing. It has also stressed that Shettima is fully empowered to represent Nigeria and that the President has continued directing government business from abroad. There is a legitimate distinction between a president being physically absent from the UN and Nigeria being diplomatically absent. Nigeria is represented. The Vice President is a senior constitutional officer and can speak for the government. There is therefore no factual basis for saying that Nigeria has literally disappeared from the General Assembly. But representation is not the only issue. The UN General Assembly is one of the few places where the leader of a country such as Nigeria can speak directly to virtually the entire international system at once. Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, one of the continent's largest economies and a major contributor to peacekeeping and regional diplomacy. Presidential participation is therefore about more than delivering a speech. It is about bilateral meetings, visibility, negotiations, investment diplomacy and the ability of the head of state to personally communicate Nigeria's priorities. The timing makes the absence even more striking. Nigeria has repeatedly advocated reform of global institutions and greater representation for Africa in international decision-making. Shettima is expected to advance those positions, including reforms to the international financial architecture and stronger African representation. The government is entitled to argue that the Vice President can accomplish these objectives. But Nigerians are equally entitled to ask what is lost when the President repeatedly delegates one of the most important diplomatic events of the year. The criticism becomes particularly understandable because this is not an isolated absence. Tinubu attended the 78th General Assembly in 2023 but did not attend the 79th or 80th sessions, and he is again absent from the 81st. There is also nothing inherently wrong with a president taking annual leave. The problem arises when presidential absence becomes sufficiently regular that citizens begin asking whether major international engagements are being treated as optional. A serious country does not have to send its president to every international gathering, but when the world's most important multilateral institution convenes at a moment of wars, economic instability, debates over African representation, and major changes in the international system, Nigeria should be able to explain clearly why its president is not there and what strategic benefit the country is receiving from his absence. Nigeria's problem is therefore not simply whether Tinubu attended UNGA. It is whether the country is operating with the seriousness, visibility and institutional discipline expected of a major African power. A president can take a holiday. A country cannot take one. --- ## Navigation - Parent: [Africa](https://www.contextura.world/africa.md) - Previous: [If Political Power Can Decide Elections, What Exactly Are Nigerians Voting For?](https://www.contextura.world/africa/if-political-power-can-decide-elections-what-exactly-are-nigerians-voting-for.md) - Next: [Africa Is Not Free: The Colonisers Never Left, They Only Changed Clothes](https://www.contextura.world/africa/africa-is-not-free.md)