Buhari to lead Nigerian delegation to UN General Assembly

President Muhammadu Buhari will lead the Nigerian delegation to the 76th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

The president is scheduled to depart Abuja on Sunday, 19th September 2021, Per Second News gathered.

Despite Covid risks, many leaders plan to attend the U.N General Assembly.

Unlike the annual meeting last year, conducted almost entirely virtually because of pandemic restrictions, the United Nations is expecting leaders from at least 83 countries to speak in person.

The outgoing annual president of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, a Turkish statesman, told reporters in his farewell news conference last week that at least 83 leaders were planning to attend this year’s event, albeit with slimmed-down entourages compared with prepandemic years. (Mr. Bozkir will be succeeded by Abdullah Shahid, foreign minister of Maldives.

According to the provisional list released by the UN, top leaders from Brazil, Britain, Canada, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey and Venezuela also plan to personally deliver their speeches, which are all scheduled for the second week. China’s speech will be delivered by its deputy prime minister, the list indicated, and Russia’s by its foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov.

Iran’s new president has opted to send a prerecorded video, but diplomats said the country’s new foreign minister is expected to attend.

Each delegation in the General Assembly hall will be permitted up to five members, compared with two in 2020, when the speeches of all member-state leaders were delivered via prerecorded video on a large screen to largely empty seats.

The 76th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 76) will open on Tuesday, 14 September 2021. The first day of the high-level General Debate will be Tuesday, 21 September 2021.