Vice President Kashim Shettima is set to represent President Bola Tinubu at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Shettima is expected to depart Abuja for the United States tomorrow, where he will lead Nigeria’s delegation to the annual gathering of world leaders.
His planned appearance at the UN comes as President Tinubu is expected back in Nigeria today after spending about three weeks in Europe.
The development marks a shift from an earlier arrangement announced in July by Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, who had disclosed that Tinubu would personally attend the 2026 UN General Assembly.
Ibrahim had said after meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja that Tinubu had agreed to participate in the General Assembly and selected high-level side events.
According to the envoy, the President was expected to use the international gathering to showcase his administration’s reform agenda and engage world leaders on critical areas, including energy, education and healthcare.
However, LEADERSHIP gathered that Shettima will now represent the President at the New York meeting.
This will not be the first time the Vice President is standing in for Tinubu at the global gathering. Shettima represented the President at the 79th and 80th sessions of the UN General Assembly in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
The 81st session of the UN General Assembly is currently underway in New York, with the high-level general debate scheduled to hold from September 22 to 28, 2026.
