President Bola Tinubu has received copies of the proposed 2027 United Nations budget from Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jimoh Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, who chairs the UN committee responsible for budgetary and administrative matters, presented the seven-volume document to the President at the State House, Abuja.
Speaking to journalists after the presentation, Ibrahim described the occasion as historic, saying it was the first time in 66 years that a Nigerian president had received the proposed UN budget through the process.
He said, “This is the presentation of the United Nations proposed budget for 2027 that was presented to me by the General Assembly, by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the Fifth Committee, and that budget has seven volumes.
“So it has to be presented to my country because my country is a member of the United Nations. I share the budget at the committee, so the appropriate thing to do is to bring the budget home and deliver it to the President.
“This is the first time in 66 years that Nigeria will share budget in the committee. The first time. So I don’t know when we’re going to do that again in history.”
Ibrahim added, “President Bola Tinubu is making history to have been able to receive that budget, being the first President in 66 years that will receive such budget from the United Nations, and it’s not a small issue for a country to receive the whole UN budget.”
He said the proposed budget covered the organisation’s regular activities and peacekeeping operations, with approximately $3.4bn allocated to the regular budget and $8.5bn for peacekeeping.
Ibrahim put the total at about $14bn, although the figures he cited for the two components add up to $11.9bn.
He stressed that the document was still a proposal and had not received final approval from UN member states.
“The budget still has to be approved. This is a proposed budget. It’s at the proposed stage. You submit it to your country, and thereafter the budget is finally discussed. Figures are adjusted, and then finally the final budget is approved and spending commences,” he said.
Asked about the support Nigeria could receive from the UN, Ibrahim said discussions on the proposed budget were ongoing and declined to specify what Nigeria might benefit from it.
He also cited the construction of a $267m UN conference centre in Kenya as an example of the organisation’s investment in facilities in member states.
The proposed budget will undergo further scrutiny and adjustments before member states approve the final figures and spending begins.
(Punch)
