Foreign Affairs Minister, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar on Tuesday welcomed the U.S. Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, and intends to hold bilateral talks on security cooperation among others.
In a statement, Alkasim Abdulkadir S.A. Media and Communications Strategy to the minister said Tuggar received the high-ranking diplomat at the Presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Sen. George Akume also accompanied the minister to receive the U.S. Secretary of State.
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Tuggar is scheduled to hold talks with Blinken with a focus on deepening democracy in the West African subregion, and strengthening of trade relations and security cooperation.
The minister has also planned to use the opportunity to urge the U.S. and the wider international community to give serious consideration to multilateral reforms, particularly that of democratizing the United Nations Security Council.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Tuggar at the just concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) said there was need to democratise the United Nations (UN) security council because it is “clumsy and not working”.
He said the values of democracy such as the rule of law should be replicated in the world’s highest decision organs.
“What we have to do is collectively practice what we preach.
“The values that we uphold democracy, rule of law need to be practiced, and we need to see them being practiced in the very decision-making bodies or entities for the planet.
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“So, to begin with, the UN Security Council needs to be democratized. Clearly, it is not fit for purpose.
“We should do away with the veto powers on the UN Security Council; clearly, it’s clumsy and not working.
“Again, when you look at the global security architecture, it is impacted by such undemocratic entities that influence decisions.” (NAN)
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