“I’ll Deliver Your Message, With Positive Response,” Jimoh Ibrahim Assures Singapore Ambassador
President of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, has invited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a state visit as Singapore seeks to strengthen its relationship and deepen cooperation with Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, disclosed this in a statement issued by the Nigerian Mission House at the United Nations in New York.
Ibrahim said Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Burhan Gafoor, delivered the invitation during a visit to the Nigerian Permanent Mission House in New York.
Gafoor, according to the statement, also congratulated Ibrahim on his emergence as Chairman of two prominent UN committees—the Fifth Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Matters and, more recently, the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, known as the Committee of 34 or C-34.
Receiving the letter, Ibrahim thanked Gafoor for the invitation and assured him that President Tinubu would find time to visit Singapore in the nearest future.
The Nigerian envoy said Tinubu’s economic reforms had attracted international attention and generated interest among countries such as Singapore in sharing experiences with Nigeria, particularly in the areas of multilateralism and national development.
Drawing a comparison with Singapore’s transformation under its founding Prime Minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, Ibrahim described Tinubu’s economic reforms as bold and far-reaching.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is making bold economic reforms like the former Singapore President, Lee Kuan Yew. His achievements are enviable and continue to generate concern to countries like Singapore to share experience in multilateralism,” Ibrahim said.
He said Tinubu held President Tharman in high esteem and congratulated Singapore on the reforms that transformed the country into a globally recognised economy.
According to Ibrahim, Nigeria was also undergoing reforms aimed at transforming the country into a modern state where the interests of citizens would be protected and Nigerians could enjoy a viable economic proposition.
“Nigeria is currently going through reform in order to transform herself to a modern contemporary state, where interests of everyone is protected and Nigerians begin to enjoy a viable proposition,” he said.
Ibrahim also disclosed that the Nigerian Mission at the United Nations had witnessed increased diplomatic engagements in recent weeks, noting that the British Ambassador to the UN visited him last week, followed by the Ambassador of Guyana before Gafoor’s visit.
The envoy said his leadership of the UN committees would be guided by fairness, accountability and efficiency, assuring member states that the Fifth Committee would ensure equitable treatment in the allocation of resources.
“I will be fair to all in allocation of resources under the Fifth Committee, and every country will have a say. The United Nations will be impartial to member states under the reform of accountability and efficiency,” he said.
The Fifth Committee is responsible for the administrative and budgetary matters of the United Nations, while the C-34 considers issues relating to UN peacekeeping operations.
