Nigeria's Professor Tijjani Bande to become next president of the UN General Assembly

NIGERIA'S permanent representative of Nigeria to the United Nations Professor Tijjani Mohammad Bande has been appointed the next president of the United Nations General Assembly when the tenure of the current incumbent expires in September.

Ecuador's María Fernanda Espinosa is the current president of the assembly and her one year tenure is due to end on September 18. Currently in Nigeria, Ms Espinosa Garcés briefed foreign affairs minister Geoffrey Onyeama, about the development at State House in Abuja after holding a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Professor Bande, a former director-general of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Plateau State, was born at Zagga in present day Kebbi State. He holds an MA in Political Science from Boston University, Massachusetts and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto, Canada.

He was the vice chancellor of Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, between 2004 and 2009 and from January 2000 to February 2004, he was the director-general of the Centre African de Formation et de Recherche Administrative pour le Development in Tangiers, Morocco. Professor Bande becomes the second Nigerian to be appointed president of United Nations General Assembly after Joseph Garba who held the position between 1989 and 1990.