President Bola Tinubu has received the proposed 2027 United Nations budget from Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Jimoh Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, who chairs the UN committee responsible for administrative and budgetary matters, presented the seven-volume document to Tinubu at the State House in Abuja.
Speaking with journalists after the presentation, Ibrahim described the event as historic, stating that no Nigerian president had received the proposed UN budget through the process in the past 66 years.
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 further stated, “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.”
According to him, the proposed budget covers the UN’s regular operations and peacekeeping activities, with about $3.4 billion earmarked for the regular budget and $8.5 billion for peacekeeping missions.
Although Ibrahim estimated the overall budget at approximately $14 billion, the two figures he provided amount to $11.9 billion.
He clarified that the document remained a proposal and was yet to receive 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.
When asked what Nigeria stood to gain from the UN budget, Ibrahim explained that discussions were still ongoing and declined to provide specific details about potential benefits to the country.
He also referenced the construction of a $267 million UN conference centre in Kenya as an example of the organisation’s investment in facilities within member states.
The proposed 2027 budget will undergo additional reviews and possible adjustments before UN member states approve the final allocations and authorise spending.
