A former Vice-Chancellor of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), Professor Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has been elected President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Muhammad-Bande who is also Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations was elected on Tuesday in New York, standing as the only candidate who contested for the position.
The Nigerian envoy was earlier in February re-elected as Chairman of the UN Peacekeeping Committee.
Born on 7th December, 1957, the new UNGA president is an indigene of Kebbi State, North-West Nigeria.
By this election, Muhammad-Bande who had served as the Vice-President of the UNGA during its 71st session in September 2016 would be the president of the 74th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2019.
He had on 31st March, 2017, been appointed to replace Professor Joy Ogwu who held the position of Ambassador for seven years at the Nigerian Mission at the UN.
EduCeleb.com gathered that he is an alumnus of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he studied Political Science for his undergraduate degree. Bande also attended Boston University, USA for his Masters degree and the University of Toronto, Canada, all in Political Science.
Prior to joining the UN mission, Bande had been a distinguished scholar and administrator.
He was Vice-Chancellor of UDUS between 2004 and 2009. He joined the University in 1980 as a Graduate Assistant and rose to Professor in 1998.
Under him, the University was and remains perhaps the most peaceful in Nigeria as its widely held slogan states.
Earlier, he served as Director-General of the Centre African de Formation et de Reserch Administrative pour le Development (CAFPAD) Tangier, Morocco between 2000 and 2004.
That is Africa’s premier inter-governmental centre for research and training in development administration.
He was also Director General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru between April 2010 and February 2016. The NIPSS is Nigeria’s highest academic and policy institution.
Muhammad-Bande has travelled to over forty (40) countries and consulted for Institutions and Governments over a variety of governance issues, from higher education to security and international relations and organisations.
He has been an Assessor for the National Merit Award and for professorial positions in universities.
He has won Awards and Honours from Institutions and Governments including the US and China.
The professor is a recipient of Nigeria’s Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2005.
He is married with four children.
Aside him, Nigeria has another top official in the UN, Mrs Amina Mohammed. She is the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.
