Credit: Gary Raynaldo ©Diplomatic Times /   Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the seventy-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly briefs the press after the opening of the first plenary meeting of the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly at world head quarters in New York Sep. 17, 2019.

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS  –   NEW YORK –  Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, officially took over as the new President of the UN General Assembly’s  Seventy-Fourth session Tuesday.   Muhammad-Bande  succeeds Ecuador’s Maria Fernanda Espinosa as UNGA president.  Muhammad-Bande banged the UNGA gavel to open his year in office. In his inaugural address as General Assembly President, or PGA,   Muhammad-Bande said he would “collaborate and coordinate” with the Security Council, and the Secretariat “to ensure that greater attention is paid to prevention rather than reaction to full blown conflict.”  The PGA also pledged that peace and security, poverty eradication, zero hunger, quality education, climate action and inclusion will constitute a major priority of his presidency.

“I will also advocate for effective early detection and warning systems, as well as mediation, negotiation and peaceful settlement of ongoing conflicts”, he promised. “I will work to engender cooperation that will address drivers of conflicts such as poverty, exclusion and illiteracy”.

UN  PGA  Tijjani Muhammad-Bande.

The PGA also stressed that ensuring the rights and empowerment of youth, women and the disabled, as a continuing priority.

UN Photo/Kim Haughton  /   Tijjani Muhammad-Bande (on screens and centre at dais), President of the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly, opens the first plenary meeting of the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly. (17 September 2019)   

The new President of the 74th session of the General Assembly brings to his role “years of United Nations experience”,    UN Secretary-General António Guterres said. 

Secretary-General António Guterres makes remarks at the opening of the first plenary meeting of the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly Sep. 17, 2019.  At right is Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the seventy-fourth session of the General Assembly.  (UN Photo/Kim Haughton)

Credit: Gary Raynaldo ©Diplomatic Times /   Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the seventy-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly at New York UN world headquarters Sep. 17, 2019. 

DIPLOMATIC TIMES Video / Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the seventy-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly briefs press  at New York UN world headquarters Sep. 17, 2019. 

Credit: Gary Raynaldo ©Diplomatic Times  / Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the seventy-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly

Between 2010 and 2016,  Mohammad Bande was Director-General of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Nigeria’s most reputable policy institution for training leaders from the public and private sectors, including high-echelon officers of the armed forces.   From 2000 until 2004, Mr. Mohammad Bande was Director-General of Le Centre Africain de Formation et de Recherche Administratives pour le Développement (CAFRAD), in Tangier, Morocco.   Having begun his academic career at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Nigeria,  Muhammad Bande rose from Graduate Assistant in 1980, to full Professor in 1998 and ultimately to Vice-Chancellor in 2004, a position he held for five years.  During his tenure, the institution ranked first among Nigerian universities in the accreditation of academic programmes (2007).  He earned a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Arts and a PhD in political science from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, Boston University in the United States and the University of Toronto in Canada (1987), respectively  Muhammad Bande is married and has four children.  His hobbies include swimming, soccer, field hockey, farming and music.