Nigeria Backs Reform At UN Agency

NIGERIA, at the weekend, expressed support for ongoing reform at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), saying the world body needs to keep up with the ever-changing world to make it relevant to needs of member-states.The country has also canvassed improved funding for the agency to enable it carry out its functionsCurrently, UNESCO has 201 member-states compromising 193 full members and 12 associate members. Two associate members joined the club atthe opening of the ongoing 36th General Conference of the organisation, with two more expected to join the rank before the end of the conference on November 10.At the opening of the General Conference of Tuesday, last week, Curacao and Saint Martine, both Islands in the Caribbean were admitted, while membership of the State of Palestine was strongly canvassed, with strong lobbying from some influential members, like the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia, which made strong case for Palestinian membership during its intervention on Friday.Stating Nigeria's position, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai, who led Nigeria's delegation, said Nigeria believes that the reforms proposed by the current leadership of UNESCO constitute key elements and strategies for the improvement of its delivery and visible participation at the country-grassroots level.'Referring specifically to the UNESCO field reform, Nigeria supports the replacement of the current three-tier structure of field offices by a simplified structure comprising a multi-sectoral regional presence and flexible country presence with appropriate complement of staff comprising high level professional experts.'According to her, one major achievements was the institutionalisation of self-benefitting Fund-in-Trust with UNESCO to the tune of US$6.4 million to carry out the programme of revitalising adult and youths literacy in Nigeria.
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