Nigeria craves permanent seat for AfricaA FEW weeks after Nigeria highlighted the seriousness of the piracy and armed robbery at sea on the Gulf of Guinea, the United Nations (UN) has senta team of experts to assess the situation and determine how to offer assistance to both Nigeria and Benin Republic.Meanwhile, Nigeria's Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Bukun-Olu Onemola, has urged theSecurity Council to redress what he described as historic injustice done to Africa, the only region not represented in the permanent seat category in the Council.In her last press briefing as President of the Security Council last month, Nigeria's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Joy Ogwu, announced that the Council had resolved to call on the international community to support efforts of Nigeria and Benin Republic to curtail piracy on the Gulf of Guinea.By terms of the resolution, the Security Council encouraged Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), ECCAS and the Gulf of Guinea Commission to develop a comprehensive strategy to tackle the menace of piracy and armed robbery. The strategy, according to the Council, should encompass development of domestic laws and regulations criminalising piracy and armed robbery at sea, development of a regional framework to counter such acts, and the development and strengthening of domestic laws and regulation to implement relevant international agreements on the safety and security of navigation, in accordance with international law.At Wednesday night in New York, the office of the Secretary-General of the UN informedUN reporters at a press briefingthat Ban Ki-moon hadsent a UN assessmentmission to the region, specifically including Abuja in Nigeria, regarding the piracy problem, a promise he had announced at the same time Nigeria introduced the piracy problems at the Council last month.Ki-moon also saidthe President of Benin, Boni Yayi, hadrecently requested 'for support in combating piracy in the Gulf of Guinea,' and therefore he 'has deployed an assessment mission to the region, which is being co-led by Mr. Sammy Kum Buo, Director of Africa II Division, Department of Political Affairs, and Mariam Sissoko, Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Nigeria.'According to a statement, the mission 'is comprised of representatives from the Department of Political Affairs (DPA), the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), International Maritime Organisation (IMO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Regional Office in Central Africa (UNOCA), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA).'It was added that the mission 'will assess the scope of the piracy threat in the region and make recommendations for possible UN support in addressing the threat.'Making a case for a permanent seat for Africa in the UN, Onemola told the 66th session of the General Assembly on Wednesday that Nigeria remained firmly committed to an inclusive, comprehensive and holistic reform of the Security Council, in size, scope and composition. According to him, the current impasse in the inter-governmental negotiations (IGN), due to objections raised by certain delegation was regrettable.
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