The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has denied accusations of absenteeism and poor representation at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 79).
On Friday, an X user, Yusuf Hassan, accused the minister of not attending two important meetings attended by world leaders and key stakeholders in the digital and innovation sector.
Hassan alleged that the absence of the minister led to the loss of much-needed grants and support to Nigeria.
“Half of the United Nations General Assembly was dealing with digital technology, but he barely attended high-level meetings,” the X user wrote about Tijani.
“I was present at two that he did not attend and they were very important and mobilized enormous resources. An indication was the high-level meeting, without even representation.
“The CEO of Mastercard and other big investors were at a roundtable where Nigeria was absent and more than 20 world leaders were present. Our nation considered it a priority to miss that, of which 1.5 billion were committed to the event. “We are now meeting with a country director,” he said.
In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the Communications Minister explained that publication X was simply an attempt to spread a lie.
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Mr. Tijani explained that he not only attended more than 30 meetings at UNGA79, but was also on the Mastercard panel on technology diplomacy and
he engaged with Mastercard vice president and president of strategic growth, Jon Huntsman, who promised to support Nigeria.
He noted that ministers attending United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings had a busy agenda spanning several days, making it impossible to stay at a meeting for the entire day. He said they should strategically jump between multiple sessions to maximize their participation.
In a separate message sent to PREMIUM TIMES by an aide to the minister, Bosun said he fully participated in major events and meetings.
“The minister had more than 30 engagements at the United Nations General Assembly, including in the same place/stage that has been referred to. In addition, he met with the vice president and president of strategic growth of Mastercard, Amb. Jon Huntsman, following a Mastercard panel event on technology diplomacy.
“For clarity, given the way the United Nations General Assembly works, the Honorable Minister is not expected to sit in one place during all sessions, regardless of whether they are relevant to Nigeria's agenda or not. As he indicated on social media, we will publish our weekly summary later today and you will be able to see his full participation in the UN General Assembly last week,” read a statement from the Minister’s media assistant, Henry Osibo.
A photograph sent to PREMIUM TIMES shows the minister speaking on the panel at the Mastercard event.
Efforts to contact Hassan, who also identifies himself as a youth ambassador, proved unsuccessful on Monday evening as messages sent under his name X were not delivered.
Hassan's post was in response to a separate post by another X user, Opeoluwa, who expressed concern about the communications minister's relatively low profile at this year's UN General Assembly compared to his impressive debut 2023.
United Nations General Assembly
“Last year, the UN General Assembly, SM Bosun was one of the stars of the event, at least among the Nigerian delegates. Meetings about meetings. There was even a tour to promote the technology ecosystem in Nigeria, among other commitments he made on behalf of the country. This year there was hardly any news of his ministry, it seems that he did not travel to New York. Is HM Bosun overwhelmed? Is this related to the possible cabinet reshuffle? the poster asked.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that President Bola Tinubu was set to reshuffle members of his cabinet in the coming days.
The reshuffle, according to Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, O'tega Ogra, will be guided by an empirical process using each minister's performance rating.
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“We must also realize that the president's decision to reorganize is also based on empirical evidence. He said it during the retreat of ministers that they were going to have periodic reviews, and the decisions that are extracted from those reviews will be used to make that final decision,” said the presidential press assistant.
Political observers believe the impending shake-up may result in the dismissal of underperforming ministers and the reassignment of others to improve effectiveness.