Tijjani Muhammad-Bande: President of the 74th UN General Assembly
Professor Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, OFR is a Nigerian diplomat, academic and political scientist, and Distinguished Abusite who has served as the President of the United Nations General Assembly from 17 September 2019 – 15 September 2020. He previously served as Vice President from September 2016.
Professor Tijjani Muhammad-Bande who is the permanent representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, also served as the Vice-President of the General Assembly during its 71st session in September 2016.
Mohammad-Bande is the third Nigerian to hold the office after the retired military officer and diplomat, Joseph Garba, and former permanent representative to the UN, Professor Joy Ogwu.
Muhammad-Bande was born on 7 December 1957 and received his early education in Zagga, a town in present-day Kebbi State.
He attended the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1979 before proceeding to Boston University, where he graduated with a Master of Arts in Political Science in 1981. Muhammad-Bande received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto in 1987.
- From a lecturer to Vice Chancellor
Tijjani Muhammad-Bande started at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria, rising from Graduate Assistant in 1980 to full Professor in 1998, and ultimately to Vice-Chancellor, in 2004, a position he held for five years.
- Director General of intergovernmental Centre for governance reform
Between 2000 and 2004, he served as the Director-General of Le Centre Africain de Formation et de Recherche Administratives pour le Dèveloppement (CAFRAD), in Tangier, Morocco. Established by African Governments in 1964, CAFRAD is the continent’s premier intergovernmental Centre for governance reform.
- DG Nigeria’s National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies
From 2010 to 2016, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande held the position of Director-General of Nigeria’s 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 officials of Nigeria’s Armed Forces.
In that capacity, he inspired a marked improvement in the quality of the Institute’s programming and activities, and one of his signature initiatives in that regard was the establishment of the Political Parties Policy and Leadership Development Centre, the first of its kind in Africa.
- Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations
As Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, he worked with colleagues from all regions of the world to achieve common objectives.
- Vice-President of the General Assembly
Tijjani Muhammad-Bande served as the Vice-President of the General Assembly during the 71st session and remains active in several fora, including as Chair of the United Nations Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C34), Member, Advisory Board of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre and Chair of the ECOWAS Group (2018-2019).
- President of the General Assembly
On Monday, 16 September 2019, At a ceremony inside the United Nations General Assembly Hall, Ms Maria Espinosa, the President of the 73rd UN General handed over to Nigeria’s Tijjani Muhammad-Bande to lead the 74th General assembly.
He is married with four children and his hobbies include swimming, football, field hockey, farming and music.
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