UN Permanent Seat: Dogara confirms China’s support for Nigeria

ABUJA – The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr.  Yakubu Dogara has revealed that China is rightly in support of Nigeria’s quest to occupy a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
China’s position was made known by the Speaker of the People’s Parliament of China, Mr. Zhang Dejiang, during a meeting with the Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Mr.    Yakubu Dogara.
According to a statement by Dogara’s office yesterday, the two presiding officers met in New York, United States, on Sunday.
The Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Turaki Hassan, who signed the statement, quoted Dejiang as giving his country’s position after Dogara had pleaded with him to support Nigeria’s bid.
The statement said Dogara had urged China to use its influence as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to democratise the organ.
“We appreciate China for its effort to democratise the institution of the United Nations and appeal that you support our bid to occupy a permanent seat on the Security Council,” the Nigerian speaker had stated.
Dejiang, in his response, told Dogara that China believed Nigeria was a leading developing country that should sit on the UN Security Council.
“We support the legitimate demands of Nigeria for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, together with the reform of the UN,” the statement further quoted the Chinese speaker as saying.
It explained that Dejiang and Dogara had met on the sidelines of the ongoing convention of the Inter-Parliamentary Union holding in New York.
China, the US, Britain, Russia and France are the five permanent members of the UNSC.
But, of late, developing countries, particularly Nigeria, India and Brazil, have intensified campaign for the expansion of the council to accommodate more members.
Meanwhile, Dejiang also assured Dogara that China would look into Nigeria’s appeal to China to review its five per cent tax on the country’s agricultural exports.
The Chinese speaker also condemned the wave of insurgency in Nigeria, assuring that his country would give Nigeria the necessary support to win the war against insurgency.