Nigerian Minister debunks allegation of absenteeism, poor representation

The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, has debunked allegations 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 failing to attend two important meetings that had in attendance world leaders and key stakeholders in the digital and innovations sector.

Mr Hassan alleged that the minister’s absence led to the loss of badly needed grants and support for Nigeria.

“Half of UNGA was about digital tech, but he barely attended the high-level meetings,” the X user wrote of Mr Tijani.

“I was present in two which he didn’t attend and were very important and mobilised huge resources. One pointer was the high-level meeting, with no even representation.

“The Mastercard CEO & other big investors were at a roundtable which Nigeria was absent & more than 20 other world leaders were present. Our nation considered it a priority to miss that, of which 1.5 billion was committed at the event. We are now rallying with a country director,” he said.

In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the communications minister explained that the X post was merely an attempt to trend a lie.

Mr Tijani explained that not only did he attend more than 30 meetings at the UNGA79, he was also at the Mastercard panel event on Tech Diplomacy and

engaged with the Vice Chairman & President of Strategic Growth at Mastercard, Jon Huntsman, who promised to support Nigeria.

He noted that ministers attending United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings had a packed schedule that spanned several days, making it impossible to stay in one meeting for the entire day. He said they must strategically jump between various sessions to maximise their participation.

In a separate message sent to PREMIUM TIMES by an aide to the minister, Mr Bosun said he participated fully in major events and meetings.

“The minister had over 30 engagements at UNGA, including in the same location /stage that has been referred to. In addition, he engaged with the Vice Chairman & President of Strategic Growth at Mastercard, Amb. Jon Huntsman, following a Mastercard Panel event on Tech Diplomacy.

“For clarity, with the way UNGA works, the Hon Minister is not expected to sit in one location all through sessions irrespective of whether they are relevant to Nigeria’s agenda or not. As he’s indicated on social (media), we will release our week in review later today and you will be able to see his full participation at UNGA last week,” a statement by the Minister’s media aide, Henry Osibo, read.

A photograph sent to PREMIUM TIMES shows the minister speaking on the panel of the Mastercard event.

Efforts to reach Mr Hassan, who also identifies as a youth ambassador, proved abortive Monday evening as messages sent to his X handle failed to deliver.

Mr Hassan’s post was in response to a separate post made by another X user, Opeoluwa, who raised concerns about the communications minister’s relatively low profile at this year’s UNGA compared to his impressive debut in 2023.

“Last year UN general assembly, HM Bosun was one of the stars of the event at least amongst the Nigerian delegates. Meetings upon meetings. There was even a road show to promote the tech ecosystem in Nigeria amongst other commitments he got on behalf of the country. This year, there was barely any news from his ministry, you would think he didn’t travel to New York. Is HM Bosun overwhelmed? Is this related to the potential cabinet reshuffle?” the poster queried.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that President Bola Tinubu was set to reshuffle members of his cabinet in coming days.

The reshuffle according to the 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 also need to realise that the president’s decision to reshuffle is also based on empirical evidence. He said it during the retreat for the ministers that they were going to have periodic reviews, and the decisions that are extracted from these reviews will be used to make that final decision,” the presidential media aide said.

Political observers believe that the impending shake-up may result in the sack of under-performing ministers and the reassignment of others to improve effectiveness.