By Meletus EZE
Nigerians who are appointed to serve in various capacities at the United Nations have pledged to represent the country well and not to let her down.
The appointees are Mrs Ahunna Eziakonwa, UN Development Programme’s Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Africa, and Ms Fatima Kyari-Mohammed, the Permanent Observer of African Union Mission to the UN.
They made the pledge in separate interviews at a reception in honour of Nigerians working at the UN at Nigeria House in New York.
The Nigerian born United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Chief, Eziakonwa, pledged to make the country proud in her capacity as the world body agency’s chief for the African region.
Eziakonwa, who was UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Ethiopia since 2015, also served as UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Uganda and Lesotho.
“It’s a big responsibility and I feel like I need to make this country proud and that is a huge burden because Nigeria has given me everything that I have.
“This is a country where I was born and educated. So I feel a certain responsibility to also make Nigeria proud through my successful term in this position,” she said.
She said that she also had the responsibility to make Africa great as UNDP is working to accelerate the economic development and end poverty on the continent
The UNDP chief said that one of her roles was to help the continent to oversee the affairs that would make the agency achieve the goal.
On her part, Kyari-Mohammed said that her foremost responsibility was to make Nigeria proud and project the image of the country positively.
“Of course, first and foremost, I am a proud Nigerian. I love my country and I have to be able to represent it the best way I possibly can.
“So as a first step, even as a representative of the African Union, the first thing you are thinking about is to ensure that the pride of your country is projected.
“But also to ensure that the common issues that we have as a country as members of the same continent are projected in such a way that people understand it because we are misunderstood as a continent,” she said.
The AU official to the UN also said that as AU representative she would represent the continent well.
“As a representative of the African Union, I have a responsibility to ensure that our common African positions are well articulated, they are understood.
“We will make sure that we provide the platform for people to be able to engage with us, to support our member states, each and everyone of them,” she said.
