Tinubu Skips UNGA Again. Shettima Steps Up for the Third Straight Year

Tinubu skips UNGA Shettima third year as President Bola Tinubu will not be in New York for 81st United Nations General Assembly and VP Kashim Shettima leads delegation.

Tinubu skips UNGA for the third year in a row. President Bola Tinubu will not be in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly. Vice President Kashim Shettima will lead Nigeria’s delegation instead.Tinubu skips UNGA for the third year in a row. President Bola Tinubu will not be in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly. Vice President Kashim Shettima will lead Nigeria’s delegation instead.

This is no longer a one-off. It is now a clear pattern. The world’s biggest diplomatic gathering is happening without Nigeria’s president for the third consecutive time. Leaders from across the globe will take the stage, deliver speeches, hold private meetings, and push their countries’ interests. Nigeria’s top seat will be empty once more.

The United Nations General Assembly is not just another conference. It is the main annual meeting where almost every country shows up. Presidents and prime ministers use it to speak directly to the world, make new contacts, and sometimes settle quiet deals on the side. When a country’s leader stays away year after year, people notice. Allies notice. Critics notice. Investors notice.

Tinubu skips UNGA and the absence is already drawing sharp reactions. Atiku Abubakar has spoken on the matter. He says ordinary Nigerians are the ones paying the economic price for this repeated decision. His point is simple. When the president does not show up at the highest level, the country loses chances to push its case on trade, security, debt, and investment. Those missed chances, he argues, eventually land on the backs of citizens struggling with the cost of living.

Omoyele Sowore goes further. He claims the president is not simply on holiday in France. According to him, Tinubu is staying away to avoid possible trouble in the United States. The presidency has not confirmed or denied those claims. So far, there has been no detailed public explanation for the decision. The only clear fact is that Shettima will travel in the president’s place.

This is not the first time a Nigerian vice president has stepped in. But three years in a row raises questions that go beyond one trip. Why does Tinubu skips UNGA keep happening? Is it health? Is it political calculation? Is it something else entirely? The answers remain private. What the public sees is the empty seat and the growing list of years without the president on that stage.

Shettima will deliver Nigeria’s message. He will meet other leaders. He will speak on the country’s behalf. That is his job as vice president. Yet the optics still matter. In diplomacy, presence itself is a signal. When the president stays home while others arrive, the signal is that Nigeria is choosing a lower profile at a time when the country needs every opening it can get.

Nigeria faces real pressures. The economy is under strain. Security challenges continue in several regions. The country needs partners, investment, and a stronger voice on global issues that affect it directly. Missing the main annual gathering three times in a row makes that work harder. Other countries will still talk to Nigeria. But they will talk to the second-in-command, not the man at the top.

Supporters of the president may argue that governing at home is more important than flying to New York every September. They may say the vice president is capable and the work continues. That argument has weight. Running a country is demanding. Still, the pattern remains. Three years is long enough for people to start asking whether this is the new normal.

The questions will not go away after the assembly ends. Why does Tinubu skips UNGA year after year? What does it signal to the rest of the world about Nigeria’s priorities? And what does it mean for a country that needs every diplomatic chance available? Those questions will follow Shettima to New York and stay with the country long after the speeches are over.

For now, the facts are plain. Tinubu will not attend. Shettima will lead the team. The presidency has offered no detailed public reason. Atiku and Sowore have already put their criticisms on the record. Nigerians are left to watch another UN General Assembly pass without their president in the room.

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