By Haruna Gimba
Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed has been reappointed as Deputy Secretary-general of the United Nations.
António Guterres on Friday asked Amina Mohammed to serve as Deputy Secretary-general for a second term, shortly after the UN General Assembly re-appointed him for a second term.
Guterres’ second term starts on January 1, 2022, and will run for a period of five years. He succeeded Ban Ki-moon in January 2017 as the ninth secretary-general.
While speaking with journalists after taking the oath of office for a second term, Guterres said he has extended an offer to Amina Mohammed to continue in office.
“After being elected, I have the pleasure to invite the deputy secretary-general to remain in my second mandate and I hope she will accept,” he said.
Amina Mohammed, who was standing behind Guterres at the press briefing, responded with the comment “absolute honour.”
She is a diplomat and politician who is serving as the fifth Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.
She had also served as the special adviser to Ban Ki-moon on post-2015 development planning, which focused on the 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals.
Previously, she was Nigeria’s Minister of Environment from 2015 to 2016 and was a key player in the Post-2015 Development Agenda process.
Amina was born in Liverpool, United Kingdom to a Nigerian veterinarian-officer and a British nurse. She is the eldest of five daughters.
