Nigeria Elected to UN Security Council

After months of canvassing for Nigeria's inclusion in the United Nations Security Council, the country, Thursday, finally got elected to occupy one of the non-permanent seats on the council. Also elected were Chad, Chile, Lithuania and Saudi Arabia. According to the Washington Post, Saudi Arabia and Chad easily won the seats despite criticisms from human rights groups.

Nigerian and four other candidates, endorsed by regional groups, faced no opposition, as there were no contested races for the first time in several years.

Hailing Nigeria's inclusion as a Security Council member, President Goodluck Jonathan welcomed the development and conveyed Nigeria's appreciation of the support of all member countries of the UN who voted for the country's election.

The five new non-permanent members were elected in the first round of voting by the 193-member General Assembly.

Lithuania was the top vote-getter with 187 votes followed by Nigeria and Chile with 186 votes, Chad with 184 votes and Saudi Arabia with 176 votes.

Security Council seats are highly coveted because they give countries a strong voice in matters dealing with international peace and security in places like Syria, Iran, North Korea as well as the UN's far-flung peacekeeping operations.

The 15-member council includes five permanent members with veto power - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.

The five countries elected yesterday will assume their posts on January 1, 2014 and serve through the end of 2015. They will replace Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo.

Philippe Bolopion, United Nations Director for Human Rights Watch, denounced the election of Chad, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

"The prestige of a seat at the world's foremost diplomatic table should prompt the new members to get their houses in order," he said.

"Chad should put an end to the recruitment of child soldiers, which earned it a spot on the UN list of shame," he said. "Saudi Arabia should end its crackdown on human rights activists and grant women their full rights," he added.