Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan was respected globally for the way he handled the 2015 general elections in which he contested but lost to the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari has been appointed by the United Nations -UN as its Global Crises Envoy.
Nigeria’s former leader’s new appointment is only comparable to the role played by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who after leaving office was named the Envoy to the Middle East for the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Russia.
The 63 years old former Nigerian President becomes the first amongst the crops of African former leaders that the UN would ever honour with such an international role.
According to the body, “a New UN Envoy is an Opportunity for a New Approach in global crisis, for example in Yemen. “The most important thing here is more than who gets the job but how UN member states and the mediator perceive its purpose, interpretations of which have limited the UN to the flawed two-party framework adopted since 2015.
The former Nigerian leader was appointed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a special envoy to lead the sub-regional body’s mediation mission in Mali that is expected to facilitate dialogue with all principal stakeholders in Mali, including President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, opposition leaders, civil society as well as religious organizations, towards resolving the worsening socio-political situation in the West African country.
With his latest appointment, former President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to liaise with the members of the global crisis interventionist and mediation body under the UN platform that include the superpowers – the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), China, France, Russia, and the United Nations to ensure that peace is returned to crisis spots around the world.
