At UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, from 9 AM Tuesday
1 April to 8 PM on Thursday 17 April, the Executive Board
of UNESCO will meet for its 179th Session. Nigeria will
take part in the Session as a Member of the Board.
The Executive Board is elected by the General Conference;
and is one of the three constitutional organs of UNESCO.
It consists of 58 Member States with a four-year term of
office. Each State Member appoints one representative and
may also appoint alternates.
The Executive Board examines the programme of work for the
Organization and corresponding budget estimates. It ensures
the effective and rational execution of the programme by
the Director-General.
For more information, please, visit the following page:
Executive Board of UNESCO
_______
173RD SESSION OF UNESCO's EXECUTIVE BOARD:
PARIS, FRANCE,
MONDAY 24TH OCTOBER, 2005:
The newly constituted Executive Board of UNESCO held its first meeting,
which constitutes the 173rd Session of the Board, at the Headquarters
of the Organisation in Paris on Monday 24 October, 2005.
UNESCO CONDOLES NIGERIA:
In his inaugural address at the opening of the Board, His Excellency,
Mr. Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan(Oman), President of the 33rd Session of
the UNESCO General Conference, in his capacity as the Temporary
Chairperson of the Executive Board expressed the condolences of UNESCO,
its Executive Board and on his personal behalf to Nigeria on the double
tragedy that befell the country in the last couple of days following the
conclusion of the 33rd Session of the General Conference of UNESCO.
He referred to the death of the First Lady of Nigeria, Her Excellency
Mrs. Stella Obasanjo after surgery in Spain and two Nigerian delegates;
Mrs. B. Braimah and Dr. A. S. Adegoke who died in a plane crash in
Nigeria while returning home after a successful outing by Nigeria at the
33rd Session of the General Conference of UNESCO.
He called on the Board to rise and observe a minute silence in honour
of the departed Nigerians. He also prayed God to grant the souls of the
departed a perfect and peaceful rest and grant the family members of all
the departed the strength of heart to bear the loss of their loved ones.
In his response the Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of Nigeria to UNESCO,
Professor Michael Omolewa, expressed the gratitude of the Government and
people of Nigeria to the President of the General Conference, UNESCO and
its Executive Board for their kind gesture and expression of condolences
and best wishes to Nigeria in her hour of trial.
In expressing the magnitude of the tragedy that has befallen Nigeria by
the loss of her First Lady, the Ambassador went further to explain to the
Members of the Executive Board that the two delegates, returning home
from the General Conference, who died in the plane crash, Mrs. B. Braimah
and Dr. A.S. Adegoke, were the Supervisory Director of the Department of
the Nigerian Education Ministry charged with overseeing the work of the
National Commission of Nigeria for UNESCO and the Permanent Delegation of
Nigeria to UNESCO and a Director in the National Agency for Science and
Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), an actively participating agency in
the UNESCO-inspired reforms of the science and technology systems of
Nigeria, respectively. Both of them, the Ambassador further explained,
were returning home from the General Conference to bring what has been
discussed and adopted at that Conference to bear on Nigeria’s work and
cooperation with UNESCO.
Finally, the Ambassador assured UNESCO that in everything Nigeria will
continue to work with UNESCO towards the achievement of a better and
more peaceful world and prayed for God’s guidance for a collective
collaboration of the international community of Nations for the
achievement of this noble goal.
ELECTION OF THE BOARD'S CHAIRPERSON:
As it was the turn of Asia and the Pacific region to produce the
Chairperson of the Executive Board, the two candidates put forward
for election, China and Indonesia, both belong to that region. At
the end of the election, which needed a simple majority of 29 votes
to win, China scored 41 votes and Indonesia 16 votes. China
therefore won the election and became the Chairperson of the
Executive Board of UNESCO for the 2005-2007 biennium.
ELECTION OF THE BOARD'S VICE CHAIRPERSON:
The Six Vice-Chairpersons of the Board, one per region, were also
elected but, this time, by consensus arrived at in the different
region. As a result the Vice-Chairpersons elected were as follows:
Group I - Western Europe: United States of America
Group II - Eastern Europe: Czech Republic
Group III - Latin America and the Caribbean: Uruguay
Group IV - Asia and the Pacific: Thailand
Group VA - Africa South of the Sahara: Cameroon
Group VB - Arab States: Morocco
OTHER AGENDA ITEMS:
The Executive Board also took a first look at some of the
decisions of the 33rd Session of the General Conference
especially the methods of work and relationship between
the three organs of UNESCO - the General Conference, the
Executive Board and the Secretariat - and agreed that
substantive work on this and other responsibilities
assigned to the Board by the General Conference will
come up from the 174th Session of the Board.
Adjournment The Board adjourned until its next
meeting scheduled for April, 2006.
_______
NIGERIA ELECTED TO UNESCO EXECUTIVE BOARD
On the 14th of October, 2005, Nigeria was elected to the Executive Board
of UNESCO for the next four years. Nigeria's present term on the
Executive Board of UNESCO will therefore expire in 2009.
Concerning the Executive Board election, UNESCO news read:
"The 191 Member States of UNESCO, assembled for the 33rd session of the
General Conference, UNESCO’s supreme ruling body, today elected 29
new representatives to the 58-member Executive Board, the other
governing body of the Organization, in one round of voting.
Candidates for election are divided into five electoral groups.
The following States were elected today (in descending order
of votes obtained):
Group I: Norway, Portugal, Luxembourg, United Kingdom
Group II: Lithuania, Serbia and Montenegro, Azerbaijan
Group III: Bahamas, Colombia, Saint Kitts and Nevis,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Brazil, Mexico
Group IV: China, Japan, Thailand, India, Fiji, Nepal
Group Va: South Africa, Ethiopia, Benin, Nigeria, Togo,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda
Group Vb: Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria
The members of the Executive Board are elected for four
years. The candidates elected today join the 29 other Member
States, elected to the Board at the last session of the
General Conference (2003), whose term expires in 2007:
Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, United States of America
(Group I); Czech Republic, Hungary, Russian Federation,
Slovenia (Group II); Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay, Venezuela
(Group III); Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka (Group IV); Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo,
Ghana, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia (Group Va); Bahrain, Morocco,
Yemen (Group Vb).
The Executive Board meets twice a year to examine the
implementation of programmes adopted by the General
Conference. The new Executive Board will meet after
the 33rd session of the General Conference on October
24 to elect its Bureau, including the chairperson,
vice-chairs, and chairpersons of commissions and
committees."
Please note that: The 1991 UNESCO amendment modified Article V of the Constitution,
with respect to the status of members of the Board, which with effect from the
27th session of the General Conference (1993) consists of Member States rather
than of persons (26 C/Resolution 19.3). To view Nigeria's official relations
with UNESCO and the latest status of the country's position on the UNESCO
Executive Board, please go to this page:
Nigeria's Official Relations With UNESCO
In addition also, the Executive Board pages can be viewed at:
UNESCO Execuive Board
 |
__
Homepage of Delegation
