The United Nations
Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called on member states to pay their
outstanding contributions, as the organisation faces such a “severe financial
crisis” that staff salaries risk not being paid next month.
Guterres said this on Tuesday
while addressing the UN General Assembly to introduce a proposed budget for
2020.
The UN might start November
“without enough cash to cover payrolls,” Guterres warned. “Our work and our
reforms are at risk.”
Some member states that have not
paid their dues include- Nigeria, Israel, Brazil and Iran.
The United States, which is the
biggest donor to the UN, has not also paid its dues in full following the
decision of President Donald Trump to reduce America’s contribution to the UN.
President Muhammadu Buhari sent a
multitude of delegates to this year’s UN General Assembly sessions, including
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Godfrey Onyeama, in September.
At least three governors and six
ministers were on the trip accompanied by a retinue of aides and carry-ons
racking up thousands of dollars in estacodes, according to Africa Report.
Two Nigerian nationals- Deputy
Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed and current President of the UN General
Assembly, Tijjani Bande – are also currently among the UN’s most high-ranking
officials.
Nigeria had in 2017 resolved to
withdraw from 90 out of the 310 international organisations to which it has
financial commitments.
The then Minister of Finance,
Kemi Adeosun, had put Nigeria’s annual commitment to all the international
organisations at $70m.
She had said the country owed all
the organisations about $200m, adding that the decision to withdraw from 90 of
such organisations was aimed at cutting cost.
Guterres called on UN member
states to “recommit to paying your financial obligations on time and in full.”
Of 193 members, 129 had paid
their contributions to the regular budget, according to Guterres’s spokesman,
Stéphane Dujarric.
By the end of September, 70
percent of the total amount needed for budget operations had been paid,
Dujarric said. At the same point last year the UN had received 78 percent of
its budget.
“The secretariat could face a
default on salaries and payments for goods and services by the end of November
unless more Member States pay their budget dues in full,” Dujarric said.
The US is expected to cover 22
percent of the UN’s regular budget, according to a Congressional Research
Service report published in 2018.
According to CNN, the US is
obligated to contribute $674m to the UN regular budget for 2018-2019.
However, it owes a total
$1.055bn, according to the UN spokesman’s office, which is cumulative money
owed from previous years.
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