Tijjani Muhammad-Bande


Tijjani Muhammad-Bande OFR is a Nigerian diplomat, academic and political scientist. He is the President of the United Nations General Assembly, in office since 17 September 2019; after previously served as Vice President from September 2016.
He is also the Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations. From 2010 to 2016, he was the director general of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru, and was the Vice Chancellor of the Usmanu Danfodio University from 2004 to 2009.

Early life

Muhammad-Bande was born and educated in Zagga, a town in present-day Kebbi State.

Education

He attended Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria where he received a bachelors degree in political science in 1979 before proceeding to Boston University, where he graduated with a Master of Arts in Political Science in 1981. Muhammad-Bande received a Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Toronto in 1987.

Career

In the 1980s, he taught at the Usman Danfodio University in Sokoto and rose to the rank of professor in 1998. Between 2000 to 2004, Bande served as the Director-General of the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development in Tangier, Morocco. Between 2004 and 2009, he served as Vice Chancellor of Usman Danfodio University before being appointed Director-General of Nigeria's National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, a position he held from 2010 to 2016.

Personal life

He is married with four children and his hobbies include swimming, football, field hockey, farming and music.