Key Points

• Nigeria and 144 others have fully paid 2025 UN dues.

• Payments strengthen UN budget and operational stability globally.

• Remaining member states urged to clear arrears promptly.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday that Nigeria is one of 145 UN member states that will pay all of their dues by 2025. Guterres told the Fifth Committee in New York that Nigeria paid its dues on September 25, which helped ease the organization’s growing financial problems along with other countries.

The UN is still waiting for money from major economies like the US and Russia, even though some key members, like China, have already paid. China paid on October 29.

Guterres said that unpaid bills are now close to $1.6 billion, which means the organisation has to work with a budget that is much lower than what was approved.

He said, “Liquidity is still fragile, and this problem will continue no matter what the final budget is,” pointing to “unacceptable arrears” owed by member states. He said that chronic late payments make it harder for the UN to do its job well, even though the General Assembly’s main committee is making budget cuts.

UN plans to cut its budget by a lot while it is behind on payments

The secretary-general talked about changes that could be made to the UN’s regular budget for 2026. The budget is currently $3.238 billion, which is 15.1% less than it was in 2025.

The UN80 initiative’s structural changes are causing the cuts. For example, 2,681 jobs will be cut, which is an 18.8% decrease from the current number of staff. Additionally, special political missions will see more than 21% cuts because of closures and streamlined staffing.

The plan calls for combining payroll processing into three global duty stations, setting up shared administrative hubs in New York and Bangkok, and moving some functions to places where they are less expensive.

Lease terminations have already saved $126 million since 2017, and they are expected to save another $24.5 million each year until 2028. The costs of moving and separating people once are expected to be $5.4 million.

Juliana Gaspar Ruas, chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, welcomed the changes but pointed out that the methods used were not always the same and that the time frame for reviewing the new estimates was too short. Several delegations also said that the proposed cuts would hurt junior and general service staff more than other types of staff, which raises concerns about the balance of the workforce.

Guterres stresses development promises even when there are limits

Guterres said that frontline development programs, especially those that help Africa, should stay mostly safe. He said that the most cuts are being made to back-office jobs, not delivery jobs that are needed.

He said, “Our commitment to development is absolutely fundamental, and our commitment to Africa is absolutely fundamental.” The secretary-general said that there has already been underspending in 2025 because there isn’t enough money, and he said that vacancies are not strategically motivated but are instead due to budget constraints.

The full General Assembly will have to approve the 2026 budget later this month. Member states are being urged to pay their dues on time to keep things running smoothly.