JAMB 2015 Government · Question 34

The first African Secretary-General of the United Nations is

Options

A.Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali
B.Joe Garba
C.Ibrahim Gambari
D.Kofi Annan

Answer: A. Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali

Explanation written with AI and checked against the answer key

Analyze the question: It asks for the first African to hold the office of UN Secretary-General.

Concept: The UN Secretary-General is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations. The office-holders so far include:

Trygve Lie (Norway), 1946-1952
Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden), 1953-1961
U Thant (Burma/Myanmar), 1961-1971
Kurt Waldheim (Austria), 1972-1981
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Peru), 1982-1991
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt), 1992-1996: the first African
Kofi Annan (Ghana), 1997-2006: the second African, and the first Sub-Saharan African
Ban Ki-moon (South Korea), 2007-2016
António Guterres (Portugal), 2017 to date

Checking the options:

A. Boutros Boutros-Ghali: Egyptian, took office in January 1992. He was the first African Secretary-General.
B. Joe Garba: A Nigerian diplomat and former External Affairs Commissioner. He was President of the UN General Assembly (1989-1990), but never Secretary-General.
C. Ibrahim Gambari: A Nigerian diplomat who served as a UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy, but never Secretary-General.
D. Kofi Annan: Ghanaian, and the second African in the role, so he was not the first.

Answer: The first African Secretary-General was Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, which is option A.

Exam tip: Remember "Boutros before Kofi": Egypt (North Africa) came first in 1992, then Ghana (Sub-Saharan Africa) in 1997. JAMB often tests the difference between the first African (Boutros-Ghali) and the first Black African (Kofi Annan), so read the wording carefully.

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