By Ken Chiwendu
President Bola Tinubu has advocated for reforms in the United Nations ,UN.to include expansion of the UN Security council where Nigeria and other countries in Africa can have permanent seats.
The president also urged reforms in the international financial architecture to include comprehensive debt forgiveness from creditors and multilateral financial institutions for Nigeria and other developing countries.
Tinubu stated this Tuesday while addressing world leaders during the General Debate of the ongoing 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly,UNGA at the UN headquarters in New York, United States.
Tinubu who is the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of States and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was represented by his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima.
At the high-level annual global event, the President asked for debt relief to enable developing countries to focus on developmental projects for their citizens.
“We must ensure that any reform of the international financial system includes comprehensive debt relief measures, to enable sustainable financing for development. Countries of the global South cannot make meaningful economic progress without special concessions and a review of their current debt burden,” he said in a statement released by the Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media & Communications (Office of The Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha on Tuesday.
Tinubu called on world leaders to recommit themselves to multilateralism by deepening relations among member states of the UN in line with the principles of inclusivity, equality and cooperation.
This, he said, is the surest guarantee of global action against existential challenges faced by the international community.
The President decried the steep descent to singularity and nationalism which, according to him, are undermining the quest for peaceful and collective resolution of global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, poverty, food crises, hyper-inflation, nuclear proliferation and grinding debt burden, among others.
He reminded the world leaders that the United Nations stands for multilateralism which represents inclusiveness, anchored on the tripod of peace, sustainable development and human rights.
While expressing worry about the main objectives of the UN and how it could sustain the global body’s relevance and resilience, He noted that the pillars of the organisation are at risk of being broken against the principles of inclusivity, equality and cooperation which it stands for.
“Today, these pillars of our organisation are threatened. They risk being broken by the relentless pursuit of individual national priorities rather than the collective needs of the nations that are assembled here today.
“While commitment to multilateralism offers us the surest guarantee of global action to address the existential challenges we face, singularity and nationalism are undermining the aspirations towards the peaceful and collective resolution of such challenges.
“From last year’s summit, and indeed from previous years, we have carried over the numerous challenges of terrorism, armed conflict, inequality, poverty, racial discrimination, human rights abuses, food crises, hunger, irregular migration, piracy, global pandemics, hyper-inflation, nuclear proliferation, grinding debt burden, climate change, and a host of other vexations.
“The continued manifestation of these challenges testifies to our failings rather than to any lofty achievements on our part. Billions of dollars are being committed to the prosecution of wars and the fanning of the embers of conflict.” The president stated.
He reaffirmed what he termed “Nigeria’s steadfast commitment to the deepening of multilateralism,” just as it did 65 years ago when it “joined the United Nations as the 99th Member-State.
“We remain committed to that “desire to remain friendly with all nations and participate actively in the works of the United Nations”, as expressed by our founding Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.”
President Tinubu also lamented what he described as the return of unconstitutional changes of government and forceful military coups in some African countries, saying these coups attest to how fragile democracy could become when it is not supported by economic development and sustained peace and security.
He called for utmost concern in deliberations at the high-level segments of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, as the forceful changes of government have led to “the impatience in cities and villages at the sometimes slow and grinding turn of the wheel of democracy.
“Our people need employment. They need decent livelihoods. They desire good and affordable education and healthcare for their children and families. They need to live in healthy, safe and secure environments. They need hope and they need opportunity,” he added.
The president called for the recovery of the proceeds of corruption and illicit financial flows, maintaining that the return of such funds to countries of origin “is a fundamental principle of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
“Therefore, the international community must promote practical measures to strengthen international cooperation to recover and return stolen assets and to eradicate safe havens that facilitate illicit flows of funds from developing countries to the developed economies,” he added.
On insecurity, President Tinubu noted that the menace is plunging citizens into untold hardship and misery that, in turn, affects the people’s confidence in democracy, emphasizing that bringing back confidence in democratic rule and constitutional order is the duty of the international community.
“We cannot build durable societies with the threat of terrorism, banditry and insurgency growing in our countries and regions. Indeed, violent extremism remains an existential threat to both national and international peace, security and development. We are making concerted efforts to contain and roll back this threat,” he said.
President Tinubu however assured that the “High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting hosted by Nigeria in April 2024 and its outcome – “The Abuja Declaration” – promises to provide solutions to the challenges presented by terrorists and insurgents.”
He also warned against the dangers of climate change, describing it as a driver of insecurity that poses a veritable challenge to sustainable development, even as he recalled the devastating flood in Nigeria which submerged large areas of the country, “including one of our largest cities, Maiduguri, in the North-East.”
The Nigerian leader implored the international community to stick to the implementation of the commitments made at the various COP meetings, pointing out that failure to do so would amount to postponing the inevitable, as no country is immune from the effects of climate change.
The President who observed that conflict prevention is the main reason why the UN was established regretted that the task of preventing these conflicts has become arduous following their normalisation “when even the condemnation of violence and civilian casualties, and calls for a ceasefire, are somehow regarded as controversial”.
He listed some of the root causes of conflicts including poverty, hunger, ignorance, inequality and exclusion, as well as other forms of injustice, just as he cited the conflict in Sudan and the war in Gaza and other Palestinian territories.
“What this tells us is that the international community has failed to live up to the spirit and aspirations of the United Nations to rid the world of inequality, violence and domination of one people by another. Justice is antithetical to revenge,” he stated.
