President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated the 77th United Nations assembly's session's president on his election assuring him of his support and the Nigerian delegation's cooperation.
President Buhari also commended UN's predecessor, H.E Abdullah Shahid for the many remarkable achievements of the General Assembly under his leadership during these challenging times.
He also congratulated the Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres on his ceaseless and untiring efforts to promote peace, security and development, very much in line with his exalted role.
Mr. President, reminded the august gathering that he could have first addressed the August Assembly in 1984, when he was the Military Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but couldn't but feel a sense of great privilege after thirty-one years later to personally address the Assembly in 2015, as the democratically elected President of my country.
President Buhari stated that as he approaches the end of his second and final four-year term, he is reminded of how much has changed in Nigeria, in Africa, and in the world, and yet, how some challenges remain.
The Nigerian leader reminded the gathering of how the world is currently more severely tested by enduring and new global challenges, paramount among which are conflicts increasingly being driven by non-state actors, proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons, terrorism, violent extremism, malignant use of technology, climate change, irregular migration, and disparities in opportunities for improved standards of living.
President Buhari said despite the challenging international environment, the United Nations has proved that it can be strong when the will of its members is harnessed for positive collective action.
President Buhari commended the guiding principles of the United Nations describing body and principles as extraordinary that promotes peace and security, development and human rights.
He said the latest in a chain of events challenging these principles is the Ukraine conflict which has already created strains that are perhaps unprecedented for a generation and warned that such a conflict will have adverse consequences for the globe and in turn hinder the capacity of United Nation's to work together to resolve conflicts elsewhere, especially in Africa, the Middle-East and Asia.
President Muhammadu Buhari expressed regret with the ongoing war in Ukraine which is making it more difficult to tackle the perennial issues that feature each year in the deliberations of the Assembly, such as nuclear disarmament, the right of the Rohingya refugees to return to their homes in Myanmar, and the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations for statehood and reduction of inequalities within and amongst nations.
The African leader warned the gathering of the danger of escalation of the war in Ukraine which further justifies Nigeria’s resolute calls for a nuclear-free world and a universal Arms Trade Treaty, which are also necessary measures to prevent global human disasters.
He urged the United Nation's to find a quick consensus on the Nuclear non-proliferation Treaty with related commitments by nuclear weapon states and stated his firm conviction that the challenges that have come so sharply into focus in recent years and months emphasize the call by Nigeria and many other Member-States for the reform of the Security Council and other UN Agencies.
President Buhari also stated the need more effective and representative structures to meet today’s demands that have since outgrown a system designed for the very different world that prevailed at its foundation in 1945.
He also expressed excitement over the first meeting in New York without the restrictions that characterized the last three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic which ripped across National borders like a toxic whirlwind, leaving in its wake a legacy of pain and loss.
The west African president also praised the incredible level of innovation and creativity from those who devised treatments and vaccines, describing it as laudable achievements underpinned by partnerships and international cooperation.
He also have also praised the bravery, care, and endurance of health professionals at every corner of the globe and noted that in Nigeria, healthcare agencies were able to form effective local management and engaged international partnerships with multinational initiatives like COVAX and private groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
President Buhari informed the gathering of how these efforts helped mitigate the impact of the pandemic and how mercifully Nigerians got spared the images of overwhelmed hospitals, overworked healthcare personnel and high mortality seen in other climes.
He said with the COVID-19, states tried to meet the challenge of a threat that could not be contained within national borders with the results mixed and stated that at its best, cooperation among stakeholders was outstanding as it facilitated solutions that saved countless lives and eased the huge burden of human suffering.
President Buhari stated that the same theme of unilateralism and the promotion of national interest competing with the common cause in the face of an existential threat has been a recurring experience in recent times.
He admitted that in every address he has delivered to the august Assembly, has dwelt on the issue of climate change, especially as it fuels conflicts and complicates food security.
President Buhari disclosed that climate change reduces opportunity and prosperity which, in Africa, Latin America and some parts of Asia also contribute to transnational organized crimes and stated Nigeria’s efforts at achieving Global Net-zero aspiration, by the current Administration by adopting a National Climate Change Strategy that aims to deliver climate change mitigation in a sustainable manner.
Nigeria's president said the measures taken at the national level also required climate justice with Africa and other developing nations producing only a small proportion of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to industrial economies.
President Buhari revealed that African nations were the hardest hit by the consequences of climate change as we see in the sustained droughts in Somalia and floods of unprecedented severity in Pakistan.
He warned that these and other climate-related occurrences are now sadly becoming widely commonplace in the developing world and stated that the world was in effect, literally paying the price for policies that others pursue thus the need for a change.
President Buhari stated that at the Cop 26 in Glasgow last year, he did say that Nigeria was not asking for permission to make the same mistakes that others have made in creating the climate emergency but that rather the country now know what to do to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis and the related energy challenge.
He called on all members nations to be committed to releasing the financing and the technology to create a stable and affordable framework for energy transition stating that development Financial Institutions must prioritise de-risking energy projects to improve access of renewable projects to credit facilities. There should be no countries “left behind” in this equation.
He also reminded the gathering of the issue of rocketing energy costs worldwide are, in part, the product of conflict and supply disruptions to Europe and the Americas.
The Nigerian leader stated that everyone was paying the price therefore, the expectation that the UNGA 77 and the upcoming COP 27 will help galvanise the political will required to drive action towards the fulfilment of the various existing climate change initiatives.
Buhari said another feature of the last decade has been the growing partnership between states and the increasingly influential non-state actors and recapped the different eras witnessed by the body saying there was a time when the most important event at this Assembly was the speech by the world’s most powerful leaders but now a Tweet or Instagram post by an influencer on social or environmental issues may have greater impact.
He reeled out the importance of technology as it offers nearly limitless opportunities and sometimes runs ahead of the imagination of regulators and legislators.
He also paid tribute to the power of the social media as it helps strengthen the foundations of the society and the common values but at its worst, a corrosive digital version of the mob, bristling with intolerance and division.
President Buhari said when he began his tenure as President in 2015, distinctions were drawn between the experience of poorer countries and those apparently better able to manage the avalanche of unfiltered information and revealed that Nigeria has had many unsavoury experiences with hate speech and divisive disinformation with many countries now facing the same challenge, meaning clearly, that data also know no borders.
President Buhari said in confronting these challenges, the body must also come together to defend freedom of speech, while upholding other values that cherished.
He urged members to continue to work for a common standard that balances rights with responsibilities to keep the most vulnerable from harm and help strengthen and enrich communities.
The president of one of Africa's biggest economies called for concerted efforts to protect communities from the scourge of disinformation and misinformation must also be matched with efforts to reduce inequalities and restore the hope of poorer and most vulnerable of communities as a means to stem the many socio-economic conflict drivers with which we are faced.
He said despite firm efforts, humanitarian crises will continue to ravage some of communities. Nigeria, therefore, implores global partners to do more to complement her endeavours and disclosed that, the multifaceted challenges facing most developing countries have placed a debilitating chokehold on their fiscal space.
This he stated equally calls for the need to address the burden of unsustainable external debt by a global commitment to the expansion and extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative to countries facing fiscal and liquidity challenges as well as outright cancellation for countries facing the most severe challenges.
President Buhari told the gathering that Democracy is an idea that crosses time and borders thus, democracy does have its limitations as its wheels of democracy turn slowly and can demand compromises that dilute decisions which sometimes, bends too much to special interests that exercise influence, not always for the general good, in a manner disproportionate to their numbers.
He said his experience tells him that a democratic culture provides a Government with the legitimacy it needs to deliver positive change and revealed that In Nigeria, not only has the country worked to strengthen her democracy, but has also supported it and promoted the Rule of Law in our sub-region.
He said in the Gambia, Nigeria helped guarantee the first democratic transition since independence, in Guinea-Bissau Nigeria also stood by the democratically elected Government when it faced mutiny, while in the Republic of Chad, following the tragic death of its President, the late Idris Deby Itno in the battle field, Nigeria joined forces with its other neighbours and international partners to stabilize the country and encourage the peaceful transition to democracy, a process which is ongoing.
President Muhammadu Buhari restated Nigeria's believe in the sanctity of constitutional term limits and her steadfastly adherance to it in Nigeria.
He said Nigerians and the nation had seen the corrosive impact on values when leaders elsewhere seek to change the rules to stay on in power and hinted on the country's preparations for the up coming general elections next February and promised that at the 78th UNGA, there will be a new face at this podium speaking for Nigeria.
President Buhari stated that Nigeria is strengthened by its diversity and its common values of hard work, enduring faith and a sense of community and revealed that Nigeria have invested heavily to strengthen the framework for free and fair elections and thanked partners for all the support provided election institutions.
He vowed that as President, he has set the goal that one of the enduring legacies he would like to leave is to entrench a process of free, fair and transparent and credible elections through which Nigerians elect leaders of their choice.
The Nigerian president said all the multiple challenges that faces all member states are truly interconnected and urgent, and the choice of this Session's theme “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges” is apt, in keeping with the obligations as Member States of this noble Organisation, thus everyone must do their utmost towards resolving them and pledged his nation's delegation's full and resolute cooperation.
President Buhari also reminded the gathering of the extraordinary times the world found herself with interdependent challenges but enormous opportunities and also the pace of change that seem bewildering, with sometimes a palpable and unsettling sense of uncertainty about the future.
He said his public service have taught him that the globe must keep faith with those values that endure which include, but are not limited values as justice, honour, integrity, ceaseless endeavour, and partnership within and between nations.
The Nigerian president said the strongest moments have always been when United Nations and global family remain true to the basic principles .f tolerance, community, and abiding commitment to peace and goodwill towards all.
