President Bola Tinubu stressed that Nigeria’s weight in the global arena is undeniable, cautioning that neglecting the nation’s role could lead to dire outcomes internationally.
He warned that global success hung in the balance if the optimistic visions advocated by numerous heads of state and governments at the United Nations General Assembly were not put into practice.
‘The world will ignore Nigeria at its own peril. If we engage in talk shops as real challenges wreak real havoc in real-time, we will fail,’ Tinubu told the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, at his UN Headquarters Office in New York City, USA, on Wednesday.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Thursday titled ‘President Tinubu to UN Secretary-General: We must not use human rights advocacy as a weapon to stop African nations from taking steps needed to reform their economies.’
The Nigerian leader pointed out that the United Nations must transition from its current status as a significant platform for discussing global matters to become the preeminent hub for orchestrating worldwide actions.
He went on to say that a situation in which 70 percent of the funding designated for the world’s most impoverished countries is absorbed by administrative and overhead costs would run counter to the organisation’s fundamental objectives of providing help where it is most needed.
He called for concerted, urgent action, saying, ‘The poverty ravaging our continent and the question of security and counter-terrorism requires us to work in close and effective synergy.’
‘The time to strike is now. The time to achieve real results is now. I fought for democracy. I was detained for democracy.’
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‘I am now President and I am determined to prove that democracy can provide the development that our nation and our continent so urgently demands.’
According to the President, he had risen above his own impoverished history, but his determination to eliminate poverty among Nigerians remained steadfast.
‘Trace those of us here to our foundations and you will find that we have ties and links with poverty. We must not be ashamed of that history, but poverty is unacceptable.’
‘I am one of the lucky survivors of gripping poverty. Nigeria is truly a giant — 240 million people and counting with a massive youth population. We are done saying too much. We seek action.’
‘We have arisen out of poverty as individuals, but until our people have arisen out of that, we will not rest, even if it requires decisions at home that make me temporarily unpopular,’ Tinubu said.
Tinubu underscored that African nations were no longer willing to accept scenarios in which wealthy and influential nations exploited human rights advocacy to hinder developing economies from addressing illicit actors who unlawfully extracted and smuggled out the continent’s vast mineral resources, while introducing western-made weapons that benefitted the wealthiest economies in the world, to the detriment of the continent’s stability and wealth creation.
He reasoned, ‘We are facing the great challenge of scavengers ravaging our lands and oppressing our people on illegal mines—taking our gold and mineral wealth back to developed economies by stealth and violence against Nigerians.’
‘Where one’s human right ends, the rights of another begin, most especially for self-protection. If we fight, they say ‘human rights,’ but we will now be aggressive and question motives.’
‘We will stop what is happening in our land. We require your effective collaboration.’
In his reply, the UN Secretary-General stressed that the United Nations was actively pursuing comprehensive reforms aimed at rectifying institutional weaknesses and strengthening the decision-making role of the developing world, which accounted for over 75 percent of UN resources.
Guterres said, ‘We now recognise the need to reform the institution to represent the world as it is today—the questions of debt and SDRs.’
‘The fact that middle-income countries have only marginal access to concessional funding.’
‘In the SDGs Summit, we believe we have a growing political consensus and a declaration in this regard. We are pursuing this with great determination.’
He reassured Tinubu that the UN system was firmly committed to providing ECOWAS with the strongest support amid the wave of military coups in West Africa over the past few months and years.
‘Mr. President, we have high expectations for your presidency after the many bold steps you have taken. Nigeria is an indispensable voice in the sub-region.’
‘We will give you every support needed for your success to be achieved. Your success is Africa’s success and we wish you well,’ the UN leader said.