The president of the United Nation’s General Assembly, Your
Excellencies, Heads of States and governments, Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
On behalf of the government and people of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, I congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election to preside
over the 72nd session of the United Nations’ General Assembly. I also
wish to express my country’s appreciation to the Secretary General of
the United Nations, Mr. Antonio Guterres, for his steady leadership and
this body’s dedication to the search for a peaceful and equitable world
through the charter of the United Nations.
Every year we gather here to deliberate on the affairs of the world.
Sometimes we implement what we talked about and move humanity an inch
closer to that ideal relationship as members of the world community. At
other times, we have our talks and end up not implementing anything to
the disappointment of millions and millions of people around the world
who look up to this body to provide leadership in a world that is
constantly oscillating between advancement and doom. In all of these, we
often forget that what we have accomplished in the last 72 years is
unprecedented in the annals of human history. The world may be badly
governed, but the fact that there is a form of governance agreed upon by
all is an accomplishment in and of itself. So, I congratulate us all.
Mr. President, as we say in Nigeria, he who does not look ahead remains
behind. Our charge now is to aspire to make this world better for the
next generation. We, the generation that knows how the world was before
the United Nations was formed, must bequeath to those coming behind us a
better United Nations that would be in a position to deal with the
challenges of tomorrow. To accomplish that, we need to fast forward the
reformation long proposed in this chamber.
To restructure or not to restructure is no longer the question – the
United Nations must be restructured for it to remain relevant in years
to come. How to restructure the United Nations should be our priority
number one. Several ideas are out there. All that we need is to get them
together and agree on what works for majority of the people of this
world. As a leader of one of the leading African nations, I want to see a
United Nation’s Security Council that is expanded to have one or two
African permanent members with veto powers. It is a fair thing to do –
one that will benefit the world by giving it a chance for a more
balanced outlook to matters of importance to us all. As we have learned
in Nigeria, sometimes you need to change in order to remain the same. It
is the first principle of renewal.
In the continent of Africa, the post-colonial era is going into a new
phase. In another generation, there would not be any African alive who
could remember when European powers once governed Africa. That emerging
generation is creating new challenges for the African order left behind
by the colonial powers. My generation is managing that challenge with
the hope of leaving behind nation states that are less prone to crisis.
We cannot continue to pretend that conflicts that emerged as a result of
our colonial heritage have been resolved. Across our continent, they
are still there. In some cases, bad governance is exacerbating these
conflict points.
Here are some of the things we are doing to make sure that we bequeath
to the upcoming generations of Africans a continent that is healthy,
wealthy and well grounded in law and order. We are close to enshrining
in the African Union’s creed the fundamental principle of democracy,
which says that a credible people’s mandate should determine who governs
any nation across Africa. We are taking it a step further by pushing to
make that mandate limited. We believe that Africa has numerous talents
and no man or woman should be in the leadership saddle for an inordinate
time. We are also working hard to expand the African market and open it
up for our people to benefit from the free flow of goods, services and
knowledge across the continent. It is the only path to prosperity for
over one billion people in Africa yearning for opportunities to show the
world the potentials they have.
As Africans, we will continue to build partnerships across the world. As
we stretch our hands out for friendship, we do so with the expectation
that our hands would be met not with pity and charity but with respect
and dignity. Africans have a lot to offer the world, not just its
minerals and human potentials. We are committed to resetting that old
perception with a new one that proclaims Africa as a land ready for
business. Those who have taken the steps to invest in Africa can attest
to the mutual benefit that comes with it.
In areas of infrastructural developments, research and security, we
urgently need a respectable and mutually beneficial partnership with the
world. Integration of the continent and expansion of prosperity can
only come when there are good roads, constant electricity, clean water
and descent healthcare for our people. The United States government, The
European Union, private investors and non-governmental organizations
are getting involved in these ventures. Africa will continue to welcome
the world in every enterprise that will uplift our people.
It is only when we add value and build capital that we will reduce the
grim statistics of Africa’s child mortality rate from preventable
deaths. It is only then that we can reduce deaths on the Mediterranean
Sea of African youths running away from conflicts and poverty. The
challenge is ours. We accept the responsibility. As in the past, we know
that we do well when we share skills and expertise. That was how we
were able to work together with partners around the world to reduce the
AIDS epidemic. That was how, in the last two decades, we were able to
defeat diseases like polio, tuberculosis and ringworm in several parts
of Africa. Africans have always been appreciative of the assistance we
receive. We have also paid back to the international community with our
involvement in Peace Keeping missions across the world.
Mr. President, on matters of security, there is no gainsaying that when
one part of the globe is insecure, all parts of the globe become
potential victims of that insecurity. The activities of several extreme
groups jeopardize not just the nation where they emanated but everyone
far and in-between. The free movement of fighters and weapons has all
but made the issue of security a global problem. As we have learned in
Nigeria, you compromise the security of the whole when components of the
sum are not fully valued, appreciated and integrated with the whole.
We in Africa have been partners in the quest for a secure world. We will
continue to be committed to the mission until all threats to peace
across the world are eliminated. In Nigeria, we have degraded the
capability of the Boko Haram terrorist group. We are on the path to
eliminating the last of their safe heavens. We have also secured the
release of some of our abducted Chibok Girls. We are working hard to
secure the release of the rest and to finish the job of closing the Boko
Haram chapter and get the North East of Nigeria back to a peaceful
region that it used to be.
Along this line, Mr. President, we at the United Nations need to do more
to bring about a more equitable world where a large group of people
does not feel suppressed, undervalued and alienated. Last year, I talked
about the need for Palestinians to have their own state. Progress has
not been made on that matter in the past one year. It is one of those
problems that we must not punt to another generation. Any glaring
unfairness, like the Palestinian case, diminishes our moral authority to
preach and lecture the world on other cases. As we have learned in
Nigeria, our stubborn self-righteousness blocks our ears from hearing
the cry of those that we left on the fringe of society and blocks our
eyes from seeing and reading the handwriting on the wall.
In the urgent matter of the nuclear stand off with North Korea, we hope
that calm heads prevail. And as our ancestors say, that the disobedient
fowl does not wait to be put into a pot of soup before it obeys. We in
Africa hope that North Korea and, indeed, all the nations with nuclear
weapons will hasten to eliminate them all. We don’t aspire to have
nuclear weapons in the continent of Africa, the cradle of mankind. We
will preserve Africa in case the nuclear-armed nations of the world
decide to destroy themselves in their so-called mutual assured
destruction. Should that happen, be assured that there will be a place
in Africa for those of you who will be lucky enough to survive your
self-inflicted annihilation. While we do not wish for that, we have this
saying in Nigeria that, “na when soldier slap you, you go sabi say
police na your friend.”
Mr. President, Nigeria is always willing to work with the United Nations
and other international organizations to advance human progress. May
the United Nations continue on its challenging task of being an
instrument for peace, and may the goals that this General Assembly “for
peace and a decent life for all on a sustainable planet” be accomplished
in our time.
Thank you all for listening.
Muhammadu Buhari,
President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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Written by: Rodolph Nwankwo.
N/B: This article is not in anyway affiliated with President Muhamamdu Buhari.
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