President Buhari's speech
obviously won the admiration of every delegate at the 70th United
Nations General Assembly, judging by the rousing applause he received.
His
fairly long speech touched on various subjects, including efforts put
in place by his government to curb corruption and defeat Boko-Haram.
Here is what the President said. This excerpt of his speech was obtained from PM News.
ADDRESS BY MUHAMMADU BUHARI,
PRESIDENT, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE 70TH SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
NEW YORK, 28TH SEPTEMBER 2015.
President of the General Assembly,
Secretary–General
Your Excellencies Heads of State and Governments
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I
would like, Mr. President, on behalf of the Government and people of
Nigeria, to congratulate you and your country on your election to
preside over the 70th session of the U.N. General Assembly.
2. May
I also express appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Sam Kahamba Kutesa
and the Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon both of whom worked
tirelessly to ensure proper articulation of the post-2015 Development
Agenda and to maintain the focus and commitment to the ideals of the
United Nations. I thank Mr. Ban Ki-moon for his recent visit to Nigeria
when we held very useful discussions.
Mr. President,
3. Fifty-five
(55) years ago almost to the day, my great predecessor, Nigeria’s first
Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa stood on this forum to
declare Nigeria’s desire to develop and maintain friendly relations with
all countries. He also assured the world of our country’s commitment to
uphold the principles upon which the United Nations was founded.
4. Mr.
President, my country, Nigeria, has lived by this conviction, even when
judgement went against us in territorial disputes with our neighbours.
We respected those judgements and abided by them as a mark of respect
for the rule of law and the charter of this organization. Nigeria’s
record in the U.N. peacekeeping is second to none. I myself as a young
officer in the Nigerian Army did tours of duty in Congo and the Lebanon.
5. Nigeria
has contributed to U.N. peacekeeping efforts in Ethiopia, Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Darfur. Furthermore, we are proud of our contributions
to other activities of the U.N. including the Peace Building Commission,
the Human Rights Council and security sector reform.
Mr. President,
6. We
are gratified to note that most countries have pledged commitment to
the post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) with their means of implementation. The successor frameworks of
the MDGs have come, Mr. President, with lofty aspirations and if I may
say so, heroic assumptions! Nonetheless, they target development
cooperation by the international community up to the year 2020. And they
deserve universal support.
7. This is because the SDGs mirror the hopes and aspirations of much of the world.
8. I
should stress that for the newly adopted SDGs to be truly global, they
must be practical. In this regard, the SDGs’ core objectives of poverty
eradication and reducing inequalities must be met within the framework
of a revitalized global partnership support by concrete policies and
actions as outlined in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.
9. Luckily,
these two core objectives of the SDGs are precisely at the centre of
Nigeria’s new Administration’s agenda. It must be emphasized, Mr.
President, that Foreign Direct Investment supplemented where suitable by
Official Development Assistance as outlined in the Addis Ababa Agenda
are necessary, though not sufficient, conditions for accelerated
development in countries that are trying to catch up.
10. In
this connexion, I would like to appeal to industrialized countries to
redeem their pledge of earmarking 0.7% (nought point seven percent) of
their GDP to development assistance. With the sole exception of the UK,
all concerned countries have, I am told to meet the UN requirement. But,
Mr. President, with SDGs we have the opportunity to improve the lives
of people not just in the developing world but in all nations.
11. The Secretary General himself has grouped the SDGs into what he calls six “essential elements” namely:
• Dignity
• Prosperity
• Justice
• Partnership
• Planet
• People
As
a prerequisite to these and as we look at history and remember the
terrible events that gave rise to the birth of the United Nations in
1945, I would like to propose a seventh:
• PEACE
12. Peace,
Mr. President, is close to the hearts of Nigerians, as we are in the
front line in the war on terror. Boko Haram’s war against the people of
Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon may not attract as much worldwide
attention as the wars in the Middle East but the suffering is just as
great and the human cost is equally high.
13. This
is a war about values between progress and chaos; between democracy and
the rule of law. Boko Haram celebrates violence against the weak and
the innocent and deplorably, they hide behind their perverted
interpretation of Islam. Boko Haram is as far away from Islam as any one
can think of.
14. Many of my
colleagues attending this forum would want to know how our new
government intends to tackle the huge problems the government has
inherited. Friends of Nigeria and foreign investor partners will be
encouraged to know that the new Government is attacking the problems we
inherited head-on.
15. We intend
to tackle inequalities arising from massive unemployment and previous
government policies favouring a few people to the detriment of the many.
We intend to emphasize quality technological education for development
and lay foundation for comprehensive care of the aged, the disadvantaged
and the infirm. But for now terrorism is the immediate problem.
16. Accordingly,
Mr. President, Members of the General Assembly, the new Nigerian
Government which I have the honour to head, moved with dispatch to put
in a bold and robust strategy to defeat Boko Haram. Nigeria and her
neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Niger plus Benin are working together to
face this common threat within the regional framework of the Lake Chad
Basin Commission. We have established a multinational joint task force
to confront, degrade and defeat Boko Haram.
17. We
have driven them away from many of their strongholds, killed or
captured many of their operatives or commanders and freed several
hundreds of hostages.
18. Mr.
President, one of our major aims is to rescue the Chibok girls alive and
unharmed. We are working round the clock to ensure their safety and
eventual reunion with their families. Chibok girls are constantly on our
minds and in our plans.
19. Mr.
President, terrorism is by no means the major or the only evil
threatening and undermining the wellbeing of societies around the world.
• Corruption
• Cross border financial crimes
• Cyber crimes
• Human trafficking
• Spread of communicable diseases
• Climate change
• Proliferation of weapons
are
all major challenges of the 21st century which the international
community must tackle collectively. Let me reaffirm Nigerian
government’s unwavering commitment to fight corruption and illicit
financial flows. By any consideration, corruption and cross border
financial crimes are impediments to development, economic growth, and
the realization of the wellbeing of citizens across the globe.
20. Nigeria
is ready and willing to partner with international agencies and
individual countries on a bilateral basis to confront crimes and
corruption. In particular, I call upon the global community to urgently
redouble efforts towards strengthening the mechanisms for dismantling
safe havens for proceeds of corruption and ensuring the return of stolen
funds and assets to their countries of origin.
21. Mr.
President, the world is now facing a big new challenge: human
trafficking. This is an old evil taking an altogether new and dangerous
dimension threatening to upset international relationships. We in Africa
are grieved to see on international networks how hundreds of thousands
of our able bodied men and women fleeing to Europe and in the process
thousands dying in the desert or drowning in the Mediterranean.
22. We
condemn in the strongest terms these people traffickers and will
support any measures to apprehend and bring them to justice. At the same
time, we are very appreciative of European governments notably Italy
and Germany, for their understanding and humane treatment of these
refugees.
23. Last year, our
continent faced the dreadful occurrence of Ebola. We sincerely thank the
international community for the collective efforts to contain this
deadly disease. We are not out of the woods yet but we would like to
record our appreciation to the United States, United Kingdom, France and
China for their outstanding assistance in arresting the spread of Ebola
and care of those infected in collaboration with host countries.
Mr. President,
24. Nigeria
fully subscribes to and fully endorses Goals 13, 14 and 15 of the SDGs
regarding Climate Change. In Nigeria, desertification and land erosion
and degradation leading to biodiversity loss are real threats to our
environment and we shall propose under the auspices of the Lake Chad
Basin Commission a regional approach to combat these environmental
challenges.
25. We look forward
to the UN Summit on climate change in Paris in December 2015. This
summit should provide optimism to humanity on addressing the looming
threat faced by many communities around the world.
Mr. President,
26. We
are witnessing a dreadful increase in conflicts fuelled by availability
of small arms and light weapons. I call upon all member countries to
demonstrate the political will needed to uphold the UN charter. For a
start, a robust implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty will guarantee
that small arms and light weapons are only legally transferred. Arms
traffickers and human traffickers are two evil species which the world
community should eradicate.
Mr. President,
27. As
we engage in these annual debates, we need remind ourselves of the
principles that led to the founding of the United Nations. Among those
are peaceful coexistence and self-determination of peoples. In this
context, Mr. President, the unresolved question of self-determination
for the Palestinian people and those of Western Sahara, both nations
having been adjusted by the United Nations as qualifying for this
inalienable right must now be assured and fulfilled without any further
delay or obstacle.
28. The
international community has come to pin its hopes on resolving the
Palestinian issue through the two – states solution which recognises the
legitimate right of each state to exist in peace and security. The
world has no more excuses or reasons to delay the implementation of the
long list of Security Council resolutions on this question. Neither do
we have the moral right to deny any people their freedom or condemn them
indefinitely to occupation and blockade
Mr. President, delegates of member countries,
29. UN
is 70 years old. It can count many more than 70 major achievements as
the world’s forum and family reunion. It is my hope that in the next 70
years, it will achieve control of climate, help to eliminate
communicable diseases, eliminate major and local conflicts and therefore
eliminate the problem of refugees, take major steps towards reducing
harmful inequalities between nations and within nations and above all,
eliminate nuclear weapons.
30. Mr. President, as this is my first address in this Assembly, I thank you and the delegates for listening so patiently.
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