Let me, on behalf of the Government and People
of Nigeria, congratulate you on your well-deserved election as the
President of the 71st General Assembly. I assure you of
Nigeria’s support in steering the affairs of the General Assembly in the
next one year. I take the opportunity to also express my appreciation
to your predecessor Mr. Mogens Lykketoft, for the achievements recorded
during his tenure.
Last year, I presented my first address to the General Assembly after
my assumption of office as President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria. Indeed, it was a remarkable year, which not only celebrated the
gains of the Millennium Development Goals, but also witnessed the
adoption of the 2030 agenda on Sustainable Development.
These landmark achievements by the global community, will no doubt
build a more prosperous, all inclusive world. We must work together to
liberate humanity from poverty, save our planet from the devastation of
Climate Change and rid the world of terrorism for a more peaceful and
prosperous future.
We must remain committed to taking bold steps to transform our world.
The Sustainable Development Goals underscore the imperative for our
collective will towards finding enduring and sustainable solutions to
addressing global disparities. It is in the light of our appreciation of
the enormity of the task before us, that I welcome the theme of this
Assembly, ‘Sustainable Development Goals; a Universal Push to Transform
the World.’
Nigeria as a developing country has been adversely affected by the
global economic downturn. We are, however, undeterred and have embarked
on a wide range of reforms in our efforts to diversify our economy and
shift emphasis to mining, agriculture, industrialization, infrastructure
development and the creation of the enabling environment for Foreign
Direct Investment.
Our strategic objective is to stimulate the economy, restore growth
and accelerate recovery. In doing this, we are taking measures to reduce
the cost of governance and increase expenditure on infrastructure and
ensure environmental best practices.
Fighting corruption remains a cardinal pillar of our administration.
Corruption freezes development, thereby undermining the achievement of
the Sustainable Development Goals. I am pleased that our efforts in
fighting corruption are yielding positive results including significant
stolen assets recoveries.
The recovered funds are being channelled towards the development of
critical infrastructure and the implementation of social inclusion
programmes for our people. We are also strengthening our capacity of
government entities to institutionalize reforms to ensure transparency
and good governance.
The Anti – Corruption Summit held in London in May this year served
as further reassurance of the global community’s commitment to fight
corruption through the proposed practical steps to address the
challenges including actions to hold perpetrators to justice within the
law. Nigeria supports the development of an international legal
framework to enforce anti-corruption measures and strengthen existing
international institutions to effectively deal with corrupt practices.
Nigeria calls on Member States that are yet to sign up to the United
Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) to do so. Nigeria will
continue to advocate for the facilitation of the recovery of illicit
financial assets. Indeed, the speedy and unconditional return of stolen
public assets should be the focus of the follow-up anti-corruption
conference to be hosted by the US and UK in Washington next year.
Furthermore, Nigeria remains committed to the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global coalition which promotes
transparency and accountability in the management of revenues from the
oil, gas and solid minerals sectors. We voluntarily signed up to EITI
because we are convinced that transparent governance is an imperative
for resource-rich developing countries like ours.
Through the work that our national chapter of EITI has done over the
years, it is clear that our faith is not misplaced. The National EITI
has been empowering citizens with critical information they can use to
hold government and other players in the extractive industries to
account, and make recommendations that drive reforms in these strategic
sectors of our national life.
The world took a giant step in Paris, towards addressing the
challenges of Climate Change. Nigeria is proud to have been part of the
process leading to the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015
at the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
COP- 21 marked a watershed in the global community’s commitment to
address climate change and we will continue in our determined efforts to
reduce Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.
At the centre of Nigeria’s climate action is our determination to
implement the strategies in our Intended Nationally Determined
Contributions (INDCs), which will foster low carbon economy and
sustainable growth in building a climate resilient society. We are
creating public awareness through the integrated involvement
of the private sector and civil society, and strengthening national
institutions and mechanisms.
The negative consequences of Climate Change havemanifested in the
drying up of our Lake Chad. The meansof livelihood of an estimated
30 million inhabitants of the Lake Chad Basin, spread across Cameroun,
Chad, Niger and Nigeria, are being severely threatened. The cost of
replenishing the lake has been put at 14 billion US Dollars under a five
year plan which should be accorded global attention. Nigeria also
supports the African Union initiative on the Great Green Wall to halt
desertification.
In furtherance of our commitment to environmental sustainability,
Nigeria has launched the cleanup of Ogoniland in Nigeria’s Niger Delta,
based on the 2011 Environmental Assessment of the area by the United
Nations Environment Programme. Multi-national oil companies operating in
the area will be required to live up to their corporate social
responsibilities and contribute to the cleaning-up of the environment
degraded as a result of their activities and operations.
We call on development partners and multinationals to support our efforts, through the Ogoniland Restoration Fund.
The 21st century has been marked by the rising
insecurity unleashed by global terrorism and violent extremism.
Indeed, which constitute a real threat to the international community.
With the global increase in the spate of terrorist attacks, there is
now, more than ever before, international consensus and greater
willingness to collaborate in combating this threat.
Indeed, we are meeting at the time when our hosts, the American people have just marked the 15thAnniversary
of the tragic and dastardly terrorist attacks on their soil. We in
Nigeria, having been victims of terrorism of ourselves fully understand
the impact of 9/11 on the American psyche and the families of the
thousands of innocent victims whose lives were lost that day, I
therefore, reiterate the Nigerian Government’s and people’s sympathies
to the American people and prayers for the families of the victims that
they may heal and find closure soon.
We hope that justice will be done to the families of victims of 9/11
as indeed to that victims of terror everywhere in conformity with the
norms of international justice. As we seek justice for terror victims,
the international community should avoid reacting in the heat of deep
emotions of the moment by taking unilateral measures, legal or otherwise
that will have a negative and disruptive impact on the international
community’s collective efforts to fight terrorism.
.We should not be distracted in our collective
resolve to beat back terrorism in all its forms. As we confront terror
we must also commit to stopping the proliferation of small arms and
light weapons which nurture its spread. To this end, Nigeria urges
member States that are yet to sign and ratify the Arms Trade Treaty
(ATT) to do so without further delay.
Nigeria has made remarkable progress in our resolve to defeat Boko
Haram whose capacity to launch orchestrated attacks as a formed group
has been severely degraded. In the last few months, their operations
have been limited to sporadic use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)
against soft targets.
Nigeria has continued to combat terrorism based on the established
rules of engagement and in conformity with international best practices.
I take this opportunity to reaffirm Nigeria’s commitment to human
rights norms and International Humanitarian Law in our efforts to
counter terrorism and violent extremism. I also wish to restate the
assurance that the Federal Government of Nigeria is employing all our
judicial tools to investigate and treat reported cases of human rights
violations.
I commend the contribution of our neighbours – Benin Republic,
Cameroun, Chad, and Niger whose combined efforts under the
Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) accomplished the present return
of normalcy in areas hitherto occupied by Boko Haram.
May I also thank our international partners, including France, the
United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United Nations, ECOWAS
the African Union and many other multilateral and bilateral partners for
their invaluable support. Our experience today is evidence that with
determined international collaboration, terrorism can be defeated.
The flow of refugees and migrants world wide has attained alarming
proportions In this wise Nigeria supports the Ceasefire Agreement broken
by the United States and Russia to end the atrocious tragedy of the
Syrian civil war. Of particular concern to us in Nigeria is the plight
of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) arising from Boko Haram
terrorism. We have taken concrete steps to address their humanitarian
needs and to ensure that necessary conditions are established to enable
the voluntary return of the displaced persons to their places of abode
in safety and dignity.
At the same time, the Palestinian issue, despite years and years of
international efforts is no nearer to being resolved. Nigeria in company
with member States of the African Union, firmly support the Two-State
solution with Palestinian rights to statehood in conformity, with
numerous Security Council Resolutions beginning with Resolution 242 of
1967.
Let me seize this opportunity to once again thank all UN and other
aid agencies and development partners currently deployed in North East
Nigeria. I reaffirm Nigeria’s commitment to collective action towards an
effective global response to address the root causes of refugee flows
worldwide.
We acknowledge the importance of youth in national development and
remain committed to harnessing the potential of the increasing youth
bulge. We must take advantage of the numbers and creative energy of
young people who are in the majority in Nigeria and in most other member
states. Therefore, at the international level, we call for the
establishment of a specialized UN agency for youth development to
achieve this strategic objective.
Nuclear security remains central to our quest for durable peace and security. This was why I participated in the 5th Nuclear
Security Summit hosted by President Barack Obama in Washington
in March, 2016. Nigeria and the other peace-loving member States of the
United Nations must continue to uphold the fundamental principles of
nuclear disarmament non-proliferation and its peaceful uses.
The United Nations should now redouble the long protected effort for
its reform to enable it to effectively address the challenges of our
times. Nigeria, therefore, reiterates its call for the reform of the
United Nations Security Council, in particular to reflect equitable and
fair representation and greater transparency, legitimacy and
inclusiveness in its decision making.
Africa should be adequately represented on the United Nations
Security Council in the permanent member category. In this regard,
Nigeria stands ready to serve Africa and the world on a reformed
security council to advance international peace and security.
Let me conclude by reaffirming Nigeria’s abiding faith in the United
Nations and in her capacity to support Member States to deliver on the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
I thank you.
Source:thenationonlineng
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