Buhari says  Nigeria has been steadfast in safeguarding human rights

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday addressed world leaders at the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA76) in New York, United States of America (USA) on varieties of socio-economic crises across the world.

The Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the general debate of the 76th session of UNGA on Friday, acknowledged that the theme of this year’s General Assembly – “Building resilience through hope – to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of the people, and revitalise the United Nations, sums up our common desire to rescue our planet, recover our economies, and restore hope to all the peoples of the world.

The nigerian President stated: “in this regard, my delegation will continue to support the United Nations, as the indispensable forum for international cooperation and the cornerstone of the multilateral system, rooted in respect for international law, including international human rights law and predicated on a rules-based order.”

President Buhari told the UNGA that Nigeria remains deeply concerned over the illicit trade, transfer, and circulation of small arms and light weapons. He decried that their excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread in many regions of the world are having devastating humanitarian and socio-economic consequences, especially, on the continent of Africa.

The Nigerian President, therefore, called for worldwide application of the Arms Trade Treaty to codify accountability in conventional arms trade, which is critical to the security of nations. “This is in recognition of the need for a broad-based global partnership in the on-going battle against trans-border crimes, including terrorism and piracy,” he added.

President Buhari then advocated: “We must deal not only with the symptoms of conflict but also the immediate causes that fuel conflicts in the first place.

“These include poor and undemocratic governance, human rights abuses, poverty, ignorance, injustice and inequalities.”

He maintained that there are no easy solutions to these conditions. The president stated that they require long term investments and more effective international cooperation.

The Nigerian President emphasized the importance of promoting peaceful, unfettered, and inclusive participation of states in global actions towards conflict prevention. “This will facilitate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063,” Buhari said.

According to the Nigerian President, “in West Africa especially, our democratic gains of the past decades are now being eroded. The recent trend of unconstitutional takeover of power, sometimes in reaction to unilateral changes of constitutions by some leaders, must not be tolerated by the international community. “Nigeria fully supports the efforts by ECOWAS to address this growing challenge and appreciates the support of both the African Union and the United Nations.

“In this regard, I would like to reiterate that as leaders of our individual Member-States, we need to adhere to the constitutional provisions of our countries, particularly, on term limits. This is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our sub-region.”

President Buhari declared that Nigeria is fully committed to nuclear non-proliferation and has always supported the view that it should involve all States.

He stated that conventions on disarmament deserve the support of all states, small, large, nuclear or non-nuclear. He noted that nuclear weapons remain the ultimate agents of mass destruction, and their total elimination should be the final objective of all disarmament processes within the broad spectrum of goals being pursued by the United Nations.

President Buhari assured that Nigeria would participate actively in the forthcoming Review Conference of the Nuclear Prohibition Treaty and also the First Meeting of States Parties to the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of nuclear weapons, scheduled to take place within the first quarter of 2022.

According to Buhari, Nigeria regards these upcoming events as important steps towards the realisation of a world free of nuclear weapons. “We are, therefore, supportive of any diplomatic efforts in this direction. We hope that the upcoming NPT review conference would lead to a successful outcome that would facilitate the denuclearisation of the world. We would do our part to ensure such an outcome,” he declared.

President Buhari also pointed out that terrorism has continued to dominate security discourse worldwide. He noted that in Nigeria, Boko Haram terrorists group, though fragmented by internal strife and weakened by the defence forces, is still active and preying on soft targets. “Nigeria will continue to work closely with UN Counter-Terrorism bodies and entities with a view to bringing this scourge to an end.

“Nigeria has spared no effort in addressing the challenges of terrorism posed by the activities of Boko Haram in North-East Nigeria and the Lake Chad region, as well as banditry in the North-West and North-Central Nigeria.

“The Nigerian Security Forces have recorded considerable success in the fight against terrorism. As a result of the renewed vigour of our military, many terrorist fighters are voluntarily surrendering to our security forces,” Buhari said.

The president added that he and three other Nigerian Heads of State served actively as peacekeepers, noting that Nigeria will continue to support peacekeeping efforts.

“We know the sacrifice involved; we also know how important peace keeping is for those in vulnerable situations. “Nigeria will continue to play its part fully in supporting United Nations peacekeeping operations within Africa and beyond,” he said.

President Buhari also emphasized that the impact of climate change is already with the government in Nigeria, manifesting in various ways: conflicts trigger; food insecurity, drying up of lakes; loss of livelihood, and youth migration, among others. The trend is the same in many other countries that are threatened by forest fires, rising sea levels, drought, and desertification, he said.

President Buhari, therefore, promised: “in the circumstances, we intend to build a climate-resilient economy that effectively aligns with the SDGs and that has great potentials to unlocking the full opportunities in different sectors of the economy, while protecting the resources for present and future generations.”

The Nigerian President also urged leaders to create inclusive and gender-sensitive policies that address all issues connected to climate action, from mitigation to resilience.

“Nigeria believes that protecting our planet and its biodiversity and climate are important to our collective survival. “That is why, we are working on a transition to low carbon economy, consistent with achieving the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals,” Buhari declared.

The President also stated that combating illicit financial flows and ensuring the recovery and return of illicitly acquired assets have the potential to provide resources in the immediate term for financing development in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

“Similarly, corruption across national borders has huge negative impact on the stability, peace, and economic prospects of millions, particularly in developing countries.

“It deprives national Governments of resources needed to provide adequate and meaningful sources of livelihood for their citizens. The latter gives rise to more irregular migration patterns, with unwholesome consequences for inter-state and human relations.

“I, therefore, call on all leaders to demonstrate the much-needed political will by supporting the recommendations for systemic reforms made by the FACTI Panel.

“We support establishing modalities for a global coordination mechanism at the United Nations Economic and Social Council to systematically monitor illicit financial flows and strengthen financial integrity for sustainable development, with the participation of all relevant stakeholders,” President Buhari declared.

The President further stated that developing countries have been faced with unsustainable debt burdens even before the pandemic. He added that COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of new wave of deepening debt, where vital public financial resources are allocated to external debt servicing and repayments at the expense of domestic health and financing for critical developmental needs.

He commended the current initiatives by the international financial institutions and the G20 aimed at significantly mitigating the economic situation of the indebted countries and urge for more efforts in this regard.

“Therefore, there is an urgent need to consider expansion and extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative to include all Developing, Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States facing fiscal and liquidity challenges.

“In addition, a review of the eligibility criteria for debt suspension, including outright cancellation, is needed for countries facing the most severe challenges,” President Buhari demanded.

The President also said that Nigeria reaffirms that international trade is an engine for development and sustained economic growth, as well as the global eradication of poverty.

He reaffirmed the critical role that a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system can play in stimulating economic growth and development.

According to Buhari: “fair and equitable trade would eventually eliminate the need for aid. My country and, indeed, all African countries do not intend to stay indefinitely looking for aid. All we need is a fair and equitable system of international trade.

“We, therefore, call for a reform agenda that will engender better recovery from this crisis, build resilience to future shocks and pursue transformative development strategies that can deliver the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.”

President Buhari further said that the global food system has, in recent times, been impacted by several factors such as population growth, availability and accessibility of arable land and water resources, climate change, and loss of biodiversity.

He added that increased competition for resources such as land, water, and energy, has affected food access and supply, particularly in developing countries. Climate change and unpredictable shocks, such as the current global pandemic, further exacerbate vulnerabilities in the global food system, requiring the UN’s urgent attention, the president said.

President Buhari stated that the Government of Nigeria remains determined to improve the productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers by promoting equal access to land, technology and markets, sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices.

“At the heart of Nigeria’s post-COVID-19 response is the Economic Sustainability Plan, which has a major component, called the Agriculture for Food and Jobs Programme where we seek to leverage suitable technologies to build a resilient food system for the country.

“An integral part of our food systems’ transformation strategy is to create an enabling and supportive environment to implement these policies in a participatory manner.

“Global efforts to mitigate and sustain food systems must involve key stakeholders, including Governments, farmers, investors, multilateral organizations, regional bodies, international financial institutions, private partners and civil society organizations,” Buhari declared.

The President said that Nigeria has been steadfast in safeguarding human rights, including the advancement of women, the protection of children, the protection of the rights of people living with disabilities, the treatment of migrants, refugees, returnees and displaced persons as well as, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through all legitimate means. He commended the positive example of leaders like Prime Minister Jacinda Arden of New Zealand.

Buhari stated that Nigeria calls for collective global action through a Treaty to end all forms of violence against women and girls of all ages.

“Nigeria remains unwavering in its commitment to ensuring the advancement of human rights within its shores and beyond. This is so even in the context of a vicious decade-long onslaught by terrorists against Nigerians, quite contrary to unwholesome reports by some who hardly verify what they state against us.

“The recent rise in hate related crimes globally underscores the urgent need to continue our engagement about racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related intolerance. It is sad to note that the issue of racism remains alive globally.

“We are beginning to forget our affirmation of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of every individual as enshrined in the UN Charter. No society can claim to be free or just if it deprives anyone of these rights.

“Nigeria has long been a principled fighter against racism and all forms of discrimination inspired by its African experience. In the past, racism oiled the machine of slavery and colonialism. Today, racism drives hate crimes and institutional discrimination. In all this, Africans and people of African descent are among the major victims.

“Cognizant of these, I commend Member States for adopting by consensus the resolution on the Establishment of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent on 2nd August 2021. I am confident that this forum will make significant impact in the quest to end race-related vices and injustices,” Buhari stated.