I congratulate you,
Mr. President, on your election to preside over the
General Assembly at its sixty-third session. You may
remain assured of the full support and cooperation of
the Nigerian delegation as you guide our deliberations.
May I also express appreciation to your predecessor for
the able manner in which he presided over the work of
the Assembly’s sixty-second session.
In his address to this Assembly last year (see
A/62/PV.7), the Nigerian President reaffirmed the
determination of Nigeria to remain a stable and
prosperous nation, anchored on the enduring principles
of democracy, good governance, free enterprise, the
rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights.
In pursuit of those objectives, we have raised the bar
on bold political, economic and social reforms aimed at
making our economy more investment friendly and our
democracy more inclusive. We continue to count on the
support and understanding of the international
community, especially our development partners, as we
accelerate measures to enhance the overall capacity of
the Nigerian State.
A strong, safe and prosperous Nigeria means a
dependable contributor not only to regional stability
and well-being, but to the emergent global ethics so
crucial for the survival of humanity. From the very
beginning of our nationhood, our foreign policy has
been tethered to a responsible and proactive role in the
United Nations and its commitments everywhere. Thus,
we never hesitated to respond unconditionally to
demands for sacrifices whenever and wherever duty
called, whether in the Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia or
now in Darfur, and in the next few months, in Somalia.
Nigeria is as safe as the rest of the world. That for us is
the true meaning of global solidarity and the sense of
equal partnership that informed the vision of the
founding fathers of this Organization.
It is against that background that we raise before
the Assembly the concern and plight of many
developing countries, especially in Africa, suffering
from the devastating consequences of the illicit trade in
small arms and light weapons. Most of the civil wars
and insurgencies in those countries have been carried
out with such weapons, and because of their lethality
and ready deployment, they may be described as
Africa’s own experience of weapons of mass
destruction.
We remain convinced that the best and most
effective strategy to achieve the goal of preventing,
combating and eradicating that illicit and deadly trade
is through the elaboration of a legally binding global
instrument, as well as the political will on the part of
all to stem the uncontrolled proliferation of small arms.
Therefore, urgent action is needed to criminalize oil
bunkering, the sale of oil so acquired and the use of its
proceeds to fuel new crisis situations in Africa,
especially in the Gulf of Guinea, through the
proliferation of small arms and light weapons. The
same creativity and political will that was
demonstrated in confronting blood diamonds as a
source of regional instability must be available at this
time in dealing with the blood oil that now threatens
the Gulf.
Nigeria has made enormous sacrifices on behalf
of peace in Darfur. Over the years we have maintained
peacekeeping troops in the region, first, under the
ambit of the African Union and now under the African
Union-United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force. We
call on the international community to take bold and
robust steps that would lead to the full deployment and
operationalization of that force. In the same vein, we
call on the Government of the Sudan to take steps that
will facilitate the attainment of this objective.
Midway towards the target year of 2015, it has
become evident that the lofty Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) might not be attained by many
countries. This much is clear from the outcome of the
High-level event on the MDGs that took place in the
margins of this session on 25 September 2008. Mindful
of the importance of these Goals for our development,
Nigeria is determined to do everything to ensure their
realization. In this connection, we commend the efforts
of the Secretary-General in creating the Millennium
Development Goals Africa Steering Group to map out
strategies for African countries to achieve the targets.
It is time to urge, with the directness that these
challenging times demand, evidence of a more
manifest will on the part of the international
08-53141 10
community, especially our development partners, to
really assist Africa to join the rest of the global success
story. Around this issue, the Nigerian delegation is
looking at ten such indicators.
The first is the critical need for a big
infrastructure push, especially in energy and
transportation, without which nothing else is possible
on the continent. Secondly, the food crisis in Africa
must be addressed by redressing the trilogy of fertilizer
imbalance between Africa and other regions of the
world, removing food subsides in the developed
economies, and transferring relevant technology for
food production and food processing. Thirdly, the Doha
Round of trade negotiations must be revived. Fourthly,
massive investment in information technology and
higher education is needed to spur development of
Africa. Fifthly, strategies must be devised with African
Governments on how to transform the continent’s
current brain drain into brain gain. Sixthly, a global
commitment to stem the flow of small arms and light
weapons into Africa is needed. Seventh, national
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative projects
in Africa must be encouraged and supported. Eighth,
there should be Security Council reforms that accord
Africa permanent membership in the Council. That
would ensure African ownership of its responses, since
over 60 per cent of issues addressed by the Council are
African. Ninth, attention should be paid to
development of clean energy technology and
alternative sources of energy to avert the looming
disaster of climate change for a continent that is
already very vulnerable. Tenth, we need a breakthrough
in the malaria vaccine, together with greater sustained
support for the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
two major impediments to reaching our potential in
Africa.
The recent steep rise in global food prices has
presented us with a monumental challenge and the
global embarrassment of compounds of misery sharing
increasingly crowded space with compounds of
affluence in our global village. It is unacceptable that,
despite technological advancements and resources
unimaginable two decades ago, children still die of
hunger and malnutrition. How can one say that the
genius that permits us to make living in outer space
feasible looks the other way when over 1 billion people
in the world are going to bed hungry and more than
6 million children are dying each year of hunger and
malnutrition? This problem deserves the full attention
of this Assembly. The right to food for all must be
pursued with renewed vigour.
Nigeria condemns terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations. We reaffirm our support for the
counter-terrorism measures of the Security Council and
the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
We have also been implementing the four pillars of the
Global Strategy through measures that have proven
effective in combating terrorism. For us, the fight
against terrorism is strongly anchored in the rule of law
and respect for human rights. As we combat this
scourge, it is important that, fundamental freedoms and
human rights are neither compromised nor abused.
The United Nations must not relent in its pursuit
of the goal of a world in which all nations and peoples
live in freedom and dignity and in which all political,
economic, social, cultural and human rights are fully
guaranteed. Our active participation in the activities of
the Human Rights Council and the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights is
evidence of that commitment.
In our subregion, we are concerned, that drug
cartels, often based outside the region, are now
targeting West Africa as a transit route for the
movement of illicit drugs to other regions. The
activities of those drug cartels constitute a serious
impediment to development in the subregion. The
world must pay adequate attention to this growing
problem.
Let me reiterate Nigeria’s unwavering support for
the United Nations and its objectives and purposes. We
are convinced that the Organization remains the most
viable platform for consultations, consensus-building
and action on the global challenges that we presently
face. Mankind has not developed any better substitute.
Nigeria believes in the pacific settlement of
disputes and peaceful coexistence with our neighbours.
We showed that when, on 14 August 2008, Nigeria, in
full compliance with the ruling of the International
Court of Justice, lowered its flag for the last time by
withdrawing from the Bakassi Peninsula. For that
singular act of statesmanship, Nigeria has justifiably
received the commendation of the international
community. Our action accords with our long-standing
tradition as a nation that honours its commitments. We
believe that if we all, in concert, stand up for these
shared values and purposes, our Organization and our
world will be a much better place.
11 08-53141
This can, and should be a General Assembly like
no other, for the crises that face us now have few
precedents in scope and complexity. What is required
is a new posture to move from data to determination,
from rhetoric to results and from words to wisdom. Our
many noble visions must begin to somehow find more
vigorous forms of expression. A world so greatly
challenged must also be a world so much more capable
of imagination and boldness. The platform for such
boldness and such imagination is here, in this
venerable institution founded 63 years ago on the
pillars of peace, justice and freedom for all.
Let us never forget the timeless words of the
internationalist and Nobel Laureate who warned that to
deal with the problems that we have created, we need
to move unto a higher order of thinking than the one
with which we created them. The time to do so is now,
for the clock of humanity is ticking very fast. Our
existential challenge did not end with the cold war;
indeed, it has just started.