On behalf of the
Government and people of Nigeria, I would like to
congratulate the President on his election as the
President of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth
session. I have no doubt that under his able leadership
the work of the session will be brought to a successful
conclusion. I should also like to acknowledge the
excellent work done by his predecessor, His Excellency
Mr. Joseph Deiss, who guided the affairs of the sixty-
fifth session with consummate skill and commitment.
I must also take this opportunity to extend my
warmest felicitations to Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon on his well-deserved re-election, a tribute to
his leadership and vision. He deserves our appreciation
for the good work he is doing on our behalf.
I also welcome the newest member of the
Organization, the Republic of South Sudan. I am
confident that South Sudan will bring a unique
perspective to the work of the United Nations and
enrich our collective experience.
Despite our initial optimism, the peace dividend
we had hoped would accrue following the end of the
Cold War is yet to materialize. On the contrary, the
world of the twenty-first century in which we live is
becoming ever more precarious, unpredictable and
certainly more dangerous — perhaps more than at any
other time in history. The increasing use of terror in
various regions of the world as a form of political
action poses a serious threat to international peace and
security. We must win the war against terror because it
infringes on the fundamental right of all peoples to life
and to live in safety from fear.
Over the past few months, we in Nigeria have
faced an upsurge in terrorist attacks in parts of our
country. Only recently, the United Nations building in
Abuja housing several United Nations agencies was the
target of an atrocious terrorist attack that left several
dead. On behalf of the Government and people of
Nigeria, I would like to convey my sincere
condolences to the families of the victims and to the
entire United Nations family for this barbaric and
heinous attack on those who have dedicated their lives
to helping others. As the United States and the rest of
the world commemorate the tenth anniversary of the
attacks of 9/11, we are reminded of the international
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dimension of terrorism and the imperative of a
concerted global response to combat this scourge.
For us in Nigeria, terrorist acts, rather than
intimidating us, will only help to strengthen our
resolve to develop appropriate national strategies and
to collaborate even more closely with the international
community in the fight against this menace. As part of
Nigeria’s efforts to fight terrorism, on 3 June, I signed
into law a terrorism bill and an anti-money-laundering
prohibition amendment act. The new laws not only
outline measures for preventing and combating acts of
terrorism, but also prohibit the financing of terrorism
and laundering of the proceeds of crime. Nigeria will
continue to work with the United Nations and other
partners in this global fight.
To that end, Nigeria is working closely with the
Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force and the
Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate, as well as
with relevant international bodies and friendly
countries, in order to sharpen our response
mechanisms. In that connection, the Counter-Terrorism
Implementation Task Force will launch its first project
in Abuja in November, which will be aimed at
preventing conflict and countering the appeal of
terrorism to youth through education and dialogue. In
addition, Nigeria is a member of a new global body, the
Global Counterterrorism Forum, launched to galvanize
and help pull our efforts together to fight this scourge
in all its ramifications. We pledge to continue to work
with all stakeholders as we enlarge and intensify our
partnerships.
When I stood before the Assembly last year, I
made a solemn pledge that Nigeria would conduct free
and credible elections in the second quarter of this
year. I am glad to report that last April we indeed
conducted what have been adjudged to be credible and
transparent general elections. Let me take this
opportunity to thank the United Nations and all the
other organizations, nations and individuals that helped
us to achieve that feat. The elections are now behind
us, and the Government that I head is well on course to
implement our programmes of transformation — a
strategic plan for the delivery of the dividends of
democracy to citizens and for preparing our country for
the challenges of the future. Indeed, all across my
country, there is a renewed sense of optimism and self-
belief in our ability to recreate a new Nigeria on the
principles of personal freedoms, democracy, good
governance and the rule of law.
Permit me to identify with the theme of this
year’s debate of engaging the role of mediation in the
peaceful resolution of conflicts in the world. The
Assembly will recall that Nigeria was in the forefront
of the campaign to promote this theme when, as the
President of the Security Council in July 2010, my
country adopted the use of preventive diplomacy to
resolve armed conflicts across the world. This theme is
apt and could not have come at a better time, when
armed conflicts are increasingly taking a greater part of
the time and resources of the United Nations.
For too long, the international community has
focused too little attention on mediation and preventive
diplomacy, and far too much effort and resources on
the military aspects of peace and security. Yet measures
to address the root cause of conflict, including dialogue
and mediation, can be far more effective as a means for
achieving sustainable peace and stability.
I believe that cultivating peace and fulfilling the
aims of Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter
require early identification and appropriate
intervention in conflict situations in order to build
confidence and trust and to preclude the eruption of
violence between opposing parties. As I see it, our goal
should always be to present the peaceful alternative as
a less costly and effective way of achieving political
and social objectives. I also believe that, in addition to
other traditional tools of preventive diplomacy,
democracy and good governance can be particularly
important in building a just, equitable and inclusive
society. By focusing on mediation as a tool for conflict
prevention, we are able to address the real triggers of
conflict, without which we cannot achieve sustainable
solutions.
However, for the world to move from a culture of
response after conflict to that of a culture of
prevention, the international community must muster
the political will to promote preventive diplomacy, in
particular through mediation. This will necessarily
entail rededicating greater human and financial
resources to institutions and mechanisms that already
exist, within and outside the United Nations system,
for conflict prevention and resolution.
Going forward, I would like to propose the
establishment, under the Secretary-General’s Office, of
a conflict mediation commission, to be charged, among
other things, with collating information on conflict
situations across the world, identifying the dramatis
45 11-50692
personae and developing appropriate strategies for
initiating the resolution of such conflicts. The
commission would also develop rules of engagement,
including sanctions that would apply to those who may
obstruct efforts to resolve conflicts peacefully.
This naturally brings me to the issue of
trafficking in small arms and light weapons. If the idea
of resolving conflicts through mediation is to succeed,
then the problem of trafficking in small arms and light
weapons must be frontally tackled. The proliferation of
small arms and light weapons is particularly
worrisome, due to their easy accessibility and
availability to unauthorized persons and groups, who in
turn have used these arms to create instability and
insecurity in most of the countries of the developing
world. Even worse, the proliferation of these weapons
has proved handy in the hands of terrorists.
This explains our commitment to, and
preoccupation with, the actualization of an arms trade
treaty that robustly addresses the illicit trade in small
arms and light weapons, which, as we all know, are
among the major causes of destabilization and conflict
in Africa. The danger of the proliferation of, and illicit
trade in, small arms and light weapons informed
Nigeria’s decision to sponsor resolution 61/89, of 2006,
the principal objective being to provide a legally
binding international instrument for the trade in
conventional arms. We will continue to support all
initiatives towards the realization of an arms trade
treaty in 2012. I call on all Member States to join in
this endeavour.
The increasing rate of piracy and other maritime
crimes, with their attendant damaging effects on
security, trade and economic activities in the Gulf of
Guinea and other locations, calls for coordinated
regional and global approaches. In this respect, I would
like to express support for the proposal of the
Secretary-General to deploy a United Nations
assessment mission to study the situation in the Gulf of
Guinea and explore possible options for United
Nations support and action. Our expectation is that a
positive outcome from such a strategy will benefit not
only our subregion but the larger international
community as well. I am already consulting with other
leaders in our subregion to boost this initiative.
The United Nations strategy for gender equality
and women’s empowerment, especially through the
creation of UN-Women, deserves commendation and
support. Nigeria’s support for UN-Women, to which
we have made substantial contributions, reflects our
desire to harness the potential of women in the task of
nation-building.
Our national action plan on gender equality and
women’s empowerment places strong emphasis on
women’s effective participation in politics and
adequate representation in public office. I am indeed
proud to announce to the Assembly that more than
30 per cent of my Cabinet is made up of women. Let
me also commend the Executive Board of UN-Women
on the successful take-off of the entity. UN-Women can
be assured of Nigeria’s strong support.
This year, the prevention of non-communicable
diseases was one of the issues slated for discussion at a
High-level Meeting. Only three months ago, I attended
the High-level Meeting on AIDS, where I pledged
Nigeria’s commitment to health care, as part of our
country’s human capital development agenda. My
Government is intensifying efforts to improve national
health-care delivery by allocating substantial resources
to primary health care. We look forward to a
productive outcome to the High-level Meeting on the
Prevention and Control of Non-communicable
Diseases at the end of that meeting.
In the same vein, I welcome discussions at the
High-level Meeting on desertification and land
degradation, as these issues continue to pose
challenges to our development efforts. That is why
Nigeria strongly supports the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change and the
Convention on Biological Diversity, including
strategies and best practices to address this challenge.
In order to demonstrate our commitment to
human rights, Nigeria recently ratified the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and acceded
to four other international human rights instruments,
including the Optional Protocol to the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment.
In addition, this year, my Government passed into
law the National Human Rights Commission
Amendment Act, the Legal Aid Council Amendment
Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Nigeria will
continue to accord the highest priority to human rights
issues, as they speak directly to the dignity and
inalienable rights of humankind.
11-50692 46
We in West Africa are passing through an exciting
season of democratic rebirth. Before the end of 2011,
elections will have been held in six countries in West
Africa. Those elections will set the respective countries
along the path of political stability, progress, good
governance and sustainable development — some of
the benefits of which we have begun to experience.
The progress we have made would not have been
possible without the support of the United Nations.
The resolution of the conflict in Côte d’Ivoire is a
case in point. I consider the inauguration of President
Ouattara a success not just for Côte d’Ivoire but also
for the international community, which spoke with one
voice and acted in concert in support of the Ivorian
people. The end of that crisis must be seen by all as the
beginning of our journey towards the consolidation of
democratic culture and good governance in Africa.
Having put that crisis behind us, the international
community must now provide robust assistance to the
country as it embarks on the tasks of post-conflict
reconstruction and national reconciliation.
The struggle for self-governance and majority
rule in Africa started in the 1940s; and by 1957 Ghana
had gained independence. Today, all African States
have achieved self-determination and majority rule.
Those are no small achievements. But we still have
much work to do. A great deal of the work that remains
is to build viable and capable States in Africa on the
principles of popular participation, the rule of law and
respect for human rights, as we pledged to do in the
Constitutive Act of the African Union. Nigeria believes
that those values must remain at the core of governance
in Africa if we are ever to achieve the goals of stability,
security and development.
As Nigeria is approaching the end of its tenure on
the Security Council, I would like to express my
country’s deep appreciation for the opportunity to serve
in that important organ. In the course of our
stewardship, the Council had the courage to reach
many difficult decisions that resulted in positive
developments around the world. We are proud to be
associated with those decisions. I would like to urge
the Council to continue its important work in the
maintenance of international peace and security.
In spite of the Council’s many successes, it is our
belief that that important organ would benefit from the
vigour and fresh perspectives that only a revamped
Council accommodating changing global political
realities can provide. I urge the President of the
General Assembly to set up clear criteria for the reform
of the Security Council in line with the demand of the
majority of the world. A reformed Security Council is
the only way to demonstrate that all nations have an
equal stake in the United Nations. Nigeria looks
forward to the prospect of membership in a reformed
Security Council.