On behalf of the Government and the people of Nigeria, let me congratulate the President on his well-deserved election as President of the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session. I would like to assure him of the full support and cooperation of the Nigerian delegation throughout his tenure.
I would like to commend his predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Volkan Bozkir, for the many remarkable achievements recorded during his tenure, despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Permit me to congratulate the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on his reappointment and to commend his strong commitment to making the United Nations more alive to its responsibilities. I also want to express my gratitude to him for reappointing Ms. Amina Mohammed as Deputy Secretary-General to assist him in discharging his responsibilities.
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 people and revitalize 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. In that 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.
I want to thank the international community for its concerted response to COVID-19. The solidarity and
drive to contain the first truly global health emergency of our time is a pointer to the many things we can achieve if we work together.
For our part, Nigeria has made strenuous efforts to contain the virus and halt its deadly onslaught on our people. Our efforts have been rewarded with moderate success. At the outset, we recognize detection and contact-tracing to be important tools in combating the virus. In that connection, from a mere four laboratories with testing and detection capacities, we ramped up the capacity of our facilities to more than 140 centres today.
Similarly, we built isolation centres and emergency hospital wards in record time all over the country. We carry out genomic sequencing in designated laboratories across the country with a view to detecting variants in circulation. In addition, more than 40,000 healthcare workers have recently been trained on infection prevention and control measures with the support of various partners.
Nigeria remains grateful for the assistance received from our partners and friends all over the world. Vaccination is the key to our safe emergence from the pandemic. We fully support the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access initiative, from which we have benefited. We also thank the United States of America, Turkey, India, China, the European Union and others for the vaccines provided.
Despite the acknowledgement, however, I would like to reiterate my call for a fairer and more equitable distribution of vaccines to all countries so that together we can fight and contain the pandemic. The rising wave of newer and more contagious strains makes that even more urgent. No country can afford the socioeconomic implications of prolonged shutdowns. It is imperative to underscore that no one is safe until everyone is safe.
Nigeria remains deeply concerned about the illicit trade, transfer and circulation of small arms and light weapons. Their excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread in many regions of the world have devastating humanitarian and socioeconomic consequences, especially on the continent of Africa. In that regard, my delegation calls for the worldwide application of the Arms Trade Treaty to codify accountability in the conventional arms trade, which is critical to the security of nations. That is in recognition of the need for a broad-based global partnership in the ongoing battle against transborder crimes, including terrorism and piracy.
We must deal not only with the symptoms of conflict but also the immediate causes that fuel conflicts in the first place. Those include poor and undemocratic governance, human rights abuses, poverty, ignorance, injustice and inequalities. There are no easy solutions to those conditions. They require long-term investments and more effective international cooperation. In that connection, my delegation underscores the importance of promoting the peaceful, unfettered and inclusive participation of States in global actions towards conflict prevention. That will facilitate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063 of the African Union.
In West Africa especially, our democratic gains of previous decades are now being eroded. The recent trend of unconstitutional takeovers 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 of the Economic Community of West African States to address that growing challenge and appreciates the support of both the African Union and the United Nations.
In that 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. That is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our subregion.
Nigeria is fully committed to nuclear non-proliferation and has always supported the view that it should involve all States. Disarmament conventions deserve the support of all States: small, large, nuclear and non-nuclear. 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 the goals being pursued by the United Nations.
In that regard, Nigeria will participate actively in the forthcoming Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and in the first meeting of States parties to the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, to be held in the first quarter of 2022. Nigeria regards those upcoming events as important steps towards the realization of a world free of nuclear weapons. We are therefore supportive of any diplomatic efforts to that end. We hope that the upcoming NPT Review Conference will lead to a successful outcome that will
facilitate global denuclearization. We will do our part to ensure such an outcome.
Terrorism continues to dominate security discourse worldwide. In Nigeria, the Boko Haram terrorist group, although fragmented by internal strife and weakened by our defence forces, is still active and preys on soft targets. Nigeria will continue to work closely with United Nations counter-terrorism bodies and entities with a view to bringing that 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 by banditry in north-west and north-central Nigeria.
The impact of climate change is already with us in Nigeria, as manifested in various ways: it has triggered conflicts, caused food insecurity, dried up lakes and resulted in youth migration and the loss of livelihoods, among other things. The trend is the same in many other countries that are threatened by forest fires, rising sea levels, drought and desertification. As leaders, we must create inclusive and gender-sensitive policies that address all issues connected to climate action, from mitigation to resilience. That is why we are working on a transition to a low-carbon economy, consistent with implementing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
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. Illicit financial flows and assets deprive national Governments of the means needed to provide adequate and meaningful sources of livelihood for their citizens. That gives rise to more irregular migration patterns, with unwholesome consequences for inter-State and human relations.
On the issue of debt, we have seen that developing countries faced unsustainable debt burdens even before the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of a new wave of deepening debt in which vital public financial resources are allocated to external debt servicing and repayments at the expense of domestic health and financing for critical development needs. There is an urgent need, therefore, to consider the expansion and extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative to include all developing countries, least developed countries and small island developing States facing fiscal and liquidity challenges.
Nigeria reaffirms that international trade is the engine of development and sustained economic growth, as well as the global eradication of poverty. We therefore call for a reform agenda that will engender better recovery from the current crisis, build resilience to future shocks and pursue transformative development strategies that can deliver the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The global food system has been impacted in recent times by several factors, such as population growth, the availability of, and accessibility to, arable land and water resources, climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Climate change and unpredictable shocks such as the current global pandemic further exacerbate the vulnerabilities of the global food system, requiring the urgent attention of the United Nations.
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; and the promotion of fundamental freedoms through all legitimate means. In that regard, my delegation commends the positive example of leaders like Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand.
The recent rise in hate-related crimes around the world underscores the urgent need to continue our engagement against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related intolerance. It is sad to note that the issue of racism remains alive worldwide. We are beginning to forget our affirmation of the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of every individual, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
No society can claim to be free or just if it deprives anyone of those rights. Today racism drives hate crimes and institutional discrimination, in which Africans and people of African descent are among the primary victims. I am confident that this forum will make a significant impact in the quest to end race-related vices and injustices.
No reform of the United Nations system is more urgent than that of the Security Council. Stakeholders around the world are asking how such power could be concentrated with such scant representation. The intergovernmental negotiations have taken too long — some 15 years. We must avoid going around in circles. Consensus has been achieved on some
elements of the reform, especially with regard to the representation of Africa on the basis of the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration. It is unreasonable to expect unanimity on this matter.
Our Organization is at the peak of the multilateral system. It is also the pre-eminent body for solving our current and emerging challenges and developing norms to protect us all. In the current moment, hope for achieving those goals is dependent on how we assist each other to get COVID-19 out of all countries, regardless of their classification. We can and must do so.
In that regard, let me conclude my statement by paying special tribute to a great and humane internationalist and an exemplary practitioner of multilateral cooperation, Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Federal Republic of Germany. As she exits the stage, we wish her well.