President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday, 24 September, challenged world leaders to embrace profound reforms or risk sliding into irrelevance, in a strongly worded address to the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Speaking through Vice President Kashim Shettima, who represented him at the gathering, Tinubu outlined four major reform priorities, starting with Nigeria’s demand for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
“Nigeria must have a permanent seat at the UN Security Council. This should take place as part of a wider process of institutional reform.
“The United Nations will recover its relevance only when it reflects the world as it is, not as it was,” he declared.
The president drew attention to Nigeria’s transformation from “a colony of 20 million people, absent from the tables where decisions about our fate were taken to a sovereign nation of over 236 million, projected to be the third most populous country in the world, with one of the youngest and most dynamic populations on earth.”
Tinubu lamented the slow pace of progress on international challenges ranging from disarmament to trade.
“When we speak of nuclear disarmament, the proliferation of small weapons, Security Council reform, fair access to trade and finance, and the conflicts and human suffering across the world, we must recognise the truth. These are stains on our collective humanity,” he stated.
Taking a principled stance on the Middle East, he declared: “We say, without stuttering and without doubt, that a two-state solution remains the most dignified path to lasting peace for the people of Palestine.
“The people of Palestine are not collateral damage in a civilisation searching for order. They are human beings, equal in worth, entitled to the same freedoms and dignities that the rest of us take for granted.”
On the global financial system, Tinubu called for urgent innovation to help indebted developing nations.
“I am calling for a new and binding mechanism to manage sovereign debt, a sort of International Court of Justice for money, that will allow emerging economies to escape the economic straitjacket of primary production of unprocessed exports,” he said.
He warned that the UN is losing credibility as action fails to keep up with its promises.
“For all our careful diplomatic language, the slow pace of progress on these hardy perennials of the UN General Assembly debate has led some to look away from the multilateral model.
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“Some years ago, I noticed a shift at this gathering: key events were beginning to take place outside this hall, and the most sought-after voices were no longer heads of state.”
Turning to Africa’s mineral wealth, Tinubu argued that it is central to future global stability.
“Africa – and I must include Nigeria – has in abundance the critical minerals that will drive the technologies of the future,” he said.
“Investment in exploration, development and processing of these minerals, in Africa, will diversify supply to the international market, reduce tensions between major economies and help shape the architecture for peace and prosperity.”
He added that mineral-producing nations must not be short-changed: “When we export raw materials, as we have been doing, tension, inequality, and instability fester.”
Tinubu also pressed for closing the digital divide, pushing for fairer access to technology: “I am calling for a new dialogue, to ensure we promote the best of the opportunities that are arising – and promote the level of access that allows emerging economies more quickly, to close a wealth and knowledge gap that is in no one’s interest.”
Presenting Nigeria as a case study in resilience, Tinubu pointed to difficult but necessary reforms.
“The government has taken difficult but necessary steps to restructure our economy and remove distortions, including subsidies and currency controls that benefited the few at the expense of the many.
“I believe in the power of the market to transform. Our task is to enable and facilitate, and to trust in the ingenuity and enterprise of the people. But the process of transition is difficult.”
On Nigeria’s fight against terrorism, he emphasised ideas over weapons.
“From this long and difficult struggle with violent extremism, one truth stands clear: military tactics may win battles measured in months and years, but in wars that span generations, it is values and ideas that deliver the ultimate victory.”
Closing with a firm plea for global unity, Tinubu reaffirmed: “Nigeria’s commitment to peace, to development, to unity, to multilateralism, and to the defence of human rights is beyond compromise.
“For none of us is safe until all of us are safe. We must make real change, change that works, and change that is seen to work. If we fail, the direction of travel is already predictable.”