STATEMENT DELIVERED BY
HIS EXCELLENCY MUHAMMADU BUHARI,
PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
AT
THE GENERAL DEBATE OF THE 72ND SESSION OF UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, IN NEW YORK,
ON
TUESDAY, nineteen SEPTEMBER 2017
Mr. President,
Fellow Heads of State together with Government,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies together with Gentlemen,
On behalf of my country, Nigeria, I congratulate y'all Mr. President on your election together with Mr. Gutteres on his starting fourth dimension General Assembly outing equally our Secretary-General. I assure y'all both of my country’s solidarity together with cooperation. You volition indeed postulate the cooperation of all fellow member U.S. equally nosotros are coming together during extra-ordinarily troubled together with unsafe times. Let me equally good give thank y'all old Secretary-General Mr. Ban ki Luna for his service to the United Nations together with wishing him peaceful retirement.
Mr. President,
2. The previous yr has witnessed many far-reaching developments. Some of the most pregnant events include the Islamic Republic of Iran Nuclear Deal, the Paris Climate Change Agreement and, of grave concern, the North Korean nuclear crisis.
l
Mr. President,
3. I must equally good commend the UN’s move inwards helping to settle thousands of innocent civilians caught inwards the conflicts inwards Syria, Republic of Iraq together with Afghanistan. In particular, nosotros must collectively give thank y'all the Government of the Federal Republic of Federal Republic of Federal Republic of Germany nether the commendable leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel together with the Governments of Italy, Hellenic Republic together with Turkey for assisting hundreds of thousands of refugees.
4. In an exemplary present of solidarity, the international community came together inside my ain portion to assist the countries together with communities inwards the Sahel together with the Lake Republic of Chad regions to comprise the threats posed past times Al Qaida together with Boko Haram.
5. We give thank y'all the Security Council for visiting the countries of the Lake Republic of Chad Basin to assess the security province of affairs together with humanitarian needs, together with for pledging assistance to rebuild lives together with livelihoods. Indeed, inwards Nigeria nosotros are providing relief together with humanitarian assistance to millions inwards camps together with those afflicted past times terrorism, drought, floods together with other natural disasters.
6. In the terminal year, the international community came together to focus on the postulate for sex equality, youth empowerment, social inclusion, together with the advertisement of education, inventiveness together with innovation. The frontiers of adept governance, republic including asset costless together with fair elections, together with enthronement of the dominion of constabulary are expanding everywhere, specially inwards Africa.
7. Our faith inwards republic remains theatre together with unshaken. Our regional organisation ECOWAS came together to uphold democratic principles inwards The Republic of The Gambia – equally nosotros had done previously inwards Cote D’Ivoire.
8. Through our private national efforts, province institutions are beingness strengthened to promote accountability, together with to combat corruption together with asset recovery. These tin alone live on achieved through the international community cooperating together with providing critical assistance together with cloth support. We shall equally good cooperate inwards addressing the growing transnational crimes such equally forced labour, modern 24-hour interval slavery, human trafficking together with cybercrime.
Mr. President,
9. These cooperative efforts should live on sustained. We must collectively devise strategies together with mobilise the required responses to halt fleeing ISIS fighters from mutating together with infiltrating into the Sahel together with the Lake Republic of Chad Basin, where at that spot are insufficient resources together with answer capacity is weak.
10. This volition require rigid United Nations cooperation amongst regional organisations, such equally the African Union, inwards conflict prevention together with management. The United Nations should proceed to select primary leadership of the maintenance of international peace together with security past times providing, inwards a predictable together with sustainable manner, adequate funding together with other enablers to regional initiatives together with peacekeeping operations authorized past times the Security Council.
Mr. President,
11. New conflicts should non brand us lose focus on ongoing unresolved old conflicts. For example, several United Nations Security Council Resolutions from 1967 on the Middle East crisis stay unimplemented. Meanwhile, the suffering of the Palestinian people together with the blockade of Gaza continue.
12. Additionally, nosotros are directly confronted past times the desperate human rights together with humanitarian situations inwards Republic of Yemen together with most tragically inwards the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The Myanmar crisis is rattling reminiscent of what happened inwards Bosnia inwards 1995 together with inwards Rwanda inwards 1994.
13. The international community cannot stay soundless together with non condemn the horrendous suffering caused past times what, from all indications is a state-backed programme of fell depopulation of the Rohingya inhabited areas inwards Myanmar on the bases of ethnicity together with religion. We fully endorse the telephone outcry upward past times the Secretary-General on the Government of Myanmar to guild a halt to the ongoing ethnic cleansing together with ensure the rubber provide of the displaced Rohingya to their homes inwards security together with dignity.
14. In all these crises, the primary victims are the people, the most vulnerable beingness women together with children. That is why the topic of this session: Focusing on People: Striving for Peace together with Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet" is most apposite.
15. While the international community grapples to resolve these conflicts, nosotros must live on mindful together with focus on the widening inequalities inside societies, together with the gap betwixt the rich together with the piteous nations. These inequalities together with gaps are business office of the underlining root causes of contest for resources, frustration together with anger leading to spiralling instability.
16. The most pressing threat to international peace together with security today is the accelerated nuclear weapons evolution programme past times North Korea. Since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, nosotros take away hold never come upward hence some the threat of nuclear state of war equally nosotros take away hold now.
17. All necessary pull per unit of measurement area together with diplomatic efforts must live on brought to affect Democratic People's South Korea to take away hold peaceful resolution of the crisis. As Hiroshima together with Nagasaki painfully remind us, if nosotros fail, the catastrophic together with devastating human loss together with environmental degradation cannot live on imagined.
Mr. President,
18. Nigeria proposes a rigid United Nations delegation to urgently engage the North Korean Leader. The delegation, led past times the Security Council, should include members from all the regions.
19. The crisis inwards the Korean peninsula underscores the urgency for all fellow member states, guided past times the spirit of enthroning a safer together with to a greater extent than peaceful world, to ratify without delay the Treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, which volition live on opened upward for signature hither tomorrow.
Mr. President,
20. I terminate my remarks past times reiterating Nigeria’s abiding commitment to the foundational principles together with goals of the United Nations. Since our admission equally a fellow member province inwards 1960, nosotros take away hold ever participated inwards all efforts to select nearly global peace, security together with development. Nigeria volition proceed to back upward the United Nations inwards all its efforts, including the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
I give thank y'all you.