*Says two-state solution, path to lasting peace in Palestine
WorldStage– President Bola Tinubu has reiterated the call for a proper representation of Nigeria on the United Nations Security Council.
Tinubu made the call in his address at the general debate of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
Tinubu who was represented by the Vice-President, Sen. Kashim Shettima said, “We are here to strengthen the prospects for peace, development and human rights. Madam President, I want to make four points today to outline how we can do this:
“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 Nigerian leader noted that the United Nations would recover its relevance only when it reflects the world as it is, not as it was.
” Nigeria’s journey tells this story with clarity: when the UN was founded, we were a colony of 20 million people, absent from the tables where decisions about our fate were taken.
” Today, we are 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.
” A stabilising force in regional security and a consistent partner in global peacekeeping.
“Our case for permanent seat at the Security Council is a demand for fairness, for representation, and for reform that restores credibility to the very institution upon which the hope of multilateralism rests.”
Tinubu stated that Nigeria stands firmly behind the UN80 Initiative of the Secretary-General, and the resolution adopted by the Assembly on July 18,
“A bold step to reform the wider United Nations system for greater relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness in the face of unprecedented financial strain.
“We support the drive to rationalise structures and end the duplication of responsibilities and programmes, so that this institution may speak with one voice and act with greater coherence.
“None of us can achieve a peaceful world in isolation. This is the heavy burden of sovereignty. Sovereignty is a covenant of shared responsibility, a recognition that our survival is bound to the survival of others.
“To live up to this charge, we must walk hand in hand with our neighbours and partners. We must follow the trails of weapons, of money, and of people.
“For these forces, too often driven by faceless non-state actors, ignite the fires of conflict across our region,” the President said.
Tinunu said Nigeria’s soldiers and civilians carry a proud legacy, adding that they have participated in 51 out of 60 United Nations peacekeeping operations since its independence in 1960.
He said that Nigeria has stood with its partners in Africa to resolve conflicts, and continued that commitment through the Multinational Joint Task Force.
He added that the country was still confronting the scourge of insurgency with firm resolve.
“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.
“We are despised by terrorists because we choose tolerance over tyranny. Their ambition is to divide us and to poison our humanity with a toxic rhetoric of hate.
“Our difference is the distance between shadow and light, between despair and hope, between the ruin of anarchy and the promise of order. We do not only fight wars, we feed and shelter the innocent victims of war.
” This is why we are not indifferent to the devastations of our neighbours, near and distant.
“This is why we speak of the violence and aggression visited upon innocent civilians in Gaza, the illegal attack on Qatar, and the tensions that scar the wider region.
“It is not only because of the culture of impunity that makes such acts intolerable, but because our own bitter experience has taught us that such violence never ends where it begins.”
TWO-STATE SOLUTION
President Tinubu also supported the two-state solution option as the most dignified path to lasting peace for the people of Palestine.
The Nigerian leader said “we do not believe that the sanctity of human life should be trapped in the corridors of endless debate.
” That is why 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.
” For too long, this community has borne the weight of moral conflict. For too long, we have been caught in the crossfire of violence that offends the conscience of humanity.
” We come not as partisans, but as peacemakers. We come as brothers and sisters of a shared world, a world that must never reduce the right to live into the currency of devious politics. “
Tinubu noted that people of Palestine are not collateral damage in a civilisation searching for order.
According to him, they are human beings, equal in worth, entitled to the same freedoms and dignities that the rest of us take for granted.
” We want to make the choice crystal clear: civilised values over fear, civilised values over vengeance, civilised values over bloodshed.
” We show the opportunities that peace brings, just as the extremist hopes to drive apart rival communities and different religions.
” We work through multilateral platforms within the rule of law, to build the consensus and support that makes this immensely difficult and dangerous task that much easier.
” This is how we deny our enemies the space they crave to fuel tension and despair.
“It is our experience that this offers the best, perhaps only hope for peace, reconciliation and victory for the civilised values of a shared humanity. “
He said that Nigeria, as a diverse country, also recognises the variable geometry of democracy; its different forms and speeds.
“For this reason, we are working with the United Nations to strengthen democratic institutions in our region and beyond, through the Regional Partnership for Democracy.”
Tinubu noted that the price of peace is eternal vigilance, adding that the increasingly difficult security outlook has prompted many member states to count the cost of the emerging world order.
” We in Nigeria are already familiar with such difficult choices: infrastructure renewal or defence platforms? schools or tanks? Our view is that the path to sustainable peace lies in growth and prosperity.
” 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.”
