President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), in New York yesterday in what appeared to be his very last address. He called for the cancellation of debt for developing countries, noting that it presents “severe challenges” to the affected countries.
On May 29 of the following year, when he must have finished his second term in office as required by law, President Buhari is anticipated to resign from his position as president of Nigeria.
The President of Nigeria spoke at the 77th General Assembly, recalling that he would have done so in 1984 as the military’s head of state, but that he only got the chance to do so in 2015 after becoming the country’s democratically elected leader.
He said, “Indeed, the multifaceted challenges facing most developing countries have placed a debilitating chokehold on their fiscal space.
“This equally calls for the need to address the burden of unsustainable external debt by a global commitment to the expansion and extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative to countries facing fiscal and liquidity challenges as well as outright cancellation for countries facing the most severe challenges.”
Buhari thanked the world leaders who had worked with Nigeria in the effort to address challenges and announced that by this time next year, Nigeria would have a new president representing it. He also highlighted the country’s actions in bringing peace and stability to West Africa. President Buhari discussed the ongoing problems the globe is currently facing, which, in his opinion, have been made worse by the conflict in Ukraine.
In order for Nigerians to elect the leaders of their choosing, he committed to firmly establish a system of free, fair, transparent, and credible elections.
Buhari reiterated his support for constitutional term limits and Nigeria’s efforts to advance democracy and the rule of law in West Africa, pointing to the nation’s assistance to The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Chad during their political impasses. He also informed the august body that there will be a new face representing Nigeria on the Assembly Hall podium next year.
He said: ”We believe in the sanctity of constitutional term limits and we have steadfastly adhered to it in Nigeria. We have seen the corrosive impact on values when leaders elsewhere seek to change the rules to stay on in power.
”Indeed, we are now preparing for general elections in Nigeria next February. At the 78th UNGA, there will be a new face at this podium speaking for Nigeria.
”Ours is a vast country strengthened by its diversity and its common values of hard work, enduring faith and a sense of community.
”We have invested heavily to strengthen our framework for free and fair elections. I thank our partners for all the support that they have provided our election institutions.
”As President, I have set the goal that one of the enduring legacies I would like to leave is to entrench a process of free, fair and transparent and credible elections through which Nigerians elect leaders of their choice.”
President Buhari highlighted support for democracy in the area by stating that Nigeria assisted ensure the first democratic transition since independence in The Gambia and stood by the democratically elected government in Guinea-Bissau when it was threatened with mutiny.
He continued by saying that after the terrible murder of Chad’s President Idris Deby Itno on the battlefield, Nigeria teamed up with its neighboring neighbors and international allies to stabilize the nation and support the continuing peaceful transition to democracy.
Buhari added: ”Democracy is an idea that crosses time and borders. Certainly, democracy does have its limitations. ‘The wheels of democracy turn slowly. It can demand compromises that dilute decisions.
”Sometimes, it bends too much to special interests that exercise influence, not always for the general good, in a manner disproportionate to their numbers.
”But it has been my experience that a democratic culture provides a Government with the legitimacy it needs to deliver positive change.
“Recalling that the first time he could have addressed the Assembly was in 1984, as Military Head of State of Nigeria, President Buhari said it was a great privilege to personally address the Assembly, thirty-one years later, in 2015, ”as the democratically elected President of my country.
”As I approach the end of my second and final four-year term, I am reminded of how much has changed in Nigeria, in Africa, and in the world, and yet, how some challenges remain,” he said in the address, which also focused on pressing international issues including the consequences of the war in Ukraine, Climate Change, malignant use of technology, debt service suspension, among others.”
President Buhari expressed concern over the war in Ukraine and cautioned that the threat of escalation further supported Nigeria’s steadfast calls for a nuclear-free world and a global arms trade treaty, which are required precautions to avert major human catastrophes.
He urged world leaders to quickly find a way to agree on the nuclear non-proliferation pact and the pledges made by nuclear armed states in its context.
According to him, the war would have negative effects on everyone and make it more difficult for the international community to cooperate in resolving other problems, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia:
”Indeed, the ongoing war in Ukraine is making it more difficult to tackle the perennial issues that feature each year in the deliberations of this Assembly, such as nuclear disarmament, the right of the Rohingya refugees to return to their homes in Myanmar, and the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations for statehood and reduction of inequalities within and among nations.”
