UNGA 2023: When Tinubu wooed the world
For over 63 years, Nigeria has actively participated in the UN General Assembly as one of the prominent Member States of the global body.
The General Assembly is the main policy making and representative organ of the UN.
It is composed of representatives of the 193 Member States and other entities which meet in sessions dedicated to discussions on current issues of critical importance to the international community.
The Assembly is also said to be the largest networking gathering, where Member States take advantage of the massive turnout to engage in bilateral and multilateral meetings as well as side events, among others.
Ending the war in Ukraine, promoting climate action and ramping up efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) topped the agenda of the High Level Week.
This year, the Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, joined other world leaders to contribute to the global discourse, highlighting the achievements of his country in contributing to global peace, prosperity and sustainability.
Tinubu, who was sworn in as 16th President of Nigeria on May 29, in his inaugural speech to the Assembly, urged UN member States to demonstrate more commitment to the crackdown against terror financing.
He also urged them to show commitment to curb economic sabotage, and illicit mineral and arms smuggling in the developing world.
The president said his aggressive economic development diplomatic push for new investment has been demonstrably effective in presenting Nigeria as business-ready, adding that the ease of doing business was not the major challenge to large scale investment.
“The question is not whether Nigeria is open for business. The question is how much of the world is truly open to doing business with Nigeria and Africa in an equal, mutually beneficial manner.
‘’Direct investment in critical industries, opening their ports to a wider range and larger quantity of quality African exports, and meaningful debt relief are important aspects of the cooperation we desire,” the Tinubu said.
Demonstrating his push for investment, Tinubu met with the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa and the President of Angola João Lourenço.
He also had audience with, President of Union of Comotros, Azali Assoumani, King of Jordan, Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, and the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Mr. Hissein Taha, on the sidelines of the session.
The Nigerian leaders also met with the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and with the business community in the U.S. as well as Nigerians living in the U.S., among others.
Discussing with his South African counterpart, Ramaphosa, stronger economic and regional ties, Tinubu said South African mining industries had a role to play in the Nigerian solid minerals development sector.
‘’Your business community has done well in Nigerian telecommunications. We have great mineral wealth across our land, and you have good expertise in this area.
“We expect to deliver jobs and mutually beneficial results in this area as brother and sister countries,” the president said.
Ramaphosa agreed that the two countries have much more wealth to create together in close and intentional partnership, with each nation leveraging the other’s respective strengths.
Also, in his meeting with Taha, Tinubu reiterated that the Islamic world has a strategic role to play in the sustenance of peace and development in Africa and across the globe.
‘’I am ready to collaborate with you. Your effort in supporting agricultural growth and food security through the provision of resources from Islamic banks has been most commendable, and our region is appreciative.
‘’I am determined to work with you to uplift Nigerians and Africans,” the president said.
Meanwhile, at the Nigeria-U.S. Executive Business Roundtable, Tinubu assured prospective investors of his administration’s determination to adopt necessary fiscal and regulatory measures to ease doing business in Nigeria.
He said that was the reason behind his bringing successful Nigerian industrialists and public officials to share their experiences and operational plans, respectively.
Tinubu said this was in addition to all he had done to boost the confidence of the global investment community in Nigeria by reforming the fiscal, monetary, regulatory, and tax policy environment.
Boosting the confidence of global investment, the Nigerian leader rang the bell at the National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System (NASDAQ) in New York.
Tinubu, while performing the task, was in the company of some Nigerian business leaders and officials of the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX).
The President also used the opportunity presented by the historic moment to advance his foreign investment push in front of financial markets at the famous stock exchange.
Also meeting with Nigerians in the diaspora, Tinubu assured them that Nigeria is home to business opportunities and that they should contribute their quota by investing in the country.
According to him, change of mind is important in achieving success in all their endeavours.
In addition to Tinubu’s participation, the Nigerian delegation also participated in other high-level events such as High-level dialogue on Financing for Development; High-level meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response.
The delegation attended the Climate Ambition Summit, convened by the Secretary-General; the Ministerial Meeting of the Summit of the Future; and the High-Level Meeting of Universal Health Coverage.
Also, the delegation participated in a high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis.
The Minister of State for Environment, Kunle Salako, who was part of the president’s entourage, spoke on the efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change, noting the decision by Tinubu’s administration to remove fuel subsidies.
According to him, the removal of fuel subsidies has reduced the country’s consumption rate by about 33 percent.
“I had highlighted this development in some of the meetings I attended or represented the President, at the meeting of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change, and at the meeting of the Commonwealth Ministers of Environment and Climate.
“Nigeria participated in the meeting of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change, where I represented the President to pass a resolution to adopt the Nairobi Declaration for final vetting by the AU.
“I also represented the president at the first meeting of the Commonwealth Ministers of Environment and Climate.
“During the meeting, the ministers decided to approach the 28th Conference of Parties in Dubai from late November to early December with the common goal of pushing for better financing for climate action’’, he said.
While commending the president on his maiden outing, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, said Tinubu's outing showed that Nigeria is back in the fold of great nations.
“It appears that the world is welcoming Nigeria back to its fold. So much is happening, and Nigeria is being expected to lead the way. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has just done that.
“Nigeria is becoming a very important nation once again, taking its rightful place. President Bola Tinubu didn’t speak for Nigeria, but for the rest of Africa,” said the minister.
Idris described the president’s outing as fantastic because it demonstrated the leadership position he has taken in Africa as the ECOWAS President.
By Cecilia Ologunagba
