Nigeria, 2007

I stand before the Assembly for the first time as President of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria, and I wish to reaffirm Nigeria's

complete dedication and commitment to the ideals of

the United Nations. We declare our total support for the

Organization's efforts to meet the multiple

humanitarian, social, peace and security and

development challenges confronting our world today.

At the outset, may I, on behalf of the Government

and the People of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,

congratulate Mr. Kerim and his country, the Republic

of Macedonia, on his election as President of the

General Assembly at its sixty-second session. I assure

him of the full support and cooperation of the Nigerian

delegation as he leads the deliberations of the session.

I also wish to extend my profound appreciation to

his predecessor, Her Excellency Ms. Haya Rashed Al

Khalifa, for the commitment and dedication with which

she presided over the affairs of the sixty-first session.

I formally extend my sincere congratulations to

Mr. Ban Ki-moon on his assumption of office as

Secretary-General. I commend him for his resolute

leadership and his determination to carry through the

requisite reform of the United Nations system and

assure him of the full support of the Nigerian

Government.

I also pay tribute to the previous Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for the commitment,

diligence and courage with which he piloted the affairs

of the United Nations during the past 10 years. We are

proud of the enormous contributions made to this

Organization by that illustrious son of Africa.

Since coming into office, my Administration has

anchored its pursuit of a re-energized, stable and

prosperous Nigeria on the fundamental principles of

democracy, good governance, free enterprise and the

rule of law. Those are worthy principles which Nigeria

shares with the United Nations family.

As a main theme of this session's general debate,

"Responding to climate change" is most appropriate.

the African continent is particularly vulnerable to the

impact of climate change. In our collective

determination to meet this challenge, African leaders at

the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the

African Union (AU), which met in Addis Ababa last

January, decided to integrate climate change issues into

all sustainable development initiatives at the national

and regional levels.

Nigeria reiterates its commitment to the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

While applauding the successful outcome of the high-

level event on climate change that was held here two

days ago, on 24 September, we affirm that much more

needs to be done.

It has been seven years since world leaders met in

this Hall for the Millennium Assembly and committed

themselves to ridding Africa of its most pressing

socioeconomic and political challenges in order to

allow the continent move with the rest of the world.

While tangible progress has been made in a few areas,

the continent is still bedevilled by great challenges.

The continued festering of the Darfur crisis

remains a blight on the collective conscience of the

international community, one which the Assembly

needs to address with the utmost urgency. The

humanitarian crisis has reached a critical level. The

Abuja Peace Agreement, which Nigeria helped to

facilitate, remains the reference point for a

comprehensive settlement of the crisis. However, the

lack of full implementation of the Agreement raises

serious cause for concern, and we call on all parties to

respect their commitments and help drive the peace

process forward. We continue to support the process

and reaffirm our support for the African Union —

United Nations hybrid force in the Sudan.

It is imperative that the concerted fight against

the HIV/AIDS pandemic, malaria, tuberculosis and

related diseases not lose momentum. At the national

level, we in Nigeria have consistently taken concrete

measures to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS and to

increase funding for the National Action Committee on

AIDS. We appreciate the financial and material

assistance from our development partners in this

regard, but our continent cries out for even more

intensified collective efforts at ridding Africa of this

and other pandemics.

Two years ago, we appraised our performance

against the set targets of the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) and realized that unless concrete and

more determined actions were taken, the overarching

aim of meeting the 2015 targets of poverty eradication

would remain a fantasy. We recognize that the primary

responsibility for social and economic development

rests mostly with individual States. Within the ambit of

the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's

Development, the nations of Africa are practically

facing up to the continent's economic and

sociopolitical development challenges through the

adoption and engendering of a new political culture

that will be conducive to long-term development.

Through such initiatives as the African Union's

African Peer Review Mechanism, our programme of

self-monitoring and self-assessment, as well as the

institutionalization of the ideals of democracy and

good governance, Africa has clearly defined an assured

course to economic regeneration and political stability.

What Africa seeks from the international

community is genuine partnership for economic

development. This should be manifested in a global

economic system predicated on fairness, justice and

equity, one that ensures fair trade terms and recognizes

the centrality of mutuality in prosperity. More

specifically, Africa requires massive and focused

foreign investment in the development of critical

infrastructure across the continent.

Let me say that we in Nigeria are wholly

committed to the United Nations Global Counter-

Terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288) in the fight

against international terrorism. As a follow-up to that

commitment, Nigeria has established four counter-

terrorism centres in the country, in addition to the

Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, which, together

with the Central Bank of Nigeria, monitors banking

transactions as part of the mechanism to locate and

terminate the illegal transfer of funds for terrorist and

other criminal acts, including money laundering.

Nigeria reiterates its condemnation of all acts of

terrorism and calls upon the international community

to muster the political will necessary to confront and

check this menace.

Nigeria affirms its abiding faith in the ideals and

objectives of the United Nations. We believe that a

strengthened and restructured United Nations would be

best placed to address the complex challenges facing

our world today. In that regard, my delegation will

continue to collaborate with other Member States to

press for comprehensive reform of the United Nations

system, including the much-desired expansion of the

Security Council in both the permanent and non-

permanent categories in order to reflect the realities of

today’s world. The situation whereby Africa is totally

excluded from permanent membership of the Council

is unfair and untenable and must be rectified.

The challenges that confront our world today call

for renewed purpose, renewed resolve, renewed

courage and renewed respect for human dignity.

Posterity beckons us to a real test of our sense of duty.

We cannot afford to fail that test. I assure the Assembly

that Nigeria will continue to support the United

Nations in our collective aspirations for a safer, fairer,

more just and more prosperous world.