At the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Nigeria made a passionate appeal for urgent debt relief, framing it not as an act of charity but as a necessary path to global prosperity and peace.
Delivering the country’s national statement on Wednesday in New York, President Bola Tinubu—represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima—called on the international community to establish a binding framework to manage sovereign debt.
“We need a new mechanism,” Tinubu said, “a sort of International Court of Justice for money, that will allow emerging economies to escape the economic straitjacket of primary production of unprocessed exports.”
He referenced the Lagos Action Plan, formulated decades ago, which laid out a roadmap for breaking cycles of debt and dependency. Tinubu argued that its core message—investing in local value addition—is still critically relevant today.
“That today should still be explored for local added value for processing and manufacturing in everything from agriculture to solid minerals and petrochemicals,” he stated.
Highlighting regional collaboration, Tinubu praised the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a milestone in African unity and economic integration.
“We remain fully committed to the achievement of SDGs—and are convinced this can be best delivered by focusing principally on our primary mission of growth and prosperity,” he added.
The Nigerian leader also touched on peacebuilding efforts, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, noting that “international investment and engagement offer a way out of the cycle of decay and violence.”
He drew attention to how Africa’s wealth in strategic minerals has long been a trigger for conflict rather than a foundation for development.
“Access to strategic minerals, from Sierra Leone in the 1990s and Sudan today, has for too long been a source of conflict rather than prosperity for Africa,” Tinubu observed.
“I must include Nigeria—(it) has in abundance the critical minerals that will drive the technologies of the future,” he continued, calling for increased global investment in the exploration and processing of these resources on the continent. Such investment, he argued, would “diversify supply to the international market” and “reduce tensions between major economies.”
According to Tinubu, it’s time to move past the old frameworks that have kept Africa at the mercy of global financial systems and geopolitical rivalries.
“This will help shape the architecture for peace and prosperity on a continent that too often in the past has been left behind by the rivalries and competition between different blocs,” he noted.
He concluded by emphasizing Africa’s progress and potential: “We can take that progress to the next level—a level that presents new opportunities for trade, investment and profit—if we can access reforms to strengthen the international financial architecture.”
(NAN)
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