Tinubu to UN: Reform or be condemned to irrelevance

•Says deserves a permanent seat in Security Council

•Frowns at body’s inaction in Middle East conflicts

By Egena Sunday Ode

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu delivered a strongly worded reform policy proposal to the United Nations on Wednesday, warning that the global body must embrace sweeping restructurings or face growing irrelevance as world events increasingly bypass its influence.
The President criticised the organisation’s record, pointing to the ongoing human suffering in the Middle East and other regions as “stains on our collective humanity.”

In his address to the UN General Assembly’s 80th session, President Tinubu, who was represented by his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, warned that the UN’s credibility is being undermined by the gulf between its words and its deeds while positioning Nigeria’s economic transformation as a model for developing nations.

“For all our careful diplomatic language, the slow pace of progress on these hardy perennials of the UN General Assembly debate has led some to look away from the multilateral model. Some years ago, I noticed a shift at this gathering: key events were beginning to take place outside this hall, and the most sought-after voices were no longer heads of state,” the President said.

President Tinubu outlined four key reform demands, starting with Nigeria’s call for permanent UN Security Council membership.

“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 United Nations will recover its relevance only when it reflects the world as it is, not as it was,” he stated.

The President emphasised Nigeria’s transformation from “a colony of 20 million people, absent from the tables where decisions about our fate were taken” to “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.”

President Tinubu also expressed deep frustration with the pace of international progress on critical issues, from nuclear disarmament to Security Council reform.

“When we speak of nuclear disarmament, the proliferation of small weapons, Security Council reform, fair access to trade and finance, and the conflicts and human suffering across the world, we must recognise the truth. These are stains on our collective humanity,” he stated.

Taking a direct stance on the Palestinian issue, the President declared: “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.”

He added: “The people of Palestine are not collateral damage in a civilisation searching for order. They are human beings, equal in worth, entitled to the same freedoms and dignities that the rest of us take for granted.”