….Calls for Overhaul of UN, Global Finance Systems
By Eshiorameh Sebastian, Abuja
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has thrown his country’s weight firmly behind the pursuit of a two-state solution as the only viable path to lasting peace between Israel and Palestine.
Speaking through his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, President Tinubu moved beyond careful diplomatic language to issue a stark moral declaration, stating that the people of Palestine are “not collateral damage in a civilisation searching for order.”
The President’s speech, delivered at the 80th session of the UNGA, positioned the ongoing conflict as a critical test of the international body’s relevance. He described the human suffering in the Middle East and other regions as “stains on our collective humanity,” expressing deep frustration with the slow pace of progress on long-standing global issues. For President Tinubu, the situation in Palestine is a poignant example of the gulf between the UN’s principles and its actions, a gap that he warned is leading some nations to look away from the multilateral model.
“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,” President Tinubu stated. He framed the issue in terms of fundamental human equality, asserting that Palestinians are “human beings, equal in worth, entitled to the same freedoms and dignities that the rest of us take for granted.” This forceful endorsement adds significant diplomatic weight from a major African power to the calls for a renewed and genuine peace process.
However, President Tinubu’s advocacy for Palestine was part of a much broader and equally critical message aimed at the architecture of global governance itself. He issued a clear warning that the United Nations must undertake sweeping institutional reforms or face growing irrelevance as world events increasingly bypass its influence.
“The United Nations will recover its relevance only when it reflects the world as it is, not as it was,” he argued, using this principle to anchor a direct demand for Nigeria to be granted a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. He emphasised Nigeria’s transformation into a projected third-most populous nation, arguing that such a nation, with one of the youngest and most dynamic populations on earth, cannot be absent from the tables where fundamental decisions are made.
Beyond political reform, the Nigerian leader proposed a radical overhaul of the international financial system, which he sees as intrinsically biased against developing nations. He called for the creation of a new and binding mechanism to manage sovereign debt, which he described as “a sort of International Court of Justice for money.” This, he argued, would allow emerging economies to escape the “economic straitjacket” of being mere producers of raw, unprocessed exports. “I am calling for urgent action to promote debt relief – not as an act of charity but as a clear path to the peace and prosperity that benefits us all,” he explained, linking economic justice directly to global stability.
Connecting this economic vision to Africa’s future, President Tinubu highlighted the continent’s abundance of critical minerals, essential for the technologies of the future. He insisted that countries producing these strategic resources must “benefit fairly from those minerals – in terms of investment, partnership, local processing and jobs.” He warned that the current model, where Africa exports raw materials, only causes “tension, inequality, and instability to fester.” This stance positions Nigeria as a champion for a new, more equitable economic partnership between Africa and the developed world.
Even as he addressed global conflicts and systems, President Tinubu also looked inward, acknowledging the difficult reality facing Nigerians due to his government’s economic reforms. “The government has taken difficult but necessary steps to restructure our economy and remove distortions, including subsidies and currency controls that benefited the few at the expense of the many,” he said. He presented these challenging measures as part of a broader blueprint for resilient, market-driven growth that he believes can serve as a model for other African nations.
In closing, President Tinubu’s speech wove together these threads—the urgent moral imperative in Palestine, the demand for a restructured UN, the call for financial fairness, and the vision of a self-reliant Africa—into a reaffirmation of Nigeria’s commitment to multilateralism. However, it was a commitment conditional on real, tangible change. “We must make real change, change that works, and change that is seen to work. If we fail, the direction of travel is already predictable,” he concluded, leaving world leaders with a clear choice between meaningful reform and managed decline.
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