President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday called on international leaders to support current efforts targeted at mitigating the devastating socioeconomic impact of the Lake Chad crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa and those in other troubled regions globally.
This is even as he canvassed a collaborative approach in tackling the multipronged challenges of terrorist attacks and migration-induced conflicts in crisis-ridden regions.
President Buhari made these calls in his address delivered at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, United States of America.
While commending the global leaders and the United Nations initiatives aimed at combating crimes and other forms of anti-social crises over the years, the Nigerian leader pointed out that sustained collaboration and greater commitments among global leaders and governments were crucial in winning the war against organised crimes and natured induced crises across all regions
Citing the experiences of Nigeria and other countries going through one form of terrorist attacks or the other and the impacts of such crises on national or regional development as example, President Buhari said that adopting a common strategy in dealing with the sundry crises would achieve more than leaving each troubled country to its troubles.
He restated Nigeria’s commitment to the collective agenda of promoting global peace in view of the socioeconomic and political implications for national, regional and global peace and sustainable development.
President Buhari said: Migration is a constant in human affairs. We in Africa are grateful to countries who treat migrants with compassion and humanity-notably Germany, Italy and France.
“Irregular migration is not a consequence of conflicts alone, but of the effects of climate change and lack of opportunities at home. Climate Change remains one of the greatest challenges of our time. Very close to us at home, it is our lot in Nigeria, together with our neighbours around the Chad Basin, to live with the Climate change consequences of a drastically shrunk Lake Chad and the parching up of otherwise fertile arable lands.”
“The Lake was a major source of livelihood to more than 45 million inhabitants of the region. Its shrinking meant loss of livelihoods and they are now rendered poor and vulnerable to the activities of extremists and terrorist groups. The instability thus caused in the sub-region intensified internal displacements leading, among other consequences, to intense economic competition especially between farmers and herdsmen.”
“This is why we continue to call for a rededicated international engagement to accelerate the recovery efforts in the Lake Chad Basin to address the root causes of the conflicts in the region. What is required is continuous and robust UN cooperation with national Governments and sub-regional and regional organisations such as the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, to enhance capacity in conflict prevention, conflict management and peace building”
“With regard to the Lake Chad Basin plight, I extend our heartfelt appreciation to the United Nations, the Governments of Germany, Norway, the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France and a host of other development partners for their laudable support in assisting us to address both the humanitarian challenges and the on-going stabilisation drive in the region. Madam President, Corruption within countries and illicit flow of funds across national boundaries have huge negative impact on the stability, peace, and economic prospects of millions in developing countries. Corruption significantly deprives national Governments of resources to provide meaningful livelihoods to their populations who are predominantly youths, thus giving rise to more irregular migration., he added.
On the menace of corruption and illicit financial flows across national and regional frontiers, President Buhari lamented the devastating impacts on various countries and urged international leaders to do more in tracking such crimes and bringing perpetrators to justice.
He solicited the cooperation of governments and leaders of various countries with the Nigerian government in its current anti-graft war at all levels of governance in the country.