Nigeria’s long road forward

Sonala Olumhense

This week, President Bola Tinubu will not be in New York.

Context: The 79th United Nations General Assembly opened nearly two weeks ago, and the general debate will begin on Tuesday.

  The general debate is normally where Nigerian leaders turn up to pretend that all is well.  Apart from the 64th Assembly in 2009 when a sick President Umaru Yar’Adua was represented by Chief Ojo Maduekwe, the Foreign Affairs Minister, being in New York to read a speech has been a “can’t-miss” show in the Fourth Republic.

Last Thursday, on the very anniversary of his first address to the UNGA, Mr Tinubu announced that Nigeria’s delegation will instead be led by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

One month earlier, on August 18, he had directed a reduction of the size of the country’s delegation to the event. In a loosely worded statement, Chief of Staff Femi Gbajiabiamila said, “I have received a directive from Mr President that this time, [membership of the delegation] will be strict. If you have no business at the UN General Assembly, do not step foot in America.”

Caveat: That directive came from a government which pays the private hotel bills of members of the President’s family, lavishes foreign exchange on the travels of his wife, awards the presidential jet to his children, and places them at the head of official federal delegations.

For now, we know that the president was not scheduled to be landing at a New York-area airport this weekend. According to the official statement said, he “wants to focus on domestic issues and address some of the country’s challenges, especially after the recent devastating flooding.”

This is extremely strange. Nigerian leaders have always insisted that they can “rule from anywhere,” an affirmation that Muhammadu Buhari used routinely as he lay spreadeagled for local nurses in a London hospital and refused to transmit power to his deputy.

But separating Tinubu and his brand “new” presidential jet from the glitz and glamour of America’s premiere city is allegedly a decision to focus on Nigeria’s “challenges”?

And he is sending in his place a man who will speak not among the leaders but among the second-tier, which includes foreign ministers? A man who has such poor foreign exchange drawing power in the government that his figures are similar to those of First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, a non-official?

The theme of the 2024 General Debate is: “Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.”

Its background is last year’s General Assembly adoption of a Political Declaration at a High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development held to review progress and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In it, they reaffirmed their “commitment to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs and uphold all principles enshrined in it,” stressing that the 2030 Agenda remained the “overarching roadmap for achieving sustainable development and overcoming the multiple crises we face.”

“We reaffirm our commitment to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs and uphold all principles enshrined in it,” they said, adding, “The 2030 Agenda remains our overarching roadmap for achieving sustainable development and overcoming the multiple crises we face. 

“We will act with urgency to realise its vision as a plan of action for people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership, leaving no one behind. We will endeavour to reach the furthest behind first.

 “We emphasize that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.”

And the Declaration’s call to action began with: “We commit to taking continuous, fundamental, transformative and urgent actions at all levels and by all stakeholders to overcome the crises and obstacles facing our world. We recognise the urgent need to take the actions necessary to reverse declines and accelerate progress to achieve the 2030 Agenda and implement the SDGs. 

“We commit to achieving sustainable development and shared prosperity for all by focusing our policies and actions on the poorest and most vulnerable. We will endeavour to identify those who are being left behind and reach those who are the furthest behind first. People who are vulnerable must be empowered…”

There are 190 occurrences of “we” in the Declaration, almost one for each of the Organisation’s 193 member states.  And remember, each “we” represents Mr Tinubu vigorously nodding his head in New York. At least 190 times.

And yet, not once outside the UN since that September, has he mentioned the SDGs or the 2030 Agenda or the Political Declaration. This is important because of the clear nexus between the parlous situation in Nigeria and the nation’s failure to implement the SDGs.

  In that announcement of a “reduction” of the size of Nigeria’s delegation, Mr Gbajabiamila suggested that the decision was a responsive government action. “During [the #EndBadGovernance] protests, there were talks about reduction in the cost of governance. Everyone is waiting to see if Nigeria, as in the past, will send the ‘largest delegation’ to UNGA.”

We will find out if Nigeria sent a responsible delegation. Remember that under Tinubu, Nigeria has almost no diplomatic representation abroad. It is now over one year since he recalled Nigeria’s diplomats without replacing them.

At the United Nations, that continues a pattern where we have an address but no presence. We are a multilateral ghost. We lead nothing, participate in nothing, and contribute nothing.

That appears to describe Tinubu’s leadership, as it has plunged Nigeria into chaos and hopelessness. That he is skipping the UNGA this month allegedly to focus on “domestic challenges” sounds good, but it is hollow.

If he wants to focus on the real challenge, it must be as diagnosed by the people, who have identified it as “Bad Governance.”

Bad governance is not simply the “devastating flooding.”  It is the awful leadership which inflicts such problems.  It is atrocious governance that makes it difficult for Tinubu to return to New York after affirming “We” 190 times last year, to describe what he has done to implement the plan.

Because I know he has forgotten, here is a reminder: He reaffirmed the universality of the 2030 Agenda, and that “its goals and targets are comprehensive, far-reaching, people-centred, indivisible and interlinked, balancing the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental, in an integrated manner.”

He recognised “the special challenges facing all developing countries in pursuing sustainable development, in particular, African countries…[resolving] between now and 2030, to end poverty and hunger everywhere; to combat inequalities within and among countries…”

Since last September, and while Tinubu consolidated a lifestyle of luxury and selfish spending, the country has descended into grief, hunger and widespread protests.  While he is busy persecuting some of the protesters, the country is poised for another wave of protests just one week from now.

If Tinubu wants to govern, he will get plenty of help, including from the international community which is gathered in Abuja. But does he?

What does he commit to?  What does “urgency” mean to him?  What does eliminating hunger and poverty mean?