ABUJA – Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, has called for renewed commitment to multilateralism and candid examination of challenges threatening global peace and governance.
Tuggar disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday by Alkasim Abdulkadir, his Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, against backdrop of the European Union–African Union Ministerial Follow-Up Committee and the 3rd EU–AU Ministerial Meeting in Brussels.
The minister commended the EU’s enduring support for African-led initiatives to have helped in tackling perceived challenges in the continent.
“It is at this point, when discussing peace, security and governance, the foreign minister of a large African country is meant to outline for his hosts progress we have made in tackling complex issues and outstanding challenges only closer cooperation can resolve.”
He described such challenge as familiar but pressing issues to include proliferation of small weapons climate change, violent extremism, irregular migration, fragility of democracy, technology, trade and markets
Tuggar underscored the need for routine discussions, while urging his counterparts to move beyond recitation towards genuine reflection.
“At this point, typically, we all nod and pledge further collective action and we have indeed seen many positives.
“I wonder if, perhaps, our focus on the symptoms of despair and conflict obscure our vision of the underlying cause and how best we manage the condition.
“We are here today as one of the most prominent expressions of faith in multilateral agencies, a rules-based international order and search for common solutions to common problems, yet we know it is a framework that has never appeared so fragile,” he said.
He decried disruptive roles played by non-state actors,discribing disinformation and unregulated digital currencies factors to have posed existential risks to nations that are rich and poor alike.
Tuggar, therefore, restated Nigeria’s belief in multilateralism and the promise of strategic partnerships.
Also highlighting the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area, Nigeria’s stake in European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and regional gains within ECOWAS, including freedom of movement as a viable economic alternative for African youth.
This, according to him, “Nigeria believe that agencies survive only when they can adapt to circumstance, reiterating Nigeria’s call for UN reform, fairer-trade and equitable market.
On internal pressure faced by African governments struggling to meet rising public expectations with limited capacity, he stressed the need for strategic approach to ensure lasting solution.
“It is a process that crowds serious debate and empowers political snake oil salesmen. While West Africa has witnessed several coups in recent years, the crisis of democracy is global.
“We should recognise the fears expressed in the former and the lessons in the latter, We cannot allow our responsibilities to be diluted by our rights.
“The truth is not a supermarket, to be picked or discarded according to taste,” Tuggar said.
He decried double standards in global responses to hate speech and disinformation saying, “We were told online, hate speech in Africa was the price of freedom; when it happens here, arrests follows.” (NAN)
