President Bola Tinubu has called for debt forgiveness for Nigeria and other developing countries from creditors and multilateral financial institutions.

Tinubu made the call while addressing world leaders during the General Debate of the ongoing 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, United States, on Tuesday, September 24, 2024.

Tinubu was represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

The president, according to a statement issued on Wednesday by Shettima’s spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, also emphasised the need for reforms in the international financial architecture and a transparent multilateral trading system.

He expressed hope that the adoption of the “Pact for the Future” could change the narrative, reposition economies, and translate into concrete measures.

According to him, the measures will provide solutions to the challenges faced by developing and least-developed countries.

“It is for this and other reasons that we reiterate the call by countries, especially of the global South, for reform of the international financial architecture and promotion of a rules-based, non-discriminatory, open, fair, inclusive, equitable and transparent multilateral trading system,” Tinubu said.

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Tinubu, who emphasised the dangers of digressing from multilateralism, drew the UN’s attention to the global debt burden undermining the ability of countries and governments to meet the needs of their citizens.

He added that trade barriers and protectionist policies were destroying the hopes of nations, saying the uncontrollable competition was discouraging motivation and hampering global investments.

The president stated: “Similarly, we must ensure that any reform of the international financial system includes comprehensive debt relief measures.

“This will ensure sustainable financing for development. Countries of the global South cannot make meaningful economic progress without special concessions and a review of their current debt burden.”

Tinubu, therefore, called for the recovery of the proceeds of corruption and illicit financial flows.

President Tinubu stressed that the return of such funds to countries of origin “is a fundamental principle of the United Nations Convention against Corruption”.

“Therefore, the international community must promote practical measures to strengthen international cooperation to recover and return stolen assets and to eradicate safe havens that facilitate illicit flows of funds from developing countries to the developed economies,” he added.

The Star