Mr. President,

My Government is deeply concerned about the persistence of conflicts in many regions of the world, and in particular, our sub-region of West Africa. The conflict in Liberia has again tested the will of the international community to respond pro-actively to conflicts, and the humanitarian catastrophe in their wake. The ECOWAS decision therefore, to deploy troops into Liberia, in the face of obvious hesitation by the international community and in spite of the strain on our resources, was indicative of our determination to show that we will not stand by wringing our hands when these catastrophic events occur in our neighbourhood. We are highly relieved that our forward deployment of troops, and the initiative to remove the former Liberian President from the scene, had such immediate calming effect, which hopefully will be further reinforced by the deployment of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force.

I therefore wish to assure this august Assembly that Nigeria appreciates the decision of the United Nations Security Council in its resolution 1509 of 19 September, 2003 authorizing a multi-sectoral peacekeeping mission in Liberia to continue the
achievement of the ECOWAS initiative. I should emphasize that if regional organizations are to play the lead role, which the United Nations increasingly demands, the international community cannot escape its own responsibility to do much more to strengthen their requisite capacities.

Mr. President,

Let me now turn to another subject, which is closely related to the conflicts in Africa. The proliferation of small arms and light weapons has been identified as one of the major factors that fuel conflicts. An effective strategy in dealing with thisproliferation is the control of the illicit trade in this category of weapons from the countries of origin and their transfer to intermediaries and arms merchants. We therefore call for early conclusion of negotiations of a legally binding international instrument to control the indiscriminate supply of small arms and light weapons, especially to non-state actors. In keeping
with our commitment to the eradication of these weapons, ECOWAS has already established and renewed a Moratorium on the importation of small arms and light weapons. To make the Moratorium as effective as intended, we call for effective cooperation of all producer countries.

Mr. President,

In April 2003, the People of Nigeria reaffirmed their commitment to good governance and democracy by the successful election held. Following our 1999 election of transition from military to civilian government, the election last April marked the first civilian-to-civilian transition and a consolidation of our democratic process. I consider my re-election for a second and, by our Constitution, the last term of office, not only a mark of confidence, but also a great challenge to deliver the dividends of democracy to our citizens. To meet the challenge, my Government has elaborated a Programme of Economic Reforms
known by its acronym NEEDS - National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy. It is aimed at laying a solid foundation for sustainable socio-economic transformation and poverty eradication. The programme places the people first.
By its design, it will strengthen governance, enhance transparency, intensify the fight against corruption, develop infrastructure especially electricity, water and roads. It also gives a high priority to food security, agricultural development and promotion of small and medium-scale enterprises.

This ambitious economic reform, I believe, will constitute an important national contribution to the attainment of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals and of the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). In
this connection, the new reform programme of my government is a clarion call for national mobilization and national reorientation. However, it also envisages active cooperation by our multilateral and bilateral partners. We are too well aware that the development of our agricultural sector, by which the majority of our people still earn their living, cannot be successful as long as huge subsidies to agriculture in the developed countries continue. My Government therefore, wishes to use this forum to call again for the reform of the system of subsidies to agricultural production, which is strangulating agriculture in
developing countries. In this connection, it is regrettable that the reasonable proposals made by the group of developing countries at the recently concluded WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun were rejected by their negotiating partners, leading to the collapse of the Conference. Creating conditions of fair and undistorted trade would be the most effective way of providing additional resources to developing countries. This is particularly urgent in light of the low levels of official development assistance and the recent sharp decline in foreign direct investment. flows.

Mr. President,

Other areas which we hope that the international community will address with determination include the problem of external debt. This continues to be a major obstacle to the development of my country and many other African countries. It is evident that the various initiatives by the international community on debt relief and debt management have neither been able to address nor solve the problems. While appreciating the efforts by the international community in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiatives, we must observe that these have not provided adequate responses and solutions to their problems, let alone to those of heavily indebted middle-income countries like Nigeria, for whom no special debt relief mechanism exists, as it was successfully established, for instance, for countries in Eastern and Central Europe.

Nigeria, therefore, believes that bolder steps must be taken to resolve the heavy debt burden, that for a large number of countries, has become unsustainable and a hindrance to development. I am afraid that we have no effective mechanism in place to tackle this problem. Neither the Bretton Woods institutions nor the Paris and London Clubs alone, can provide
lasting solution and relief. l, therefore, believe that this issue is of such significance for the peace and development of a large portion of the world community, that we need to create a mechanism within the United Nations to address the problem inits full scope and based on the principle of joint responsibility of debtors and creditors alike.

Mr. President,

We welcome the on-going negotiations for a legally binding instrument on the repatriation of illicitly acquired funds stashed away in foreign countries. We call for early conclusion of the Convention on this issue. This convention is expected to make more resources available for development and show concretely the global commitment to eradicating large scale corruption, which is at the origin of the funds. In this connection, I must say that the experience of my country has been of lukewarm cooperation by most countries where our looted funds have been traced.
Our partners of the great banking nations should recognize that it is contradictory to condemn corruption on the one hand, and on the-other, hinder us in the recovery of the plundered funds. For us and our economic and social reform programme, the funds to be recovered can make a huge difference in meeting our national objectives. I earnestly appeal through this forum for maximum cooperation in repatriating the looted funds. I will like to take this opportunity to thank those countries that have
matched their words with actions in the way they have assisted us in the looted fund repatriation exercise.

Mr. President,

Last year, this Assembly endorsed the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), as the framework for development of the continent. We commend the G-8 for their Africa Action Plan to support the implementation of NEPAD, and hope that this will soon be translated into cooperation on specific programmes and projects. In addition, we hope that developed countries generally will also demonstrate concretely their support for NEPAD. On our part in Nigeria, the government's economic reform programme is a commitment to continue to make our contribution to an African renaissance,
which underpins NEPAD. We welcome the establishment by the United Nations of the office of the Special Adviser on Africa and urge that adequate resources be provided for its mandate to be discharged effectively.

Mr. President,

The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to ravage our continent, affecting mostly the productive segment of the population. To combat the epidemic, my government has embarked on a major national programme of action, the highlight of which consists
of nationwide public enlightenment campaign and mass mobilization to deepen awareness and understanding of the disease, the prevention and control of its spread and modalities for providing care and support for the people living with virus. To
contribute to the global programme on HIV/AIDS, Nigeria has redeemed its pledge of ten million US dollars to the Global Fund. Let me urge all countries that have not yet made pledges to the Global Fund to do so urgently. Those that have made pledges should kindly redeem them early. I wish to acknowledge with gratitude, the efforts so far deployed by the
international community on the pandemic, and to thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan for convening yesterday, the High-level Plenary meeting devoted to HIV/AIDS. However, a lot still needs to be done in a more concerted way to address all aspects of the problem, including the issue of more international funding and access to affordable drugs. These actions must be urgently taken if the Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing the spread of this dreaded disease by 2015 is to be achieved.

Mr. President,

The issue of terrorism has been of great preoccupation to our organisation in the past few years. Several instances of terrorist attack continue to surface in different parts of the world involving the loss of innocent lives and vast destruction of properties. Nigeria reiterates its condemnation of terrorism in all its manifestations, and joins other Member States in the global determination to combat this veritable threat to national as well as international security. We support the work of the Counter
Terrorism Committee, and reaffirm our conviction that a comprehensive convention on international terrorism will constitute an important instrument for the protection of individual and collective rights to life.

Mr. President,

The situation in the Middle East, which we had hoped would improve with the adoption of the Road Map for peaceful settlement of the conflict, has again deteriorated. We call on the parties to halt the new cycle of violence from which neither side stands to gain. We believe that any violation of the terms of the peace plan by either side constitutes a great
disservice to the Palestinians as well as the Israelis.
We, therefore, appeal to both sides to demonstrate full commitment to the implementation of the plan so as to create the conditions for the peaceful coexistence of a Palestinian State, side by side with the State of Israel.

In conclusion, I would like to comment briefly on the issue of the reform of our Organisation so as to make it more responsive to contemporary global needs and challenges. Nigeria has noted with dismay, that obstacles continue to be placed against the adoption of any of the constructive proposals on the reform of the Security Council. The changes that are being made in the Council's working method to make it more open to non-members are appreciated; however, these are no more than marginal. I wish again to re-iterate Nigeria's long held conviction that what is required is a more fundamental reform, which
will democratise and thus reposition the Security Council to enable it respond to issues of international peace and security in a more comprehensive, objective and effective manner. The overwhelming membership of our organisation demand no less in
the interest of its continued relevance.

Mr. President,

We cannot preach and endeavour to practise participation and inclusiveness at the national level while denying same at the global level of the United Nations, and expect that all will be well. And yet we have no substitute for this universal Organisation.
This point is now becoming evident in the present context of the situation of Iraq. Whatever might have been the circumstance in which the Iraqi war occurred, the role which the United Nations should play will be decisive in resolving the present impasse.
Our Organisation has now established itself in post conflict pacification of States. We can, to advantage, utilize that vast United Nations experience in managing the present post-conflict situation in Iraq.
We now have the possibility of an independent democratic Iraq and we must not lose that opportunity. One obvious point of disagreement has been the issue of decision-making both prior and sequel to the Iraqi war. This may be symptomatic of
the deficiencies to which I make allusion as not being conducive to the well-being of our Organisation. Let us, therefore, undertake necessary reforms so as to make our Organisation work for all of us to deal effectively and adequately with the pressing issues of the twenty-first century.

I thank you.