‘We Will Now Be Aggressive’ — Tinubu Vows To Deal With Smugglers Of Nigeria’s Gold, Minerals To Wealthy Nations

President Bola Tinubu has vowed that Nigeria and other African nations will no longer tolerate the manipulation of human rights advocacy by wealthy and powerful nations to hinder action against those smuggling out the continent’s vast mineral resources and trading them for western-made weapons.

According to Tinubu, this manipulation has impeded developing economies from dealing with illegal miners who smuggle the continent’s mineral resources abroad while flooding Africa with weapons from the West.

The illicit trade, Tinubu said, benefits the world’s wealthiest economies at the expense of African stability and prosperity.

The President said this while meeting with United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, at his UN Headquarters Office on Thursday in New York City.

“We are facing the great challenge of scavengers ravaging our lands and oppressing our people on illegal mines—taking our gold and mineral wealth back to developed economies by stealth and violence against Nigerians. Where one’s human right ends, the rights of another begin. Most especially for self-protection. If we fight, they say ‘human rights,’ but we will now be aggressive and we will question motives. We will stop what is happening in our land. We require your effective collaboration,” he stated.

Tinubu urged the United Nations to shift from merely discussing global issues to leading action against poverty in developing countries.

“The poverty ravaging our continent and the question of security and counter-terrorism requires us to work in close and effective synergy. The world will ignore Nigeria at its own peril. If we engage in talkshops as real challenges wreak real havoc in real time, we will fail. The time to strike is now. The time to achieve real results is now. I fought for democracy. I was detained for democracy. I am now President and I am determined to prove that democracy can provide the development that our nation and our continent so urgently demands.

“Trace those of us here to our foundations and you will find that we have ties and links with poverty. We must not be ashamed of that history, but poverty is unacceptable. I am one of the lucky survivors of gripping poverty. Nigeria is truly a giant. 240 million people and counting with a massive youth population. We are done saying too much. We seek much action. We have arisen out of poverty as individuals, but until our people have arisen out of that, we will not rest, even if it requires decisions at home that make me temporarily unpopular,” the President affirmed.

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, in his response said reforms were ongoing within the UN system to address institutional weaknesses and enhance decision-making power for developing nations.

“We now recognize the need to reform the institution to represent the world as it is today. The questions of debt and SDRs. The fact that middle-income countries have only marginal access to concessional funding. In the SDGs Summit, we believe we have a growing political consensus and now, a declaration, in this regard. We are pursuing this with great determination,” the UN Secretary-General said.

Guterres further assured Tinubu of support of the UN for ECOWAS in light of recent military coups in the West African sub-region.

“Mr. President, we have high expectations for your presidency after the many bold steps you have taken. Nigeria is an indispensable voice in the sub-region. We will give you every support needed for your success to be achieved. Your success is Africa’s success and we wish you well,” he said.