President Bola Tinubu has called for equitable access to capital for developing countries in order to solve pressing challenges in the world.

At the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Kampala, Uganda, Mr Tinubu added that this would provide the much-needed resources for development.

He stressed that the developing world was not looking for sympathy or begging the developed or advanced countries, but asking for fair and equal opportunity.

The President was represented by Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu.

The summit was chaired by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and attended by many heads of governments.

The Non-Aligned Movement is the largest gathering of countries, second only to the United Nations General Assembly.

According to Mr Tinubu, the combined population of the 120 countries that make up the Non-Aligned Movement is over 4.4 billion or about 55 per cent of the world’s population, yet the total financial resources available to all these countries are much less than that of some countries.

The total budgetary resources for the 120 countries is less than 3.5 trillion dollars, which is less than the budget of United States alone.

He said that the aggregate public debt of less than 6.6 trillion dollars, mostly at higher interest rates and shorter tenor, was about one-sixth of one of a few developed countries.

These startling statistics, according to Mr Tinubu, are a clear evidence that the Non-Aligned countries suffer from a lack of access to capital and resources for development.

“More often than not, public debt available to developing countries is far more expensive and not substantial enough to make an impact.

“Therefore, we wish to advocate a financing mechanism and equitable capital market access that can provide adequate financial resources to the Global South,” he said.

Mr Tinubu also listed the challenges facing the world currently to include climate change, conflict and wars, terrorism, and widening inequality.

“All these are happening as we are battling to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not possible for any one nation to tackle these multidimensional challenges,” he said.

He stressed that this called for greater collaboration between and among Member States as they struggle to achieve sustainable development goals.

According to him, the theme of the summit -“Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence”, bears relevance with respect to the current trend of wars.

These include proliferation of small arms and light weapons, threat of use of nuclear weapons and the dangerous polarization between developed countries, similar to the era of cold war.

On climate change, the Nigerian president pointed out that the developing countries were moving forward on the issue with courage and ambition.

“Developing countries have striven in the last two decades under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process to make common but differentiated responsibilities a basic principle of global climate action.

“To move forward decisively, access to affordable climate finance and technologies is critical,” he said.

Mr Tinubu urged the NAM to work in collaboration with the United Nations to stress the need for the developed countries to provide climate finance of $1 trillion at the earliest to fulfill their promise of $100 billion annual commitment to climate finance to developing countries.

The President also lent Nigeria’s voice to the NAM Member States’ common position in condemning the present wanton destruction of lives and properties in the State of Palestine, which had assumed a critical dimension.

“Nigeria supports and reiterates call for an immediate durable and sustained humanitarian truce in that region.

“Many lives, including women and children, have been lost since the commencement of the crisis between the States of Israel and Palestine, with so many displaced.

“The daily increase of displaced persons and shortage of humanitarian supplies due to impeded access have greatly impacted on the people, exacerbated the humanitarian catastrophe in the region and increased civilian casualties,” he said.

“As a promoter and protector of human rights, Nigeria urges the parties in the conflict to uphold the fundamental values of international humanitarian law, which places high premium on ensuring civilians’ safety and wellbeing.

“This should go beyond mere politics and rhetorics. Destruction of lives and properties including hospitals and religious and cultural sites is a violation of international law.

“Nigeria, therefore, calls for a ceasefire and reiterates its call once again for quick de-escalation of hostilities by both sides which should help us in getting to a two-state solution.

“This seeming permanent cycle of violence needs to be broken,” he said.

Tinubu told the NAM member states that it was their responsibility to build bridges and take urgent practical actions to scale up success and lessons learned.

“We must work together to tackle these challenges by touching the lives of the most vulnerable in society”.

The President added that the pursuit of shared prosperity for all must be at the centre stage of multilateralism.

“Shared prosperity is the ultimate guarantee for peace. Our countries are looking for equity, not sympathy. It is justice and development that shall make freedom blossom,” he said. (NAN)

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