President Muhammadu Buhari addressed world leaders on 28 September 2015 during the General Debate of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The new Nigerian Government has many issues to contend with but none as important as defeating the terrorist threat posed by Boko Haram and bringing back the Chibok girls unharmed, the country’s President declared at the United Nations General Assembly today.

“Boko Haram’s war against the people of Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon may not attract as much worldwide attention as the wars in the Middle East but the suffering is just as great and the human cost is equally high,” Muhammadu Buhari said in his address to the Assembly’s high-level debate.

Stating that Nigerians are on the front lines of the war on terror, he said the battle is between progress and chaos; between democracy and the rule of law.

“Boko Haram celebrates violence against the weak and the innocent and deplorably, they hide behind their perverted interpretation of Islam. Boko Haram is as far away from Islam as anyone can think of.”

Mr. Buhari, who was elected President in March, informed fellow world leaders that the new Government is attacking the problems it inherited head-on.

“We intend to tackle inequalities arising from massive unemployment and previous government policies favouring a few people to the detriment of the many. We intend to emphasize quality technological education for development and lay foundation for comprehensive care of the aged, the disadvantaged and the infirm.

“But for now, terrorism is the immediate problem,” he stressed.

The President outlined a number of steps being taken, adding that Nigeria and her neighbours Cameroon, Chad and Niger plus Benin are working together to face this common threat within the regional framework of the Lake Chad Basin Commission.

“We have established a multinational joint task force to confront, degrade and defeat Boko Haram. We have driven them away from many of their strongholds, killed or captured many of their operatives or commanders and freed several hundreds of hostages.

“One of our major aims is to rescue the Chibok girls alive and unharmed. We are working round the clock to ensure their safety and eventual reunion with their families. Chibok girls are constantly on our minds and in our plans,” he stated.

Some 276 girls were abducted by Boko Haram from their school in Chibok, located in Nigeria’s restive north-eastern Borno state, in April 2014, as the militant group ramped up brutal attacks targeting the country’s children. Some 200 of the girls were released from captivity in April of this year....

"Excellencies, the world is experiencing new and unusual climate variability due to increased emissions of greenhouse gases. Even though Africa contributes very little to global warming, the socio-economic consequences of climate change spare no nation. The burden is just as overwhelming for developing countries.

In Nigeria, we have seen extreme weather variations, rising sea levels, encroaching desertification, excessive rainfall, erosion and floods, land degradation – all of which threaten the ecosystem. These developments have devastating human costs and are affecting food security, livelihoods and the very survival of our people.

To address these negative effects, we have developed a national policy to guide Nigeria’s response to climate change. Our response is broadly based on the twin strategy of mitigation and adaptation.

As a party to the climate change convention and its protocol, Nigeria is strongly committed to the adoption of a legally binding universal agreement to mitigate climate change. We commend the countries that have announced their intended nationally determined contributions [INDC] ahead of the October 2015 deadline. These contributions will go a long way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The INDCs will serve as a yardstick for measuring the commitment of parties to the Framework Convention.

In addition we must prioritize the means of implementing the INDCs, in terms of finance, technology and capacity building, especially in supporting developing countries, including those in Africa. This is fundamental to ensuring that collective action to combat climate change is indeed, collaborative and effective in the long run.

As we approach Paris, the Nigerian position which reflects the African consensus, is that a legally binding universal instrument will be beneficial to all state parties. Nigeria will continue to champion the core principles and goals of the new sustainable development agenda and hopes that the next conference of parties will eventually become a global milestone to combat and cushion the dire impacts of climate change.

The Paris agreement should be rules-based, predictable, robust to adequately address climate change vulnerabilities. It is essential that the least developing countries and small island developing states receive the institutional capacity support for mitigation, adaptation, gender and climate change linkages towards building a sustainable environment.

Collective action remains the only viable option to addressing the challenges of global warming and the ever growing impact of climate change.

Excellencies, we have no other choice but to protect our environment for the benefit of the present and future generations. Collectively, we have to work towards achieving this all important objective. 
I thank you.”