Uncategorized
U N I T E D N A T I O N S N A T I O N S U N I E S
U N I T E D N A T I O N S N A T I O N S U N I E S
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
OP-ED ON THE SUMMIT OF THE FUTURE
By: Michael Mike
World Leaders Must Re-boot Global Cooperation for Today and Tomorrow
Final negotiations are underway in New York for this month’s Summit of the Future, where Heads of State will agree on reforms to the building blocks of global cooperation.
The United Nations has convened this unique Summit because of a stark fact: global problems are moving faster than the institutions designed to solve them.
We see this all around us. Ferocious conflicts and violence are inflicting terrible suffering; geopolitical divisions are rife; inequality and injustice are everywhere, corroding trust, compounding grievances, and feeding populism and extremism. The age-old challenges of poverty, hunger, discrimination, misogyny and racism are taking on new forms.
Meanwhile, we face new and existential threats, from runaway climate chaos and environmental degradation to technologies like Artificial Intelligence developing in an ethical and legal vacuum.
The Summit of the Future recognizes that the solutions to all these challenges are in our hands. But we need a systems update that only global leaders can deliver.
International decision-making is stuck in a time warp. Many global institutions and tools are a product of the 1940s – an era before globalization, before decolonization, before widespread recognition of universal human rights and gender equality, before humanity travelled into space – never mind cyberspace.
The victors of World War II still have pre-eminence in the UN Security Council while the entire continent of Africa lacks a permanent seat. The global financial architecture is heavily weighted against developing countries and fails to provide a safety net when they face difficulties, leaving them drowning in debt, which drains money away from investments in their people.
And global institutions offer limited space for many of the major players in today’s world – from civil society to the private sector. Young people who will inherit the future are almost invisible, while the interests of future generations go unrepresented.
The message is clear: we cannot create a future fit for our grandchildren with a system built for our grandparents. The Summit of the Future will be an opportunity to re-boot multilateral collaboration fit for the 21st century.
The solutions we have proposed include a New Agenda for Peace focused on updating international institutions and tools to prevent and end conflicts, including the UN Security Council. The New Agenda for Peace calls for a renewed push to rid our world of nuclear arms and other Weapons of Mass Destruction; and for broadening the definition of security to encompass gender-based violence and gang violence. It takes future security threats into account, recognizing the changing nature of warfare and the risks of weaponizing new technologies. For example, we need a global agreement to outlaw so-called Lethal Autonomous Weapons that can take life-or-death decisions without human input.
Global financial institutions must reflect today’s world and be equipped to lead a more powerful response to today’s challenges – debt, sustainable development, climate action. That means concrete steps to tackle debt distress, increase the lending capacity of multilateral development banks, and change their business model so that developing countries have far more access to private finance at affordable rates.
Without that finance, developing countries will not be able to tackle our greatest future threat: the climate crisis. They urgently need resources to transition from planet-wrecking fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.
And as leaders highlighted last year, reforming the global financial architecture is also key to jump-starting desperately needed progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Summit will also focus on new technologies with a global impact, seeking ways to close the digital divide and establish shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all.
Artificial Intelligence is a revolutionary technology with applications and risks we are only beginning to understand. We have put forward specific proposals for governments, together with tech companies, academia and civil society, to work on risk management frameworks for AI and on monitoring and mitigating its harms, as well as sharing its benefits. The governance of AI cannot be left to the rich; it requires that all countries participate, and the UN is ready to provide a platform to bring people together.
Human rights and gender equality are a common thread linking all these proposals. Global decision-making cannot be reformed without respect for all human rights and for cultural diversity, ensuring the full participation and leadership of women and girls. We are demanding renewed efforts to remove the historic barriers – legal, social and economic – that exclude women from power.
The peacebuilders of the 1940s created institutions that helped prevent World War III and ushered many countries from colonization to independence. But they would not recognize today’s global landscape.
The Summit of the Future is a chance to build more effective and inclusive institutions and tools for global cooperation, tuned to the 21st century and our multipolar world.
I urge leaders to seize it.
U N I T E D N A T I O N S N A T I O N S U N I E S
VP Shettima commissions Borno’s 375 tractors refurbished by NASENI
… 351 farm implements delivered by Zulum, commissioned
By: Our Reporter
Vice President Kashim Shettima has commissioned the 375 tractors belonging to Borno State Government which have been fully refurbished by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) under the National Assets Recovery, Refurbishment and Redeployment Project (Asset Restore Project).
The event was held on Sunday at the Borno State Agricultural Mechanisation Authority (BOSAMA) headquarters in Maiduguri.
VP Shettima commended Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, stating, “My greatest commendation to the Governor of Borno State for his commitment to providing leadership in the state.”
Vice President Shettima also praised NASENI for its commitment to enhancing Nigeria’s agricultural productivity through innovative infrastructure support under its asset restoration programme.
“We have seen NASENI at work, playing critical roles in our interventions in compressed natural gas (CNG) retrofitting, renewable energy technologies, and agricultural mechanisation. We are reminded more than ever that we can’t create durable Nigerian solutions to Nigerian problems unless we localise global technologies and relevant agencies must be supported to point us towards a stable nation and a promising future,” the Vice President said.
Speaking earlier, Governor Zulum acknowledged the Vice President’s numerous interventions in the agricultural mechanisation of Borno during his tenure as Governor of Borno State from 2011 to 2019.
He said, “Let me bring to the kind notice of this gathering that these tractors were procured by my predecessor, Senator Kashim Shettima, when he was the Governor of Borno State. He procured 1000 tractors and their implements.”
The Governor added, “He did not stop at that, but he also procured 250 units each of groundnut diggers, fertiliser broadcasters, rotovators, bailers and 25 units of combined harvesters. At a time when it would have been politically safe to focus only on short-term interventions, he chose instead to make a long-term investment in the future of our people.”
Speaking separately, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari and the Vice Chairman/CEO of NASENI, Khali Sulieman Halilu, commended Governor Babagana Umara Zulum for the leadership he has provided.
… 351 farm implements delivered by Zulum, commissioned
Meanwhile, Vice President Kashim Shettima also commissioned 351 units of implements procured by the administration of Professor Babagana Umara Zulum.
The implements according to Borno State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engr Bawu Musami, comprise 121 units of disc ploughs, 180 units of disc harrows, grain threshers, rotary slashers and 6-cubic-meter diesel tankers.
VP Shettima commissions Borno’s 375 tractors refurbished by NASENI
Three bandits killed, one arrested alive by security forces in Zamfara
By: Zagazola Makama
Atleast three suspected armed bandits were killed while one arrested and two motorcycles recovered during an ambush by local vigilante operatives attached to the troops of Operation FANSAN YANMA in Maru Local Government Area of the state.
Zagazola Makama gathered from reliable sources that the incident occurred on June 6 at about 3:00 p.m. when four suspected bandits riding on two motorcycles were intercepted by members of the local vigilante group, known as Yansakai, while moving between Yan Mangwarora, Mallamawa, and Kurar Mota villages, all in Dansadau District of Maru LGA.
The sources said that the vigilantes engaged the suspects in a confrontation, leading to the neutralisation of three of them, arrest of one, and recovery of two motorcycles used by the bandits.
The arrested bandits was handed over to the police while the corpses of the slain bandits were deposited at General
Hospital, Dansadau.
Three bandits killed, one arrested alive by security forces in Zamfara
Zulum donates N100m to wounded soldiers; families of fallen heroes
By: Michael Mike
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum has donated N100 million to aid the families of slain soldiers and those wounded in the ongoing fight against insurgency in the northeast region.
The donation was made on Saturday at an Eid El-Kabir Sallah luncheon hosted jointly by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, held at Maimalari Barracks in Maiduguri.
Zulum, while presenting a cheque of N100 million to the Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Major General Abdussalam Abubakar, stated that each of the soldiers wounded in action would be given N500,000, while the remaining amount would be distributed among families left by the soldiers killed in action in the ongoing fight against insurgency.
The presentation of the cheque was witnessed by the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar and the Force Commander, Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), Major General Godwin Mutkut.
Other prominent personalities present include a member of the House of Representatives, Engr. Bukar Talba, Secretary to Borno State Government, Alhaji Bukar Tijani, Head of Service, Dr Muhammad Ghuluze, Ag Chief of Staff, Dr Babagana Mallumbe, Borno APC Chairman, Hon. Bello Ayuba, among many senior government officials.
Zulum commended the resilience and patriotism of the Nigerian Armed Forces, emphasising that their sacrifices should never be forgotten. He said: “Your commitment on the frontlines, often under extreme conditions and far from your families, is not lost on us. We remain eternally grateful for your service and will never take your sacrifices for granted.”
The Governor also assured the military leadership of his continued support, stating that: “Borno State will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Nigerian Army and all security agencies in the fight against insurgency and rebuilding our communities for a peaceful and prosperous future.”
Zulum donates N100m to wounded soldiers; families of fallen heroes
VP Shettima commissions Borno’s 375 tractors refurbished by NASENI
OP-ED: “A RESCUE PLAN FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”
FG Declares Public Holiday on June 12 to Mark Democracy Day
Roger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
POLICE CHARGE ROOMS, A MINTING PRESS
-
News1 year agoRoger Federer’s Shock as DNA Results Reveal Myla and Charlene Are Not His Biological Children
-
Opinions3 years ago
THE PLIGHT OF FARIDA
-
Opinions3 years ago
POLICE CHARGE ROOMS, A MINTING PRESS
-
News1 year agoEYN: Rev. Billi, Distortion of History, and The Living Tamarind Tree
-
Columns1 year agoArmy University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.
-
ACADEMICS1 year agoA History of Biu” (2015) and The Lingering Bura-Pabir Question (1)
-
Opinions1 year agoTinubu,Shettima: The epidemic of economic, insecurity in Nigeria
-
Politics10 months agoKashim Shettima: Of Sentiments, Their Opinions, and the 21 billion Naira VP’s Official Resident
