Tinubu seeks equitable market access for developing countries

President Bola Tinubu on Saturday, said developing countries need equitable access to capital arguing that such access would provide the much-needed resources for development.

This was as he noted the expensive nature of most public debt packages seeking a friendlier financing mechanism.

Tinubu spoke at the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, where he said the developing world is not looking for sympathy or begging, but fair and equal opportunity.

“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 the President who was represented by the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu.

The Ministry’s Director of Information, Mrs Folasade Boriowo, revealed this in a statement she signed on Saturday titled ‘President Tinubu seeks financing mechanism, equitable capital market access for developing countries.

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

More so, the total budgetary resources for the 120 countries is less than $3.5tn, which is less than the budget of the United States alone. Whereas the aggregate public debt of less than $6.6tn, mostly at higher interest rates and shorter tenor, is about one-sixth of one or a few developed countries, he argued.

Tinubu said these statistics are clear evidence that the Non-Aligned countries suffer from a lack of access to capital and resources for development.

President Tinubu also listed the challenges facing the world currently including climate change, conflict and wars, terrorism, and widening inequality.

He said, “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,” stressing that this necessitates greater collaboration between and among Member-States as they struggle to achieve sustainable development goals.

According to him, the theme of the summit which is ‘Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence’ bore timeliness concerning the current trend of wars, 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.

“In this regard, we must recommit to the foundational principles of Non-Aligned Movement to better assure global peace and security,” he said.

On climate change, the Nigerian leader affirmed 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 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.

President Tinubu urged NAM to collaborate with the United Nations to stress the need for the developed countries to provide climate finance of $1tn at the earliest to fulfil their promise of a $100bn annual commitment to climate finance to developing countries.

He also lent the country’s voice to the NAM’s common position in condemning the present wanton destruction of lives and properties in the State of Palestine, which has assumed a critical dimension.

“Nigeria supports and reiterates the 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,” he stated,” adding that “This should go beyond mere politics and rhetorics.”

Tinubu noted that the destruction of lives and properties including hospitals and religious and cultural sites violates 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 noted.

Chaired by Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the 2024 edition of the NAM summit was attended by many presidents and heads of government.

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