Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has described nuclear weapons as the ‘ultimate agents of mass destruction’ in his address at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, September 24, 2021.
Eight countries in the world are known to possess operational nuclear weapons, but there are also international agreements that prohibit new nations from developing them
He said Nigeria remains committed to nuclear non-proliferation agreements, and further noted that disarmament conventions deserve support of all nations.
“Their total elimination should be the final objective of all disarmament processes within the broad spectrum of goals being pursued by the United Nations,” he said.
The 78-year-old promised that Nigeria will press with his demands of ‘a world free of nuclear weapons’ during the forthcoming Review Conference of the Nuclear Prohibition Treaty, and also the First Meeting of States Parties to the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
This is similar to the calls he made last year during a video message to the UN High-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
The President had expressed concern about the ‘‘slow pace’’ of States possessing nuclear weapons in disarming and decommissioning their existing nuclear facilities.
He said, ”We are concerned about the slow pace of progress by nuclear-weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals, in accordance with their legal obligations and undertakings under Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”