Every September, world leaders gather at the UN headquarters in New York to foster peace and development. This year’s UNGA message is “better together.” But while leaders talk about solidarity, the reality tells a different story.
00:05World leaders gather at the United Nations Assembly in New York.
00:11This year, the theme is Better Together.
00:16A nice theme. But are world countries together?
00:19Even the UN itself was not spared criticism.
00:22What is the purpose of the United Nations?
00:25The UN has such tremendous potential.
00:27I've always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential.
00:32But it's not even coming close to living up to that potential.
00:37So how can the UN achieve its potential?
00:40And what role can Africa play in achieving this goal?
00:43Welcome to The Flipside.
00:48From climate change to conflicts.
00:50From pandemics to ending poverty.
00:52And this time, the challenges and opportunities of AI.
00:56Leaders promise cooperation.
01:05But what happens when the cameras are off?
01:07Countries act solo.
01:09Powerful nations caught aid, shot borders and put their own interests first.
01:14Together in words, divided in action.
01:17So the question is, how united is the United Nations?
01:21With the rise of nationalism, with the rise of unipolarity, the world we can see has been divided.
01:29It has been more divided than it was in 1945.
01:32So what kind of unity are you bringing to the table?
01:35When you have the bigger countries bullying the smaller countries,
01:38that is not, there's nothing the United Nations can say to people.
01:41I don't see what is united about the United Nations.
01:43For me, it just feels like just the name.
01:45Africa has a lot of opportunities on tap.
01:48We shouldn't be waiting for the Western world to come and help us to expose our opportunities.
01:55We should work harder.
01:56If you want to be recognized, you start from home.
01:58You understand?
01:59If you say we don't have a city then, what is our contribution?
02:02For some Nigerians, it's time Africa wakes up and prioritizes itself.
02:11Africa is often at the center of UN debates.
02:14Over half of UN peacekeeping missions are in Africa.
02:18Yet, when it comes to decision making, the continent has no permanent seat at the Security Council.
02:24We don't have a voice where sometimes it matters.
02:32When it comes to security challenges in Africa and critical moments for interventions that we may need,
02:40having a voice there is very, very critical and important.
02:43Since we don't have a voice there, we can only hear about the deliberation.
02:48We are not part of the deliberation.
02:5080 years is a fairly long time for us to have reforms that can now accommodate other voices.
03:11And so the buzzword now is reforms, reforms, reforms.
03:16But how should these reforms look like?
03:18And who should take the leading role in reforming the UN?
03:21The call for reforms is a long overdue.
03:24We've heard cry out from many countries longing for UN reforms in many ways.
03:31In the manner in which decisions are done, in the manner in which resources are allocated,
03:38and in the manner in which key issues are addressed and agenda is set.
03:44So these calls for reforms are really timely in this sense.
03:49The major cry out for UN has always been equity.
03:53Equity in the sense that how, as a bigger global entity, regulates and ensures that our countries are fairly treated.
04:07And that not a cloud for few countries to dictate the world order the way we have seen for the last six, seven, eight decades.
04:17If you're not on the table, you should be on the menu.
04:19You either sit there and dictate what the menu should look like, or if you're not there, you'll be in the menu and it'll be eaten before you know it.
04:26Let me repeat that just in case you didn't catch it.
04:29If you're not on the table, you are on the menu.
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