Challenges and Prospects of Stabilising Africa

Being a speech presented by President Olusegun Obasanjo at the Baker Institute, Rice University, Houston Texas, U.S. on Wednesday November 5, 2003.

IT is indeed a great pleasure to address this august and learned gathering of the Baker Institute.

My sincere appreciation goes to James Baker III, the Head of Baker Institute, and all the Staff for the kind invitation, the warm reception and excellent arrangements for this occasion. Members of my delegation join me in truly appreciating the honour and the recognition accorded to us.

Let me quickly mention that I greatly admire the noble aims of this Institute which are to be strictly non-partisan and dedicated to the highest intellectual excellence and integrity, with the goal of helping bridge the gap between the theory and practice of public policy, by drawing together experts from academia, government, the media, business, and non-governmental organisations. I would recommend that such aims should be emulated elsewhere for, as the leader of a democracy that is still finding its feet, I fully appreciate the contributions of an Institute such as the Baker Institute.

Stability in Africa

Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to share some thoughts with you on the important theme of: "Stability on the African Continent: The Challenges and Prospects." Africa has been unstable for far too long! As everyone can easily deduce, stability itself is a necessary pre-condition for development and progress. Post-independence African leaders have all been grappling with the vicious circle of poverty, socio-political conflict and underdevelopment.

Poverty is both a cause and consequence of Africa's underdevelopment and today Africa is the only region of the world where poverty is increasing. If urgent actions are not taken, Africa runs the risk of missing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving the incidence of poverty in 2015.

As I speak to you, Africa is the theatre of numerous conflicts, between and within nation states, on scales varying from internal political wrangling to open violence. All these conflicts have the consequences of retarding progress by disrupting the lives of Africans who become victims as refugees either by physical displacement or being politically alienated and de-linked from the march of progress. All conflicts absorb disproportionate amount of leadership's energy and time that could be better used for formulating and implementing policies that could address urgent developmental needs such as chronic poverty that is rampant on the continent.

There are many a historian or political analyst who reckon that post-independence Africa was born with 'disability of instability.' By this reasoning, Africa is seen as the victim of the enduring consequences of slavery, colonialism, and economic exploitation especially during the Cold War. Africa remains largely fragmented as it was artificially carved into many unviable nation states. In fact, this 'disability' perception of the African condition has fuelled the well-known Afro-pessimism that has for far too long inhibited Africa's ambition, emasculated positive thinking about the future of Africa, and cost us an entire century - the 20th Century - now regarded as the lost century for Africa.

Over the last four decades of independence, African countries have made numerous efforts to pull themselves out of the crisis of underdevelopment. These have ranged from experimentations with socialism, state-led development planning, the structural adjustment programmes at the behest of the Bretton Woods Institutions, and most recently the poverty reduction strategies. Some of these solutions were virtually imposed upon Africa from the outside. Furthermore, African countries have variously devised essentially African 'home grown' solutions to their problems, including: the Lagos Plan of Action (1980); the African Priority Programme for Economic Recovery (1985); the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment, 1989, the United Nations Programme of Action for African recovery and development (UNPAERD), the United Nations New Agenda for African Development (UNNADAF); the Abuja treaty, 1991, etc. The most recent of such Africa's home grown initiative is the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

All these programmes have worked to varying degrees in Africa. Unfortunately, despite the plethora of initiatives, Africa remains the world's enduring development challenge. It is the world's most highly indebted region; where poverty is endemic, pervasive and deep, conflicts and socio-political crisis still a recurring feature; ravaged by HIV/AIDS and tropical diseases. The challenges are simply daunting, but the prospects are equally promising.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, the core challenge for Africa today is the challenge of positive thinking, including:

bullet the need for Africans to believe in themselves as agents of change;
bullet the challenge that Africans should - and must - accept being the captains of their destiny and masters of their own fate;
bullet the belief that in spite of the unsavoury past, Africa can - and must - rise again;
bullet accepting that the future not only belongs to us but that we also have what it takes to make it so;
bullet that Africans can do it and must do it as a matter of urgency, as a matter of life and death, in short, as a matter of survival; and
bullet most of all, that we need the rest of the world, but the rest of the world will help us only when we are ready and willing to help ourselves.
 
We are firm in our belief that no African country is beyond redemption. There is no African country that cannot register an improvement, if the people, especially their leaders, become serious and, as it were, try to get their act together. That is what we are trying, by the grace of God, to do in my country, Nigeria, which is a typical African country, facing most of the challenges that are typical of the continent. Nigeria also has all the potential, all the promise, and that is our source of encouragement, namely, that it can be done, and this is the time to do it. We also take solace in the fact that those who have done it in the recent past, in Asia and Latin Africa, have proved that it can be done.

Our transition to democracy four years ago did not just mark the end of the darkest period of Nigeria's recent history, it also restored hope and confidence in our people in themselves as a people and in the corporate existence of Nigeria. We believe in democracy and the rule of law. People must have their liberty, freedom and human dignity for them to develop true nationalism and love for their country through appreciating it. The democracy restored in 1999 is being nurtured in an atmosphere of hope and confidence, the people expect an improvement in their lives as democracy dividend.

We feel duty bound to deliver it, and by the grace of God, our reforms should help us accomplish that without fail in the short, medium and long-term.

With the consolidation of democracy, and fundamental but difficult institutional reforms, our Government in Nigeria is determined to leave a lasting legacy in terms of a solid foundation for sustainable socio-economic transformation. Our government has articulated a focused reform agenda aimed at poverty reduction, wealth creation, and employment creation called the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS). It is a reform agenda that puts the people first, and aimed at re-engineering a new society based on sound values - from rent-seeking and corruption to entrepreneurship and public morality; from excessive dependence on rents from oil and on government for patronage to a diversified, competitive, private sector-led market economy. Our new reform agenda is designed to strengthen governance, security, transparency and fight against corruption; make government more efficient and effective by embarking on fundamental public service reforms as well as public expenditure/budget reforms. More fundamentally, the agenda seeks to ensure competitiveness and private sector development through a number of reforms, including privatisation and instituting appropriate regulatory regimes, deepening the capital market and providing long-term investment finance, infrastructure development, especially roads and electricity. The reform programme gives a high priority to food security, and agriculture and small and medium enterprises are key to poverty reduction and employment generation measures. Finally, our reform objective is also designed to develop a culture of responsible and patriotic citizenship.

Our profound concern for stability in Africa and our historic duty to the continent have informed our focus on Africa as the centrepiece of our foreign policy. To this end, Nigeria has committed huge resources over the years in conflict prevention, management and resolution.

I am pleased to report that there is a new spirit on the continent of Africa, I mean a genuine community spirit with Africans all agreeing to be their brother's keepers. The strongest manifestation of the new spirit is the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) which has caught the imagination of all, inside and outside Africa, who seriously wish to see Africa not just to survive, but to prosper, sustainably, responsibly. NEPAD calls for responsibility and partnership from all concerned-governments in Africa, the private sector, civil society and the international community.

Through the NEPAD, we have made a commitment to the African peoples and the world to work together in developing the continent by ensuring peace and security, consolidating democracy and good governance, upholding human rights and the rule of law, implementing sustainable socio-economic development programmes, and halting the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process.

NEPAD, being comprehensively an African initiative, is proof that Africa recognises that it holds the key to its own development. Nevertheless, NEPAD also offers an historic opportunity for the development countries of the world to enter into a genuine partnership with Africa, based on common vision and mutual interest, shared commitments and obligations and common humanity in one global house.

Let me emphasise that our administration places a premium on transparency and fight against corruption. The damage cause to the country by corruption and indiscipline is unquantifiable and its gross effects are seen everywhere. That is why anti-corruption campaign is a first priority item for our Government in Nigeria, we are trying to instil genuine belief in fighting corruption under the slogan: "It is no longer business as usual." And no where is our determination to enthrone transparency better manifested than in our subscription to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). We shall, through this transparency initiative, open up our oil and gas sector to the highest level of public (local and international) scrutiny. The progress that we have so far made in restructuring and liberalising our oil and gas sector is opening up more room for private investment. Next to our anti-corruption campaign has been a massive investment in security in all its ramifications, in particular, security of life and property with the goal of creating a sustainable environment for businesses and consumers alike.

Government does not try to do these alone but proactively mobilises the people in a true sense of partnership to move Nigeria forward. The Nigerian people have decided to take their destiny in their hands, and we all also realise the burden we carry not only to lift ourselves up, but also the entire West Africa - indeed all of Africa! We are convinced that economic growth fuelled by market competition with domestic and cross-border private investment provides the majority of resources that currently finance development, which in turn enhances democracy. This belief has informed the new vision and commitment to growth and development in Africa.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me assure you that nothing will deter us from the reform agenda, which we have established to move Nigeria forward.

Permit me to make a point on AGOA - Africa Growth and Opportunity Act of the U.S. Government. This Act which predates the Doha Round of WTO negotiations is meant in some way to give limited access of some African products to U.S. markets. While efforts are being made to push the Doha Round to success, it is necessary to deepen, extend and sustain AGOA. We look forward to the United States Congress doing just that.

NEPAD has become the policy framework through which the international community supports Africa's development. During the year 2002, the United Nations General Assembly passed three resolutions formally accepting NEPAD as the framework for engagement with Africa after ending the UN-NADAF. Subsequently, the United Nations Secretary-General directed all United Nations Agencies operating in Africa to work within the context of the NEPAD policy framework and to co-ordinate their activities through the NEPAD framework. Furthermore, the Secretary-General has established the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSASA) to co-ordinate the UN's support to Africa, guide reporting on Africa and co-ordinate global advocacy in support of NEPAD.

In response to NEPAD, the G8 countries have not only produced the G8 Africa Action Plan but, above all, they have reversed the downward trend in development assistance. For the first time, after many years, significant increases in development assistance have been announced. In addition, the private sector is taking a keen interest in Africa, Africa features prominently in high-level investor conferences instead of featuring only on television screens as a centre of conflicts, natural disasters and human misery.

Peace, security and prosperity constitute the pillars on which all NEPAD programmes and projects hang. We have accepted the responsibility that Africans must take the lead in fashioning out our conflict-prevention, management and resolution problem and programme with the international community supporting our efforts and moving along with us. This has been done successfully in recent times in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Sao Tome & Principe and Guinea-Bissau. We are in the process of resolving the crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

In the pursuit of good governance, we have introduced a unique scheme called African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) whereby we can peer review ourselves. In other word, we can assist, we can pressurise one another and we can learn the best practices from one another. We will set standards that will govern performances in each of our nations. There will be political peer review, economic peer review, and socio-economic peer review. Of course, it is as voluntary process and, so far, about sixteen countries have acceded to it. Already, a panel has been set up to operationalise the review mechanism and some countries have already volunteered to be peer-reviewed. What we are saying is that it cannot continue to be business as usual, we have to reform so as to transform.

Let me emphasise that as the name implies, the key word in NEPAD is partnership. And this is a paradigm shift from programmes of the past. Beside the partnership of key stakeholders in the domestic economics, NEPAD promotes effective partnership between Africa and the development partners. Ultimately and at the apex, it is partnership between Africa and the rest of the world.

We, once again, engaged with the G8 leaders for the fourth consecutive year on Africa's development in Evian, France on June 1, 2003. We are satisfied with the outcome of the meeting with the G8 leaders on NEPAD and the Enlarged Dialogue between the G8 leaders and the invited leaders from the developing world and United Nations Institutions. Specifically, we welcome the G8 leaders appreciation of the medium and long-term nature of NEPAD and the need to continue with the structured engagement and dialogue with Africa.

The OECD and EU countries and a number of countries of the South, including China, India, Malaysia and Brazil have expressed strong support for NEPAD and we are now taking steps to formalise partnership with these countries. At the beginning of October, we had the third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD III), devoted entirely to Japan and other nations working with Africa on the basis of NEPAD.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my experience of our continental efforts gives me confidence to assert that today's Africa is a continent full of hope: hope that the leadership is thinking in the right direction, hope that we may be able to claim the 21st Century as one of glory, hope that Africa will no longer be marginalised, hope that misery and poverty may soon be banished from the continent, hope that sustainable development will be here to stay, and hope that is predicated on peace, stability, growth, development and progress.