DEMOCRACY: A PROCESS, NOT AN EVENT

On the Second Anniversary of the Rebirth of Democracy

Abuja, 29 May, 2001

Fellow Nigerians, today marks the second anniversary of the inception of the present Administration and Nigeria’s democratic re-birth. Last year, we took the official decision of declaring this memorable 29^th day of May our Democracy Day. That decision was not borne out of vanity, but was informed by our unalloyed commitment to ensuring that our dear country’s democratic transition remains both enduring, sustained and sustainable. The decision was also to serve as a mark of respect and a befitting tribute to our fellow countrymen and women who fell in the struggle against evil governance and misrule.

As I have always said, we must see democracy not as an event but as a process. We must continue, therefore, to water and nourish the democracy tree and make sure it grows into full maturity. All our lofty vision and noble aspirations for a great and renascent Nigeria, will come to naught, unless we do this.

Democratic transition is not as easy a task as it may seem. It requires faith in the democratic process. But, even more critical: each and everyone will have to persevere and work harder. While our aspiration for immediate dividends from the democratic transition may be legitimate and justified, it is unrealistic to expect in one fell swoop, a magical resolution of fundamental systemic and structural problems, which are the consequences of so many years of degeneration and degradation. Even with the best will and the greatest efforts, the necessary fundamental transformation is bound to take years to achieve.

We must all understand that democracy is entirely about debate and consensus. At all times the sprit of give and take must be demonstrated in order to reconcile our differences of approach and understanding of our diverse and conflicting views and interests. This sprit has been amply demonstrated by the ordinary Nigerian from every corner of this our vast and varied nation.

Two years into our democratic transition we can be justifiably proud of our achievements. The mere fact that today, mid-way through this Administration’s four-year tenure, our country’s key democratic institutions are not only in place but are waxing stronger with every passing day, should be a matter of some satisfaction and pride for all of us.

Our country’s legislative houses, both at the national level and in the states, are becoming more efficient as they steadily pick up experience in legislative work. The judiciary has continued to remain not only independent, but robust in defending the rule of law. Our press has continued to be vibrant, independent and free, in the pursuit of its constitutional and civic responsibilities. Our political party system may not be the best in the world, but it is working! At least we can boast of freedoms of choice and association being guaranteed for all. On the whole, the democratic space in the country is not only widening, but it is also deepening. And our Administration is committed to safeguarding and protecting this process.

When we assumed office two years ago, the nation was severely brutalised as a result of years of wanton abuse of the fundamental rights and liberties of the citizenry, by non-democratic and unwholesome regimes. In the two years of our tenure, we have taken steps towards repairing the damages and healing the wounds. Not only have we scrupulously observed and respected fundamental civil liberties, but we have also set up a Commission to investigate past abuses of human rights, as a first step towards reconciling the victims with their abusers. The work of this Commission is now well advanced, and we expect it to submit its final report before the next anniversary. We pledge to expeditiously make public this report, together with Government decisions, so that this dark spot on the nation’s history is put behind us, once and for all.

Fellow Nigerians, on assumption of office, we observed the need to amend some aspects of the 1999 National Constitution on the basis of which this Administration was elected. It would seem that this Constitution has a number of contextual inexactitude, and/or omissions and commissions. Consequently, we decided early in the life of this Administration, to set up an All-Party Constitution Review Committee, to carefully study the document and recommend areas that need to be reviewed. I am happy to report that the Committee has since completed its assignment, after consulting reasonably widely, and that its report has now been published for public debate. I urge all Nigerians to take keen interest and fully participate in this exercise, so that at the end of the process, we can come out with a final document which can truly be regarded as a Constitution by the people, of the people, and for the people.

Public Service: Whatever the outcome of the review of the Constitution, it is the operators of the Constitution who will determine the shape, orientation and quality of governance. And, in the end, it is the public service which will serve as the day-to-day functional interface between Government and citizenry. The capacity of the Administration to deliver on its policy promises is largely dependent on the quality, responsiveness and efficiency of this service. Thus, it is a top item of Government agenda, to reform and restructure the public service, so as to truly make it the agency responsible for policy implementation.

We have taken bold strides in our two years of office, to refocus and re-invent the public services. The upward review in the salaries, wages and allowances of public servants, and the introduction of 5,500 Naira as the minimum national monthly wage, have led to a significant boosting of workers’ morale generally, and the morale of public officers in particular. The upward revision of pension rates and the improvement of the machinery for its prompt payment, has had similar salutary effects on the service. In the same vein, the re-imposition of strict adherence to Civil Service Rules and Financial Regulations in the Federal Civil Service, has restored respect for due process, accountability and propriety to the civil service. We will continue with the reform process until the public service is repositioned for optimum performance.

Corruption: Fellow Nigerians, you all know that endemic corruption has been the bane of our public service in this country. Corruption and inefficiency are twins. Hence, right from day one, this Administration declared corruption to be our nation’s Public Enemy Number One, against which we have declared total war on every possible front. The re-introduction of strict observance of civil service rules and regulations is one step that we have taken to curb this phenomenon. We have also constituted investigation panels to look into and arrest any unacceptable aspects of government business contracted in the previous years’ less transparent environment of non-democratic governance. We initiated and sponsored the Anti-Corruption Act for which a Commission has now been established. We have noted with some satisfaction that the Commission has investigated a number of cases to the point where they can now be taken to court for prosecution. The Attorney-General has been instructed to take appropriate prosecution measures against other cases already investigated by panels of inquiries, or by the police.

The crusade for corruption-free good governance needs the involvement of all Nigerians. We note with deep satisfaction that the Federal Executive took the lead a few months ago with the Kuru Declaration, which has since been adopted by all Public Servants. We commend the spirit of the Kuru Declaration as an instrument and guide for service that is both moral, efficient and effective. And we genuinely hope that all Nigerians in public offices, elected or appointed, will imbibe something similar, if not adopt the Kuru Declaration, sooner than later.

It is gratifying to note that the Senate of the Federal Republic has, on its own volition, given itself a code of conduct to guide its actions and set norms for assessing the conduct of its members.

May I appeal to all Nigerians to oppose corruption wherever they find it. It is not enough to complain or make allegations. Everyone who has useful information should give such information to the Anti-Corruption Commission for follow-up action.

And while we are working on the negative, I will also be interested in receiving more news of individuals or groups of Nigerians, whether in the public or private sector, who have refused bribe or who refuse to offer bribe. I am sure there are such principled Nigerians who will not compromise themselves, or allow themselves to be compromised by others. These are the real heroes of the war against corruption!

International Relations: The past two years have also witnessed the full and complete re-integration of our country into the international community and the restoration of its status as a key player in sub-regional, regional and global diplomacy. Not only has Nigeria given leadership to such groupings as the ECOWAS, the OAU and the G-77, but our country has also been the initiator and key promoter of the Conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA), and the Millennium Africa Programme, both of which have the potential of providing the basis for the promotion of the much desired peace, unity and economic development of the African continent.

Asset Recovery and Debts: These are two areas where we have been resolute and unyielding but matched by opponents who have been hard hearted and unrepentant.

So far, those who have looted Nigerian wealth are employing all manner of legal subterfuge to delay and frustrate our efforts. For instance, we recently won the case to recover 300 Million Deutsche Marks in a British court. When we claimed the costs for the case, which amounted to Two Million US Dollars, we learnt that the opponents had paid as much as Twelve Million US Dollars for their defence. Clearly, such extravagance is only possible because the money so spent was easy and illegally acquired money belonging to our country. Even when the court had given judgement, these hard-hearted criminals are still looking for ways of hanging on to the stolen money. But let them be served this notice: no matter what amount of obstacles they may put in our way, we will not be deterred, and we will get for Nigerians everything that rightly belongs to Nigerians!

Fellow Nigerians, we have so far been able to recover over 115 Billion Naira, in cash and in assets. But the struggle is far from over.

As for the debt issue, our relentless efforts have achieved a considerable degree of empathy from some of our creditors. If we are able to successfully complete the standby arrangement with the IMF - which does not imply obtaining a loan from the IMF, but only for the IMF to pronounce us as prudent in the handling of our economy, we will be able to begin negotiations on debt remission, which will unshackle our economy from debt servicing. We are pleased to note a substantial positive shift in the position of both the new US Administration and the British Government.

Poverty Alleviation: Our democratic transition would lack both relevance and the social significance if it does not translate into food security, better health, better housing and general improvement in the quality of life for the ordinary Nigerian man or woman. Accordingly, our strategy for ensuring democracy dividend, has included a two-pronged programme of poverty alleviation and food security. Our poverty alleviation programme, which has gone through a number of phases, has now been finally systematized and provided with an institutional framework for effective implementation. We envisage that by the end of the year, the impact of this new programme will begin to be manifest.

Food security: We have in the past two years expended a lot of energy and resources in availing our farmers of such necessary inputs as fertilizers and improved seeds and seedlings. We have approved a special release of 3.1 Billion Naira in 1999 and 3.4 Billion Naira in the year 2000 for the procurement of fertilizers. Also, we have encouraged the establishment of commodity development and marketing companies for arable crops, tree crops, livestock and fisheries with a view to promoting price stabilization in the agricultural sector. The merger of existing various agricultural credit agencies into the Nigerian Agricultural and Rural Development Bank, should give the necessary fillip to our efforts towards overall food security, and we confidently anticipate concrete results in the next few years. Agriculture Guarantee Scheme has been brought back to be administered by the Central Bank.

In short, the Federal Government will intervene and encourage agriculture and food security by working with the States, Local Governments, communities and farmers in the following areas:research; input subsidy; seeds and seedlings; fingerlings and day-old chicks; vaccines and drugs; rationalisation and improvement of extension services; farmer credit; export; agro-allied storage and processing; government as buyer of last resort; and water management.

Commercial scale agriculture and food production must be encouraged and supported side-by-side with small scale or peasant-level agriculture. Together they will produce for export and to satisfy domestic food security requirement.

Power Supply: In the past two years, the Administration has committed considerable resources to the restoration of dilapidated infrastructure and services. In the power sector, the rehabilitation of generating plants, transmission lines and distribution networks is progressing apace. Today, NEPA’s generating capacity is about Two Thousand and Fifty megawatts, from One Thousand Four Hundred megawatts at the inception of the Administration in 1999.

Today, Five Hundred and Seventy-Five of the country’s Seven Hundred and Seventy-Four local government headquarters are connected to the national grid. The equivalent figure in May 1999, was less than Three Hundred. Deregulation of the power sector has also enabled private operators to enter the field, providing both competition to NEPA and additional resources for the development of the sector. The days of epileptic power supply across the country are now definitely numbered. The target of stable power supply by the end of 2001 is clearly realizable.

Petroleum Resources: In the petroleum sector, we have in the past two years worked assiduously to address the myriads of problems afflicting the industry. The refineries are being rehabilitated, and most are operational with a peak processing rate of about three hundred and thirty thousand barrels per day - the highest operational level of performance in our history of domestic refining. We have also succeeded in reducing the incidence of pipeline vandalisation. Pumping operations are now sustained in most of the distribution networks. Accountability and transparency are being restored to the industry, as evidenced by prompt preparation of audited reports and financial statements. Cash call arrears to joint venture partners are being cleared. And we are pursuing with vigour the systematic and planned exploitation of the country’s huge gas reserve.

For the first phase of the planned liberalisation, we are making progress in seeking consensus and general support of the public at large. The implementation of this liberalisation programme ought to remove the bottlenecks in the petroleum products distribution system and permanently address the vexed question of fuel shortage.

The steel sector: Rehabilitation of plants and machinery have reached advanced stages. Technical audits have been concluded on the Ajaokuta Complex, and the Katsina Rolling Mill has since resumed production, albeit with reduced capacity. Work on the revitalisation of the Delta Steel Company has similarly gone very far.

Education: We have taken bold steps to make good those long years of neglect and decay. The Universal Basic Education Programme (UBE) takes cognisance of the cardinal value of human capital in economic and social development, and thus aims to provide universal, compulsory and free education for the first nine years of every child’s schooling, while hoping that it will be extended to twelve years in the near future.

Tertiary educational institutions are being physically refurbished and academically rehabilitated.

Healthcare: We have mounted successful campaigns against childhood diseases, conducted under the National Programme of Immunisation (NPI). We are working to see polio eradicated from our country by the end of 2002. We have taken the lead in raising awareness in Africa and indeed, throughout the world, for the fight against malaria, HIV/AIDS and related infectious diseases.

Rehabilitation and equipping of at least one referral hospital per geo-political zone has been commenced and when these are completed, others will follow, until we can bring all of them to the desired standard.

Roads: Our programme of road rehabilitation and road re-construction and construction speaks for itself. We are very active in every state of the Federation.

Water Supply: We are complementing the efforts of the state governments in urban, semi-urban and rural water supply programmes.

Urban Development: A comprehensive policy on urban development and housing is being worked out with all stakeholders involved. This policy, which will go hand-in-hand with finance and mortgage policy for home ownership, will be announced before the end of the year.

Privatisation: A key concern of Government in these two years has been our privatisation programme. With the establishment of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in 1999, we signaled our commitment to liberalising the economy and positioning the private sector to be the engine of growth for the national economy. The first phase of the privatisation exercise has already been concluded, with the privatisation of 13 entreprises, generating some 19 Billion Naira to the public purse. The second phase of the programme, involving about 40 public entreprises, will soon take off.

Economic Prospects: Let’s mention some of the identified factors militating against our economic prospects. These are:

●          Low productivity of the real sectors of the economy;

●          The high rate of interest;

●          Massive consumption of foreign goods;

●          The relatively slow pace of infrastructural rehabilitation and

●           systemic reform.

Of these I would like to illustrate the negative consequences of our consumption pattern. By importing what we can produce or what we can do without, we are harming ourselves in two ways:

One: We are wasting our hard earned foreign exchange which could have found better use in other development priorities in critical sectors such as agriculture and industry;

Two: We are creating unemployment among our own people while we are keeping other people in jobs abroad.

Both of these consequences are wicked, to say the least. In any case, we are applying ourselves to resolving these problems, and the results are already manifest.

The road ahead: It is not possible to attain economic development and social advancement in an atmosphere of tension, conflict and social rancour. Direct foreign investment, which is crucial to the expansion of the economic base, is never attracted to an environment that is wracked by political instability and the insecurity of lives and property.

The road ahead of us is difficult. But I am nevertheless convinced that our Administration has taken many carefully-thought out measures whose benefits may not be immediately visible, but which, in the long run, will prove of immense value in our search for development in a humane and democratic society. On this day, therefore, as we remember those who fell in the struggle to restore freedom to our country, let us all re-dedicate ourselves to the challenges ahead. Let us renew our faith in the unity and integrity of our country. Let us embrace dialogue and consensus. We must eschew bigotry, fanaticism and sectionalism, in the pursuit and articulation of group interests. Let us not forget that the prosperity and progress of all Nigerians, irrespective of tribe and tongue, creed and faith, lies not in the dismemberment of the country, but in its continued unity and integrity. Let us pledge ourselves to the task of re-inventing our lives, if not for our sakes, then certainly for our children’s and their children’s sakes.

Moral Rectitude: Two years into the life of this Administration, I am convinced that we will eventually rehabilitate, refurbish and reconstruct the physical structures and infrastructures that have been criminally allowed to run down. But they will not last long unless we adopt the correct mental and moral attitude for maintaining them.

Under corrupt military regimes of the past, our core traditional values were corrupted by materialism. This in turn has had negative impact on people’s behaviour resulting in lack of discipline, lack of respect, lack of dignity of labour, declining ethical and moral standards, and the rise of practices which centre around self-interest, self-aggrandizement, and the exploitation of others and the state. Our traditional families, communities, societies and culture cannot survive under such unfavourable trends. In fact, no society can survive under such immoderation.

Nearly two years ago, at the launching of the Campaign for National Rebirth, I talked about duties and responsibilities. It would appear that in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which we subscribe, we may have become too inclined to Western Europe’s tradition of the concepts of individual freedom, emphasised almost to the exclusion of the notions of responsibility, community and communality, which are the cornerstones of our African culture. With the degree of mistrust that has built up over the years, it is understandable that the people are more keen on demanding their rights, particularly constitutional ones. But with rights go duties and civic obligations and responsibilities. The concept of human obligations must of necessity serve to balance the notions of freedom: rights relate to freedom and obligation, and are associated with responsibility. No society can exist solely on the basis of unlimited freedom. On the other hand, responsibility, as a moral quality, serves as a natural and voluntary check or limit of freedom.

When freedom presents us with different possibilities for action, including the choice to do right or wrong, a responsible moral character will ensure that right will prevail. Unfortunately, this relationship between freedom and responsibility is not always understood clearly. Freedom and responsibility are two sides of the same coin, and they must always remain in balance. Without a proper balance, unrestricted freedom is as dangerous as imposed social responsibility. The basic premise should be that humans, and bringing it home, Nigerians, deserve the greatest possible amount of freedom. But they should also develop their sense of responsibility to its fullest, in order to correctly manage their freedom. Rights impose obligations on us.

Human relationship and human interaction require no complex system of ethics to guide it other than the age-old Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Last year I challenged you all to give up the habit of asking “What is in it for me?”, and instead cultivate the habit of asking “What is in it for Nigeria?”. Let us challenge ourselves again this year. Our challenge this year should be a “Wish for Nigeria”. Just make one wish for Nigeria, and then decide on what and how you will - with God’s help, positively contribute to the attainment of that wish.

For me, my wish for Nigeria is total and complete transformation. And I will leave no stone unturned until I see the manifestation of the transformation. I will not rest, and I will count no sacrifice too great in bringing about the realisation of that wish. So help me God.

What is your wish? And what concrete thing - or things - will you do to bring it about?

May your positive wish and prayer for the development and progress of Nigeria be answered by God Almighty.

Fellow Nigerians, I can confidently say that the prevailing atmosphere in the country strengthens my belief and faith in the oneness of our country and its greatness. All we need to do is to work to actualise it. In short our democracy is firmly on course. We remain focused.

Long live Democracy in Nigeria!

Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!

I thank you. And God bless you all.