GIANT STRIDES IN SUB-REGIONAL INTEGRATION

At The 25^th Ordinary Summit of ECOWAS

Senegal, 20 December, 2001

It is always a great honour and pleasure for me to join my Brother Heads of State and Government at the Summit Meetings of our Community to deliberate on the common concerns and aspirations of our sub-region.

I thank our host, President Abdoulaye Wade, most sincerely, for his continuing efforts to make us feel at home in this beautiful town of Dakar. With the excellent arrangements put at our disposal I am confident that our Summit will, once again, live up to the high expectation of our peoples, to tackle the grave issues of security and stability, while also rekindling the shared hopes of prosperity in a truly united, cohesive and integrated sub-region.

Mr. Chairman, let me place on record the commendation and abiding gratitude of the Government and people of Nigeria to our outgoing Chairman, President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali, for the outstanding and exemplary leadership that he has provided for our community in the past two years. The high-level personal commitment and sacrifices that he deployed in cris-crossing the sub-region, to hold consultations with his colleagues and to intervene behind-the-scene in simmering crisis situations, helped to promote the relative tranquility that now prevails in West Africa.

We record with appreciation the giant strides President Konare made in recent times towards the integration of our sub-region, particularly the acceleration of most of the elements of cooperation in a new fast-track mode. His immense efforts in bridging the artificial divide of language that tends to manifest its ugly presence, every now and then, are deeply appreciated. Indeed, the warm charm and vibrant magnetism of his imposing personality would be missed in our midst when he bows out of power in his country. We, in Nigeria, salute him and wish him well, and do hope that he would be an honoured Special Guest at one of the future Summits of our Community. We also hope that he will continue to serve our sub-region, and indeed, the rest of Africa, in new and varied capacities, in future.

Mr Chairman, we congratulate you on your well-deserved election to direct the affairs of our Organization. We pledge the continued support and unwavering commitment of Nigeria to the cause of our Community under your wise and able leadership. The will and zeal with which you have pursued the great vision of a new renaissance for our continent fills us with renewed optimism about your ability to provide guidance to our Organisation, in attaining our integration goals and objectives.

Nigeria is always available for consultation and dialogue, as you assume the mantle of leadership of ECOWAS at this crucial phase in the history of our Organisation.

Let me also pay tribute to our outgoing Executive Secretary, Mr Lansana Kouyate, who has given his best to ensure the quantum leap of our Organisation from the despair and lethargy of its earlier days, to a bright new era of actionable integrative policies and programmes. He leaves with our best wishes for his future success to the service of his country, Africa, and humanity.

Mr. Chairman, it is with a measure of satisfaction that I look back at our efforts and achievements over the past one year since our last Summit. There were serious challenges, but we have tackled them decisively. The web of conflicts in our neighbourhood, that had seemed intractable, is becoming amenable to negotiation and resolution. Progress is also being made in harmonizing erstwhile divergences in the path towards economic advancement and integration, which our States as individual units or as linguistic groups, had pursued singularly.

Furthermore, the organs of cooperation that we have inaugurated to boost our integration momentum, have kept pace with our desires. Despite funding constraints, our ECOWAS Parliament has met and we have great hopes for our ECOWAS Court of Justice. Our Committee of Elders has been inaugurated to play its complementary role in the conflict mediation process, while the Committee of Ambassadors has also been meeting to regularly monitor the signals of threats to peace. These are all designed to reinforce the functioning of the Mediation and Security Council, the implementing arm of our Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security.

It is equally gratifying to note that our Moratorium on the Importation, Exportation and Manufacture of Light Weapons, has been well respected by member states. This we have seen in respect for the underlying code of conduct and the modest request for exemptions that have characterised the applications made by some of our Member States. Member States are also developing national capacities to address further, the possibilities of cooperation in this area. Trans-border crimes, likewise, seem set towards a solution, through meetings of our security agencies. These are all welcome developments, but a lot more need to be done to turn our region fully in the direction of peace and prosperity.

SIERRA LEONE

I believe that we can pat ourselves on the back, that ten years on, the trauma of killings, maiming, waste and devastation in Sierra Leone, has been halted. The Abuja Talks, held under the auspices of the UN and the Mediation and Security Council of our Organisation, have set the peace process in Sierra Leone, irreversibly on course. The cease-fire has been holding and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Programme is almost completed.

I congratulate the Government of Sierra Leone and the RUF, for finding the courage and patience to rise above their erstwhile divergent convictions, to prospect the dividends of peace. I urge all the stakeholders in the peace process not to relent at this crucial stage, but should steadfastly maintain their commitment until peace is achieved. I also plead with our friends and partners in the international community, to honour pledges made towards restoration of peace in Sierra Leone, and to help us some more in pursuing the remaining elements of the process, especially towards post-conflict recovery.

I commend the efforts of President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali, our outgoing Chairman, President Charles Taylor of Liberia, the UN Special Representative, Ambassador Olu Adeniji, and all eminent leaders and personalities who have played various catalytic roles in this process. I also commend the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, for the personal interest in ensuring the return of peace to Sierra Leone. The recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the United Nations and its Secretary General attests to their constructive contribution to the preservation of global peace and security.

Let me also congratulate the Government and people of Sierra Leone for their long-suffering patience, resilience and ever-present optimism about an inevitable end to the war.

MANO RIVER UNION

It is most welcoming that the impending return of peace to Sierra Leone has finally opened up the door for the restoration of peace to the Mano River Union countries. I commend the ongoing confidence-building measures, and other initiatives that have culminated in the convening, very shortly, of the Summit of the Mano River Union Countries, to finally resolve differences between these sisterly countries. As a member of the Troika established by our Extra-Ordinary Summit, last April in Abuja, I stand ready to assist, in whatever capacity deemed necessary, the course of peace to its logical conclusion. I believe also that our Community and its organs, similarly, stand ready to offer all possible assistance.

GUINEA BISSAU AND COTE D’IVOIRE

Let me appeal to our Brothers and Sisters in Guinea Bissau, to bury their differences and begin to search for the highest common factors in harmonizing their varied visions for the betterment of Guinea Bissau. I hope that they would consequently rally round the constitutional banner provided by President Kumba Yalia and other organs of Government, to move their country forward.

May I also appeal to the people of Cote d'Ivoire to pursue the path of accommodation, and link hands together in genuine national reconciliation under the leadership of President Laurent Gbagbo.

CONFLICT PREVENTION

Mr Chairman, just as we have been setting the pace in integration, let us, in West Africa, begin to make a difference in redeeming the negative image of our continent. We should, therefore, begin to put in to full and effective use, the various instruments of cooperation, as well as the mechanism for conflict identification, prevention and resolution, that we have fashioned for ourselves. I am fully convinced that by so doing, it would be possible to avoid our differences and divergences from deteriorating into disputes and conflicts.

Drawing on their wisdom, experience bestowed by age, and the immense respect earned by their varied accomplishments, by the time the Council of Elders intervene as interlocutors in our conflicts, some positive impact or even possibilities of resolution would be immediately discerned. I am also convinced that if we arm our early warning systems with the necessary sensitive and effective antennae to pick up signs of potential conflicts, and for ECOMOG to quickly mobilize and deploy to help re-build confidence and trust in conflict areas, peace not tension, order not disruption, and hope not despair, will be the lot of our sub-region.

DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE

Mr Chairman, representative governance and the rule of law have settled firmly and squarely in the sub-region. Our people deserve no less. As we join other States, governments and peoples in various parts of our new African Union in rejecting unconstitutional changes of Government, we should also find, unacceptable, the subversions or manipulation of constitutions to retain exclusive rights to power, of selected individuals or groups.

In our search for national and regional consensus in the consolidation of democracy in our sub-region, therefore, we must rise to the new challenges imposed on us in administering our policies appropriately. We must prevent our new standards from slipping back to previous abysmal levels. Neither should we claim any excuse to be judged by standards less than the norms accepted in other parts of the global community. We must no longer accept the spurious logic that being a ‘developing country’ means living with ‘underdeveloped democratic credentials’. This sub-region can only make progress if we are keep our position as an integral part of the global village.

In this context, it is important that we adopt at this Summit the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance. This would reinforce the efforts being through the existing Mechanism for Conflict Mediation and Security. Such a protocol would also reinforce our individual and collective efforts to consolidate the democratic ethos in this sub-region while providing new impetus for bringing democracy dividends to the populace.

We must also begin to ensure that probity, accountability and transparency are fully internalized and form the basis of interaction between the Government and the governed. It is impossible to over-emphasize the damage that underhand, unethical and other corrupt practices have done to our policies and plans. Every failed policy at the public or private sector level is directly attributable to the twin evils of inefficiency and corruption. No socio-economic excuses, such as poverty level, can make corruption or its consequences acceptable. That is why we in Nigeria have resolved to fight corruption to a standstill with our anti-corruption law and Commission. And I note with satisfaction our sub-region is determined to tackle the issue of corruption head on, with the new Anti-Corruption Protocol. However, like many of our initiatives and programmes, we must enable the Protocol to sanitize our system by investing it with the commitment and enthusiasm for its implementation.

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

Mr. Chairman, let me once again extend our sympathies to the United States on the immense loss of lives and wanton destruction inflicted by the terrorist acts of September Eleven. As we once again condemn this outrageous incident, our hearts go out to the over eighty countries - many of whom are represented here, that lost citizens in the tragic event. Terrorism and its effects respect no boundaries. One can even become collaterally affected, as was the case with the bombings targeted against US interests in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salam.

Concerted and decisive action is required to curb this menace. It is my hope that we can deploy the provisions of our sub-region's Convention on Extradition along with our 1999 OAU Convention on Terrorism, to deal with these merchants of destruction, and send out the right signals of abhorrence of terrorism. In the meantime, Nigeria is committed to international and regional efforts at fashioning of strong legal instruments against terrorism.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

I fully endorse the ECOWAS Plan Against Human Trafficking. We must move to quickly complement this initiative with the appropriate protocol to halt this menace, which debases the African Woman, and reduces the potentials and promises of the African Youth. Africa's future must not be compromised by the illegal export and wastage of her youth, by wicked and unscrupulous characters, wherever they may be. We in Nigeria are working with a number of development agencies and civil society organisations to hold an international summit on Human Trafficking early next year.

INTEGRATION IMPERATIVES

Mr. Chairman, it is gratifying to note that we have put the integration of our sub-region on a ‘fast track’ mode. The necessary concepts and plans have also been adopted towards the realization of an integrated community of peoples, with a common destiny. Nevertheless, all hands must be on deck to move our common programmes and policies, with appropriate strategies, even beyond the fast-track approach. This must seek to take along all stakeholders in our region into an integrated and cohesive family. I look forward to our speaking with one vibrant and resonant voice, under the rallying umbrella of ECOWAS, in our negotiations with partners outside our sub-region.

It is my ardent hope that, in the very near future, our private sector operators can, jointly or severally, move themselves, products, funds and investments, unimpeded, across borders, to take advantage of economies of scale, to help in the quest for national economic advancement. I look forward to the launching of the regional currency during the Summit of our Organisation in the year 2004, when the leaders of the sub-region, can hold with pride and joy, a strong and respectable regional currency.

Mr Chairman, the commitment of our leaders to find a way out of our economic predicament, and give a new lease of life to Africa and Africans, has also led to the New African Initiative, now renamed the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), which is a merger of the Millennium Partnership for African Recovery (MAP) and the Omega Plan. I must commend the ingenuity of our leaders for these various initiatives whose ultimate objective is to secure an acceptable solution to our economic problems.

NEPAD aims to eradicate poverty in Africa and place African countries individually and collectively on a path of growth and sustainable development, while at the same time, occupying their rightful place among the comity of nations. This programme is based on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction to extricate Africans and the whole African continent from the malaise of under-development and marginalisation in the globalising world. In putting this programme together, we recognize that Africa’s abundant and rich resources, both human and material, must be harnessed to achieve our objective.

Our efforts therefore should be concentrated on how to effectively manage these resources, and apply them in dealing with poverty and under-development. We also need the support of the international community, as important factors in the new partnership.

Mr Chairman, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to note the level of confidence that pervades this Summit. It should inspire and sustain the conviction that the good times may, indeed, here for our Community. Let us seize this historic and psychological moment to fashion out the details of how best to advance the fortunes of our sub-region and the destiny of our peoples. The road ahead may not be short, and the remaining tasks may indeed be arduous, but with the requisite political amount of will and determination, we can attain our desired - and deserved - heights of peace, economic development and social transformation.

Long live ECOWAS and the fraternal solidarity of its peoples.

I thank you. And may God bless you all.