A WORTHY LEGACY

At the Sullivan Summit Dinner

Washington D.C., 20 June, 2002

I am indeed delighted to be present here tonight, for an event dedicated to Reverend Leon Howard Sullivan, a person for whom I have great admiration and profound appreciation. We were to have convened this meeting in Nigeria last year, but postponed it due to his illness and passage to Eternity.

I am certain Reverend Sullivan was welcomed by a Merciful God and Saviour, for he was indeed a man of virtue. He was a man who helped the hungry to feed themselves, and clothe the naked with skilled jobs.

He was a man who gave his life for almost eighty years in service to his faith, his country, and his brothers and sisters in Africa and America.

Reverend Sullivan was my friend. He remained with us in every kind of adversity. Rather than complain or criticize, or simply curse the darkness, he looked for ways to light candles of hope and faith. He was a giant among men on both continents, and I am honored to join with his wife, Grace, his son, Howard, and his daughters, Julie and Hope, in carrying on his legacy and keeping alive his vision.

The presence of President Bush himself and so many from his Administration, together with men and women of world business, attest to his influence in American politics and corporate life.

Reverend Sullivan knew the power of business and government working together with voluntary non-profit organizations, to solve the problems of humankind with prosperity born of peace and justice. The ‘Sullivan Principles’ are as relevant today as they were as he sought to give moral guidance amidst the world of apartheid. They stand before us as a bill of right for business and labor as we seek to protect the fragile environment and the freedoms of men and managers.

Reverend Sullivan was a man of vision, courage and lifetime commitment, working for others. We thank God and America for producing such a strong son from the hills of West Virginia.

I am a soldier. I was elected President of Africa’s most populated country after being imprisoned for being critical of military rule, which mismanaged our resources, and left us with massive debt.

I am also a farmer and an engineer, who knows how difficult it is to feed over 120 million people, and provide a physical infrastructure of roads, schools, jobs and healthcare. The governments and people of Africa have an awesome task facing them.

Nevertheless, we have fought to defend and protect freedom all over the world. Every UN Peacekeeping mission has had an African participation. I was in that sense and I am in more than that sense, a peacekeeper. We believe in law and order among men and nations, and we fight to achieve and preserve justice. We oppose terrorism in all its forms for we have, too often, been the victims of terror in the name of politics and religion. Much of our terrorism is wrought by mischievous men and women, exploiting the poverty and confusion of our citizens, who are caught up in a world of rapid social changes which challenge their traditional ways of life and offer them little security.

That is why we are working so hard to develop an economy that includes all our people. We are traditionally free traders, and we have negotiated the intricacies of life as traders throughout our history.

Our press is as free as any press on the planet. Our media also share the same unsavoury tendencies as the rest of the world media. For instance, our media make capital of our tragedies and problems, and parade our weaknesses before the world, as extravagantly as possible. So it is very easy for those who don’t know us and visit us regularly, to be the victims of Afro-pessimism.

We are far from perfect. We have been victims of internal and external exploitation and oppression, but after just three years of democratic rule, we are expected to have solved decades of unresolved issues of economy, politics, and social organisation. We will solve them, I assure you. We will begin with what is immediately resolvable, and we will persevere towards finding solutions to those problems that at present seem impossible. By the Grace of God, we will get there. We need time, we have the political will, determination and commitment. We need your understanding, goodwill and life line.

Mr President and our American friends, we come to you tonight as an ally and partner in the struggle for peace, order and prosperity. We have partnered with you in the peaceful and democratic transformation in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. We played our part in moving Sierra Leone from war to elections. We have worked diligently towards bringing peace in the Congo and in Angola. And thanks to the perseverance of President Dos Santos and the people of Angola, we have finally claimed a victory after over 30 years of struggle in pursuit of freedom.

I must thank the American business community and human rights movement, particularly Gulf-ChevronTexaco Oil, for maintaining faith in the people of Angola and continuing the development of energy resources through stormy political and economic times. With all of our own serious problems, Africa remains the hope of a successful global economy, and assured source of essential element to propel that economy.

The recession of the world will be ended when their businesses and governments enter into working equitable partnerships with us in Africa. We are the most stable and defensible source of oil and gas. Our markets are huge and under-served, our tourism and wild life is un-matched on earth. Our contribution to bio-diversity and improved global environment is unique.

We are coming together as Africans and we will be a strategic partner in world affairs for generations to come. Our challenges are great, but Reverend Sullivan reminded us that a faithful and determined spirit could achieve almost anything if we are totally dedicated to that task. I am confident that Reverend Sullivan in building the bridges between America and Africa, had a vision that transcends mere search of ethnic roots for African Americans. This vision must include recognition of the strategic importance that Africa has for the United States. Let me illustrate this with the position of Nigeria, today.

Nigeria is centrally located along the Gulf of Guinea, where, by experts prediction, we probably have the largest reserve of oil and gas in the world. In recognition of the potential conflict and possible threat to the security as well as oil and gas supplies, we undertook to establish the Gulf of Guinea Commission, within which all concerned States have come to an understanding to amicably resolve issues of land and maritime boundaries, resources and security. With the Gulf of Guinea Commission, Nigeria assumes responsibility for stability and security. This responsibility is extended by virtue of the fact that a quarter of Africans in sub-Saharan Africa, are Nigerians, and Nigeria constitutes more than fifty per cent of all peoples in the ECOWAS sub-region.

We bear in mind, with a serious sense of duty, the fact that if things do not look good in Nigeria, Africa is not likely to escape the consequences. We would also like to believe in the significance of the fact that as much as about 30 million of Americans are of African descent. As we all know, they have made major contributions to the internal cohesion, peace, and security in America, interacting with Africa has the potential of yielding similar benefits.

World network of security is invariably as strong as the weakest chain, in this respect, Africa at the moment, I am afraid, is by any description an under-belly for terrorism. The rest of the world has a responsibility to reinforce Africa in order to prevent global vulnerability.

As we build our transportation and financial infrastructure, you will find what African investors already know: that the return on investment and working conditions can provide great rewards.

But we need the partnership with your multi-national agencies and businesses. We also need those sons and daughters of Africa who have come to America with African education, language and understanding to come home to help us.

Come with your families and friends as visitors and tourists.

Come with your business connections, management and experience.

Recently I have taken time to read some early American history. Your founding fathers struggled with charges of corruption, debts, disease, and dissension, but they realized that they must all “hang together” or they would surely be “hanged separately” by their former colonial masters. Overtime, they resolved the conflict in their midst, and developed the American continent as the most powerful nation in recent history.

As a small boy in a Baptist school in Nigeria, I learned of the power of God in our lives.

My Vice President and friend, Alhaji Turaki Atiku Abubakar, was soon after, learning the same lessons in an Islamic school.

Together we are attempting to assist over 120 million Nigerians to build a peaceful, equitable, democratic and prosperous society.

The same might be said of our colleagues in the Southern and Eastern, Central and Northern Africa.

We will not fail. And our success will be your success in America, Europe and Asia.

Your economies will grow as you partner with us. Your poverty will decline as you realize that you must help us to grow food, educate our children, and cure our ills.

The African spirit has already made America great. Your music, vitality and science all point to an African heritage.

When our politics begin to be as close as our DNA, our economies and spiritual values will create a new world for us all.

I thank you all.