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His Excellency, President Umaru Musa Yar‘Adua, GCFR At the National Dialogue on the APRM Validation Exercise Abuja. 11th December 2007 PROTOCOL I welcome you to this interactive Dialogue on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). This forum, organised by NEPAD Nigeria, is both timely and appropriate in view of the fact that Nigeria is entering the last stage of the Peer Review Mechanism which is designed to drive best practices in governance for our nation. As you may be aware, APRM is a self-monitoring mechanism to which Member States of the African Union have voluntarily acceded in order to facilitate the adoption of policies, standards and practices that could lead to better human security, greater political stability, higher economic growth and sustainable economic integration on our continent. Basically, APRM seeks to promote good governance as endorsed by the NEPAD Declaration of Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance - an instrument that was adopted in July 2002, as well as the APRM Memorandum of Understanding that was also adopted in March 2003. You will recall that Nigeria was one of the pioneer countries to accede to the APRM in March, 2003 and since then, we have duly complied with the APRM country guidelines and continued to be a leading exponent of the initiative. In March, 2005, following the visit of the Country Support Mission (CSM), we put in place the required national structures for the conduct of the APRM and also undertook the country Self-Assessment Process (CSAP) which seeks to evaluate the perceptions of Nigerians on the quality of governance in the country. The process culminated in the production of the draft Country Self-Assessment Report (CSAR) and a National Programme of Action (NPoA). Both reports seek to capture the perceptions of our citizens on the quality of governance in this country as well as offer solutions that seek to address identified institutional challenges and weaknesses with a view to evolving better governance practices. I am informed that this Report has been presented to Nigerians and they have made their comments and inputs which will now be incorporated into a final report. The National Programme of Action is being developed to also incorporate the Seven-Point Agenda of our Administration. The core principles that underpin the APRM review process include the commitment of the political leadership in Africa to good governance; a national and popular ownership of the process; openness and inclusiveness of all stakeholders; technical competence of the methodology; and freedom from government manipulation of the processes and outcomes of the APRM exercises. Indeed, the assessment of countries under the APRM is conducted within the framework of agreed values, codes and standards of good governance which not only emphasizes stable macro-economy, an enduring property rights regime and the rule of law, but also an efficient public service that is conducive to private sector-led economic development. These codes and standards have been domesticated in Nigeria in the questionnaires and survey which were carried out in the four thematic areas of the Peer Review, namely Democracy and Political Governance, Economic Governance and Management, Corporate Governance, and Socio-Economic Development. APRM seeks not only to create and consolidate processes, practices and values that can foster good governance, but also to broaden and deepen democratic ethos and pluralism in all sectors of the society. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe that it is only through full participation of Nigerians and their ownership of this process that we can maximally reap the benefits of the APRM Agenda. To this end, the APRM National Working Group (NWG) was recently re¬constituted and its membership expanded from 50 to about 250. This was done to ensure broad-based representation and inclusiveness, and to ensure popular participation. I urge members of the National Working Group to play their strategic oversight role appropriately by adequately preparing Nigerians for the visit of the Country Review Team. You must ensure the effective participation of all stakeholders including the Executive, the National Assembly, the Judiciary, and non-state actors such as Civil Society, Private Sector NGOs and Faith-based Organisations in the APR processes to be carried out in February, 2008. It is also your responsibility to prepare the National Programme of Action (NPoA), design a monitoring and evaluation framework for the NpoA, and submit a road map for the implementation of the programme. I would like to urge all State Governors to demonstrate their commitment to the APRM process by providing all requisite technical and logistic support to see the peer review process to its logical conclusion. It would be immensely helpful if the Executive Summary of the Report could be translated into the major languages spoken in each State of the Federation. I urge you to do all you can to encourage dialogue and informed discussion of the final Report of the Country Self-Assessment Report in order to enrich the final National Programme of Action. The Federal Government on her part will produce copies of the Report for circulation to Nigerians. I assure you that our Administration is fully committed to ensuring a successful Country Review Mission. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish you all very fruitful deliberations and a successful Forum. It is now my distinct honour and privilege to declare this National Dialogue open. Thank You. © Copyright 2006 nigeriafirst.org |