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Obasanjo and the new African dream
GREG MBADIWE
The
recent election of President Olusegun Obasanjo as chairman of the African Union
(AU) is a milestone in Nigeria’s foreign relations just as it represents an
acknowledgement of the positive impact the country has made in the international
scene under him. President Obasanjo’s ascendancy to a pre-eminent position in
the global arena cannot be surprising because not only is he the leader of
Africa’s most populous and strategic country, he had prior to his assumption of
office as an elected civilian president, distinguished himself as an
international statesman. He had been a member of the United Nations Eminent
Persons Group and one of the founders of Transparency International. It was only
natural that his colleagues would want to quickly put the fledgling AU under his
immediate supervision given his abundant knowledge, interest and stature in the
international sphere.
President Obasanjo should be congratulated
on this. I think we in Nigeria owe it a duty to rally round him in this
assignment because the rest of Africa expects that he employs both his personal
experiences and the clout of Nigeria as the giant of Africa to give the
continent a new political and economic direction that is anchored in an era of
peace and stability. President Obasanjo will be expected not only to take the AU
to greater heights but also to work towards strengthening unity among African
states and also bringing about lasting peace in the troubled areas of the
continent. These tasks are enormous but I am confident that given his penchant
for problem solving, he will be equal to the challenges. In fact, knowing his
capacity, it will not be surprising if one of the president’s first assignments
will be to use his pre-eminent position now to bring about concerted pressure
aimed at ensuring that before the completion of his tenure, at least a minimum
of two seats will have been secured for Africa in the United Nation’s Security
Council, a situation which is not only overdue but is also constituting a major
source of embarrassment for the continent of Africa.
President Obasanjo’s dedication to Nigeria
cannot be overemphasized given the giant and landmark strides and achievements
of his administration on the domestic arena. It is this same dedication that he
is expected to bring to bear on Africa, particularly in articulating the
problems of the continent and helping to find constructive solutions to them.
Mention could be made of his contributions to the formation, growth and
development of NEPAD, an initiative designed to generate resources for the rapid
development of the continent. His continuing efforts in the search for absolute
peace among the peoples of Africa, be it intra or extra state, are already
legendary and receiving continental recognition. This is underscored by the fact
that even before his assumption of chairmanship of AU, he had already been made
the chairman of the peace committee of the continental body.
The assumption of the leadership of Africa
by President Obasanjo could not have come at a better time. It is instructive as
well as timely that the mantle has been placed on him as a testimony of the
confidence his colleagues in Africa repose in his implicit and explicit ability
to bring about ideas and policies which will bring Africa in line with current
trends the world over and at the same time enable the continent play its role as
a vital and strategic continent. It is therefore expected of President Obasanjo
to come up with contemporary innovations. With honour and humility, I believe
that the key challenge to the president’s position as chairman and the success
of it could be easily anchored on the extent to which he is able at the end of
his tenure to lay a solid foundation for United Africa: An Africa that would be
anchored on a strong patriotic belief of one heritage and one destiny; an Africa
which will no longer be divided by wars and hostilities but bounded together as
one people, one market, one parliament, one currency as well as free and
uninhibited movement of people and goods across the entire continent. These
would be coupled with the establishment of an African High Command for ensuring
a coordinated and effective security of the entire continent. President
Obasanjo’s new AU should encourage the coming together of the various regional
groupings within the continent; such as ECOWAS, SADC, CEDAC and the Conference
of North African States. At the end of his tenure, it is expected that he would
have used his position and personal clout to extract a genuine commitment from
members and leaders of the G-8 in areas of aid and assistance towards
actualization of the goals and objectives of NEPAD; but even more importantly, a
substantial and meaningful debt reduction as a means of promoting rapid
development in many African states. Today, majority of African states are
overwhelmed by the sheer weight of their external debt, a situation which
constitutes a real threat to their corporate well-being as well as their nascent
democracies.
At this juncture, I wish to congratulate
the president on behalf of the Global Initiative, of which I am the coordinator.
When last year a group of serving Nigerian ambassadors decided to write a book
entitled "Nigeria’s Foreign Policy in the Obasanjo / Atiku Years", at first the
full import was not appreciated by the generality of our people. Then, Nigerians
in general saw nothing other than a junketing administration that would rather
junket aimlessly on the international arena while neglecting the domestic front.
But today, we have been vindicated as the global interface with the
administration has started to manifest and impact seriously on our lives and the
general perception of our country and its people. These efforts have returned
confidence to a nation; which confidence had been seriously impaired and
dislocated by successive military interregnum resulting in a pariah status for
our country and its citizens. But today, we have, thanks to President Obasanjo,
regained our enviable position as a serious and important African nation.
Evidences of this could be located in some international landmark events of
which Nigeria had played a central role. These include the hosting of the
African Nations Cup, the hosting of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM),
the formation of NEPAD, the nomination of President Obasanjo as the chairman of
the peace committee of the AU, and more recently, in his election as the
chairman of the AU.
Without doubt, the challenges facing the
new AU chairman, President Obasanjo of Nigeria, are enormous. But given the
vigour and religiosity with which he is known for going about anything he
believes in, there can be no doubt that he is quite capable of making an impact.
Here is a president who could sneak out at 8p.m to attend a meeting at a venue
outside the country just to sneak back before 3a.m to attend to visitors in his
living room.
Apart from the energy and drive, Obasanjo
has the good will that cuts across the globe to transform Nigeria and the entire
continent of Africa. This is wishing president Obasanjo an eventful tenure as
chairman of the African Union and the gradual moving away from father Nigeria to
father Africa.
•Chief Mbadiwe is the
immediate past Nigerian Ambassador to the Congo.
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