Nigeria, 1999

A little over two decades ago I

addressed this Assembly as head of a military Government

in Nigeria. On that occasion the focus of my statement was

the urgent need to terminate colonial rule in Namibia and

Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and dismantle the racist

apartheid South Africa. Today it is a great source of joy for

me and my delegation that a distinguished son of Namibia

is presiding over the affairs of the fifty-fourth session of

the United Nations General Assembly. My delegation

assures you, Sir, of its full cooperation and unwavering

support throughout your tenure.

May I also convey through you, Sir, our deep

appreciation to your predecessor, Mr. Didier Opertti of

Uruguay, for the able and efficient manner in which he

conducted the proceedings of the fifty-third session.

Our appreciation also goes to the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, for his visionary leadership and the

invaluable work of the Secretariat under his stewardship.

Permit me also to warmly welcome, on behalf of my

country and delegation, the Republic of Kiribati, the

Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga, which

have just joined this family of nations.

I stand before this Assembly today very proud to be

the leader of a Nigeria that has successfully managed the

transition to democracy after a decade and a half of

military rule. I would like to seize this opportunity to

express the profound appreciation of all Nigerians for the

international support and encouragement which combined

so effectively with the relentless determination of

Nigerians themselves to reconstruct and transform their

country into a vibrant democracy.

Our Administration has raised the hopes of

Nigerians, and their expectations are correspondingly

high. We are well aware of the enormity of the challenges

that we face. But we are fully resolved to tackle our

numerous social, economic and political problems head

on. And, by the Grace of God, we will not fail.

Since assuming office some four months ago our

administration has put in place an institutional framework

for the purpose of reconciling competing interests and

groups in our society. Our democratic institutions are now

operating effectively within the system of checks and

balances enshrined in our Constitution. Furthermore, we

have opted for a policy of inclusiveness in all our

political appointments, with a Cabinet, for instance, in

which all registered political parties are represented, thus

moving away from the divisive practice of winner takes

all.

Our Administration has initiated policies aimed at

revitalizing the economy in order to create an enabling

environment for investment and economic growth. We

have also put in place an appropriate legal framework for

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the protection of foreign investments and repatriation of

legitimate profits.

Other measures that we have taken include a vigorous

anti-corruption campaign; the promotion of transparency

and accountability in public life; the abolition of decrees

and regulations which hindered the inflow of foreign

investment; the generation of opportunities for employment

and income savings for domestic investment; and the

privatization of key State enterprises, such as electricity and

telecommunications; legislation and other measures to

redress obvious cases of neglect and injustice done to ethnic

minorities, particularly in the oil-producing areas of the

Niger delta region, and to deal with the problems of the

environment; investigation of past human rights violations,

with a view to promoting and protecting fundamental

freedoms; and strengthening the capacity of the law

enforcement agencies to promote law and order, as well as

security, and to deal more effectively with the problem of

drug trafficking.

Africa is indeed proud and glad to see the end of this

century coincide with the total elimination of colonialism

and the twin menace of constitutionalized racism in the

southern part of the continent. The United Nations deserves

our warm commendation for the crucial role it has played

in this process.

Let me also pay tribute to the thousands who lost their

lives in the struggle for freedom so that those of us alive

today can proudly say we have the destiny of the continent

in our own hands. It is, however, a destiny which poses

monumental challenges in our effort to improve the quality

of life on our continent. We must strive to alleviate the

grinding poverty and material deprivation that has

persistently remained a feature of our political freedom.

As we approach the dawn of the new millennium, the

defining feature of our increasingly interdependent world is

accelerated globalization, and the liberalization of

production, trade, investment and finance.

But for us in the developing world the reality today is

quite different. Globalization, in its various manifestations,

is already experiencing a troubled relationship with the

imperatives of development.

It is rather tragic that Africa, the least developed of all

the regions and the least able to cope with external shocks,

has borne the brunt of the adverse effects of globalization

of the world economy. There are grim statistics which

indicate that the well-known marginalization of the

African continent has turned into delinkage from the

global scene.

Since 1992 Africa's exports and imports as a share

of world trade has declined from 4 per cent to 2 per cent.

Africa's development is presently straitjacketed by a debt

burden of around $300 billion. The continent is

experiencing import compression, weak productivity and

low output. On the average, factories that are still

operating do so at less than 30 per cent of installed

capacity. Africa's share in total foreign direct investment

inflows to developing countries has dropped from 11 per

cent in the late 1980s to less than 5 per cent in the second

half of the 1990s, and to a meagre 1.2 per cent of world

foreign direct investment flows in 1997.

This trend has continued, despite the efforts of

African countries to implement far-reaching economic

reforms and maintain macroeconomic stability,

particularly through the introduction of a more open and

business-friendly investment environment, and the

provision of incentives to attract foreign investment.

In the quest for a better and fairer management of a

globalized world economy, it is now incumbent upon us

to direct our searchlight on the unsatisfactory evolution of

the multilateral trading system. In participating in the

historic Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade

Negotiations that ushered in the new rules-based trading

system, the developing world had hoped that the new

trading regime would enhance their trading fortunes,

facilitate their effective integration into the world

economy, and arrest their marginalization from the global

trading system.

Unfortunately, however, the vast majority of

developing countries, particularly in Africa, have so far

been unable to reap the benefits arising from their

membership of the World Trade Organization. Africa's

trade prospects continue to be hampered by the non-

implementation of the special and differential provisions

that favour developing countries, and the increasingly

protectionist measures that are being imposed against their

export products. Besides, the paucity of technical and

financial assistance that would have enabled the

developing countries to take advantage of the limited

market access opportunities that exist continues to deepen

Africa's marginalization in the globalized world economy.

Without doubt, the biggest monetary and financial

obstacle confronting developing countries is the chronic

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debt overhang. According to United Nations figures, the

global debt of all developing countries stood at $567 billion

in 1980, and $1.4 trillion in 1992. In that 12-year period

these countries made foreign debt payments totalling $1.6

trillion. Now, out of the 41 countries which the World Bank

describes as heavily indebted poor countries, 33 are African

countries, a group that some believe is richly deserving of

its own special category: severely indebted low-income

countries. Today in sub-Saharan Africa every man, woman

and child owes $357. This is a continent where millions

live in abject poverty, earning around $100 a year, or 27

cents a day. Some African countries now spend as much as

four times on servicing debts as they do on education and

health care. Some countries spend up to 40 per cent of their

national budgets on debt servicing. Furthermore, it is

reliably estimated that for every dollar given in official

development aid, $3 go back to the rich countries in debt

service payments.

I make bold to assert that calling for debt relief for

developing countries is not a plea for charity, but is an

urgent matter of social and economic justice. It has to be

redressed if there is to be peace and stability in the twenty-

first century. Therefore, we propose definitive debt

cancellation, not just reduction or rescheduling of the debt

service regime. Eligibility should be limited to unpayable

debts, which for Africa means the bulk of the $300 billion

current stock of debt. There should be debt remission that

is not predicated on the institutionally harsh conditionalities

of structural adjustment programmes. There should be

recognition on both sides of the bargaining table that

lenders and borrowers share joint responsibilities for debts

incurred in circumstances that are morally questionable in

the first place. Debt cancellation should benefit ordinary

people.

Nigerians rightly expect democracy to yield

perceptible dividends in their lives. Our Administration will,

however, find the task of meeting this expectation virtually

impossible without substantial reduction of our debt burden,

especially as we call on the same citizens to make the

sacrifices that are implicit in the recent measures aimed at

prudent management of our national economy.

I wish to invite the attention of the Assembly to the

related issue of illegal capital flight from Africa. It is an

open secret that much of Africa's wealth has been

illegally siphoned out of the continent by corrupt regimes

and unpatriotic individuals working in collaboration with

foreign partners. Nigeria and many African countries

would be able to pay off large portions of their debts if

only they could recover some of the capital illegally

stashed abroad. We thus believe that now is the time to

collectively deal with this issue.

In this regard, Nigeria calls for a concerted effort by

the international community, through an international

convention, for the repatriation to Africa and the

developing world of all capital illegally transferred from

these countries. Such an international convention or

agreement is legally feasible and morally sustainable. It

will compel participating banks to disclose the source of

the illegal accounts they hold, repatriate them to the

countries of rightful ownership and subject the guilty

parties to the full weight of national and international law.

It is with a heavy heart that I raise the issue of the

HIV/AIDS pandemic throughout Africa. Our continent is

bearing the brunt of this terrible disease that now kills

around 2 million Africans annually, thus officially

overtaking malaria as Africa's number one primary health-

care problem. This situation is even more frightening in

that it has now left 6 million children orphaned in the

eastern and southern parts of Africa. In West Africa the

disease has been spreading just as rapidly. Unlike malaria,

which is location specific, HIV/AIDS knows neither

climatic nor regional boundaries. Global cooperation is an

imperative if we are to succeed in dealing with this

scourge.

Among the immediate challenges facing Nigeria and

Africa today is resolving the many conflicts raging on the

continent. Today, as many as 19 sub-Saharan countries

are engaged in armed conflicts. The negative impact of

these conflicts in human, social, economic and

environmental destruction does not need to be described

here. Nigeria and indeed the entire West African

subregion have devoted considerable human, material,

political and diplomatic resources to the resolution of

these crises in the subregion, starting with Liberia and

subsequently Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau. Similarly,

efforts are being made in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo and in Angola towards peaceful resolution of their

conflicts.

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Indeed, African leaders at the recent summit of the

Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Algiers, and at the

urging of the Nigerian delegation, agreed to declare next

year as the Year of Peace, Security and Stability in Africa.

By this declaration, we have dedicated ourselves to making

the year 2000 the year when Africans direct all their efforts

into effectively eliminating armed conflicts on their

continent. We hope to build on the fresh momentum for

peace occasioned by the budding peace initiatives in Congo,

Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Angola.

We are also agreed on the overriding need to uphold

codes of decency, ethics and minimum standards of

decorum among African Governments and their leadership.

Gone are the days when the OAU turned a blind eye to the

excesses and abuses of power by member Governments.

Forceful and undemocratic changes of Governments will no

longer be overlooked or tolerated. We intend to condemn

in absolute terms all violations of these codes and to

ostracize their perpetrators. It is our duty and moral

responsibility to treat our citizens decently and humanely.

My country has always believed that the threat to

international peace and security from any corner of the

globe should be considered a threat to the peace and

security of the world as a whole. While the maintenance of

international peace and security remains the primary

responsibility of the Security Council, the Charter provision

for the complementary role of regional and subregional

groups has also proved to be critical to the maintenance of

peace at the regional and global levels. The establishment

of the Economic Community of West African States

(ECOWAS) Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) is a clear

testimony of our commitment to subregional peace. As the

record shows, ECOMOG succeeded in putting an end to the

Liberian war in 1997, reinstating the democratically elected

President of Sierra Leone in 1998, and bringing about the

current Peace Agreement for Sierra Leone signed in Lomé

in July 1999.

The time has come, however, for the Security Council

to assume its full responsibility, specifically in Sierra Leone

and other conflict flash points in Africa. For too long, the

burden of preserving international peace and security in

West Africa has been left almost entirely to a few States in

our subregion. The non-implementation of the Peace

Agreement and Nigeria's continual burden in Sierra Leone

is unacceptably draining Nigeria financially. For our

economy to take off, this bleeding has to stop. The United

Nations needs to do more in providing logistics and

financial support to assist regional peacekeeping and peace-

building efforts, as well as enhancing the welfare of

refugees worldwide without discrimination.

My delegation believes that it has never been the

purpose of the United Nations Organization to prescribe

democracy and change for its members and yet make

little or no progress in the democratization of its own

organs, such as the Security Council. My delegation

accordingly urges the General Assembly, during this

session, to conclude deliberations and reach agreement on

the modalities for the reform and expansion of the

Security Council so that the Millennium Assembly will

adopt them next year — and not later.

How can the United Nations continue to perpetuate

and justify a situation where Africa is the only continent

without a permanent seat in the Security Council? In

order to promote reform and democratization of the

Security Council, Africa, with 53 Member States, should

be allocated at least two permanent seats —

commensurate not only with the continent's size and

population, but with its track record also of contributing

to the maintenance of international peace and security.

I wish to reaffirm our belief that the United Nations

is the most universal body ever designed for collectively

resolving humankind's common problems. Our

Organization has come a long way since its establishment

54 years ago. Although created in a different era and

under different circumstances, and in spite of numerous

constraints, the United Nations has continuously sought to

adapt itself to the changes in the international political

arena. It has been able to accomplish this to some degree,

but it remains an institution whose working methods,

procedures and administrative structure have in many

respects become outdated.

Yet the world as we know it today without the

United Nations would be inconceivable. For it has come

to symbolize hope for a better and more secure future for

many, particularly in the developing areas of the world.

Indeed, though a majority of our countries could not be

members when the Organization was created, we are

today its strongest defenders and advocates of the ideals

for which it stands. We believe in the family of nations,

and within that family the strong members have the

responsibility to protect and strengthen the weaker

members.

At the close of the twentieth century and the

beginning of the third millennium, there is a need for

stock-taking and for proper assessment of the

implementation of previous resolutions emanating especially

from the major world summits and conferences which took

place in this decade. Such an effort would bring us closer

to the realization of the purposes and objectives of our

Organization. In this regard, I stand before the Assembly

and pledge Nigeria's continued contributions and positive

commitment to the ideals of the Charter of the United

Nations.