The Guardian (Lagos)
Martins Oloja And Clifford Ndujihe
1 October 2001
Abuja, Lagos — President Olusegun Obasanjo early this morning took a view of the nation's 41 years of independence and declared. Things are looking up.
And in a regular media chat with selected journalists last night, he spoke on sundry issues which included the clamour for a national conference, state of the economy and security of life and property.
In the national broadcast, the president said there is cause for the nation to be thankful to God, "not the least of which is that we have survived." He noted however, that "there is so much more to be done."
He listed some of the activities of his administration aimed at putting the nation back on track after years of dislocation caused by misrule by past governments, recalling in particular the series of probes instituted into many government-owned parastatals that had been run aground before his assumption of office.
He also mentioned some other positive measures his administration had taken to bring back smiles to the faces of the citizens. These, he said, include the upward review of salaries and wages of civil servants, upward review and prompt payment of pensions, and stemming of the scourge of rights violations especially through the setting up of the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa panel.
The president noted that international support for the country had increased. For instance, the World Bank and other international donors that had withdrawn from giving aid to the agricultural sector, have renewed interest, while government functionaries are no longer regarded as representatives of a pariah nation, as was the case in the recent past.
"Fellow Nigerians, in a shrinking global community, where no one can go it alone, Nigeria had in the recent past found itself isolated from the international community. We had been suspended from the Commonwealth, Nigeria's human rights record was subject of condemnation at successive meetings of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the European Union and many important nations of the world had imposed one form of sanctions or the other on us, the World Bank had virtually withdrawn its support for many of our developmental programmes, and even our leaders were not welcome to some capitals of the world. Nigerian citizens were subjected to some of the most degrading treatments in foreign lands. That was how bad we fared in the international arena. And that was what our government met declared the president."
All that is now history, he enthused. The president added: "Gradually, but steadily we started changing international perception about Nigeria.In two years, we have fully re-established international perception about Nigeria."
Obasanjo who expressed regrets that despite measures taken to reform public service, the officials are still enmeshed in corruption, said that his administration has recorded steady progress in the area of the economy.
According to him, there is increasing investor confidence in the country. He attributes the confidence element to the "international community's appreciation of our commitment to the sound economic policies."
Obasanjo said "in two years, we have raised our foreign reserves from $3.7 billion to $10 billion."
Obasanjo is also optimistic that as government rehabilitates infrastructure, privatise and commercialise, delivery of services from utility will be drastically improved and will become more efficient.
The president said that as revenue collection strategy is overhauled, people will soon enjoy services they pay for.
"We will make it more difficult for people to cheat on the services they enjoy," he pledged.
The president said in order to combat criminal acts perpetrated within the borders with illegal arms, "we plan to put a bill before the National Assembly for a law that will deal with illegal aliens in the country."
Pledging to ensure fiscal discipline at the federal level, the president said "While all levels of government, local, state and federal have a joint responsibility for managing national economy, the federal government must pay a pivotal role in this regard for the benefit of all Nigerians, no matter where they reside."
He told the nation that to resolve the lingering excess fund dispute, he will soon submit a Bill to the National Assembly for an Act that would seek to strengthen the fiscal and monetary management at the national level."
And on the media chat, the President said the ball on the clamour for a Sovereign Conference is in the court of the legislature.
"I cannot make a law to establish a National Conference. The National Assembly must make a law, he said."
Obasanjo, who once again listed hurdles on the path of such a conference however, said he would not be opposed to it if the agitators succeeded in getting the National Assembly to make a law establishing a National Conference.
"If I am in government, I must have a guideline to work with. If you can get the National Assembly to make a law tomorrow establishing a National Conference, so be it," he said.
The presidential media chat was anchored by Mr. Ray Ekpu, Editor-in-Chief of the Newswatch Magazine, Mr. Fred Ohwahwa, Editor, The Guardian On Sunday; Mr. Jubril Daudu, Editor, Daily Trust; and Mr. Jide Osuntokun of The Comet Newspapers.
Obasanjo however wondered what purpose such a conference would serve. "What is the purpose of a National Conference? If it is amendment of the constitution, we have how to go about it. If it is a new constitution, how do we go about it? How do you elect representatives to the conference?", he asked.
Taking questions on a wide range of issues, the president who commended the state governors for making impact in the lives of the citizenry, said his administration would set up a security committee to proffer solutions to recurrent religious and social conflicts in the country.
On agriculture, Obasanjo disclosed that 50 per cent of the governors took his advice to take at least two crops and focus attention on them in their states.
Disagreeing with insinuations that latest religious violence and conflicts in many parts of the country could be likened to acts of terrorism, like the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre Towers in the United States, Obasanjo said the Nigerina cases were conflicts.
He attributed the Jos riots to religion and the age-long indigene-settler issue.
Wondering why the conflicts should erupt now in the life of the nation, Obasanjo said the immediate causes varied from the ridiculous to the absurd, adding that the government would embark on pro-active" measures to stem the tide.
"Most of these things are issues of either identity, ethnicity or overlord issues... we must look into them and do something pro-active. I had to come in in the case of Ife-Modakeke. We have not completely resolved it, but we have dampened it. We came into the case of Aguleri/Umuleri, we may not have completely resolved i7t but we have dampened it. We are going to have a security committee that will look into these things and proffer solution,," he said.
Obasanjo also spoke on why he canvassed at the recent conference on racism held in South Africa, had apology in place of reparation for the over 400 years of slavery and plunder that Africa suffered
According to him, determining how such reparation would be shared and to whom would constitute problems. Besides, he argued that it is not proper to "punish" the present generation of Europeans for the sins of their forefathers:
"If you show that my father did a wrong thing, I can apologise for it but I should not be punished for it," he said.
On the ban of fairly used cars that are over five years old, Obasanjo said there is no going back on the regulation, at least for now. "Let's see how the regulation works," he said.
On the economic front, the president said things are looking up for the country. He said his government would provide a conducive environment for investment, which in turn would create employment opportunities.
Looking at Nigeria after 41 years of independence, Obasanjo said Nigerians must thank God for its survival because "there are many countries that have not gone through half of what we went through but they did not survive."
On the face-off between his administration and the state governments over the sharing of surplus crude oil proceeds, Obasanjo maintained that he could not share all the proceeds among the three tiers of government because it would cause inflation.
"They said they want their money and should be allowed to do whatever they liked with it, I said no because that will affect the economy."
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