05 Apr 2009 |
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A Sad Yar'Adua And The G-20 Summit By Reuben Abati PRESIDENT Umaru Yar'Adua says he is sad that Nigeria was not invited to the just-concluded summit of the G-20 in London, United Kingdom. Does President Yar'Adua really expect Nigeria to be invited to the London summit? Hear him: "I must say that today is a sad day for me. And I think it should be for all Nigerians. When 20 leaders of the leading countries in the world are meeting and Nigeria is not there. This is something we need to reflect upon. We have the population, we have the potentials, we have the ability and the capacity and we have the will. What do we lack? Is it the will?" The President then added that Nigeria must rise and begin to give full expression to its potential. He is right about Nigerians being sad and that we have abused our potential as a country. The President is searching for reasons and he wants us to reflect on Nigeria's failure to be a leading country of the world. He is even asking: what do we lack? He does not know what we lack? We are in serious trouble surely if our President cannot answer this particular question. But what does he think they do at the G-20 summit? The G-20 is a club for the world's leading countries whose economies are strong and strategic enough to affect the international financial system for good or ill. Between them, the G-20 countries control about 85 per cent of the world's wealth. We certainly do not belong to this league. Membership of the G20 is not about population, it is not about potential, but real achievement and regional/continental importance. The G-20 is not looking for countries that cannot provide regular electricity for their people. It is not a club for countries with potholes on all their major streets, countries that have no strategic power, no railways, no productive economy. India is not in the G20 because of its population, but because of its strategic value to the world. In Africa, the only country that is a member of the G20 is South Africa. Indeed in 2007, South Africa hosted a meeting of the association. This year, South Africa was represented by its President, Kgalema Mothlane and its Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel. Why is South Africa a member of the G20 and Nigeria is not? Mr President is invited to compare and contrast and let him start with the power supply situation in both countries. Nigeria as at two days ago was down to a national power supply of 700 MW for over 140 million people! More than half of the country is in relative permanent darkness. President Yar'Adua is promising Nigerians a total of 6, 000 MW by December 2009. That 6, 000 MW is less than one eighth of South Africa's reserved energy capacity. South Africa is a productive economy, with active business, industrial and cultural sectors that are taken seriously in the international market. Nigeria is a de-industrialising economy with a thieving elite. A number of observers were invited to the London Summit, including multilateral organizations, but Nigeria was not even considered good enough as an observer nation. And if we had been invited, would Nigeria have made good use of the invitation? Last month, the International Monetary Fund organized a conference in Dar es Salaam to examine the global financial crisis and its implications for Africa and to prepare an African position that can be fed into the G20 Summit in London. The Nigerian state was constructively absent at that meeting. There were two junior officials from the Ministry of Finance, but they arrived late, and because of their junior status, nobody paid them any serious attention. Throughout the conference, Ministers of Finance and Central Bank Governors from other African countries kept asking after their Nigerian colleagues. They were concerned that Nigeria seems to be losing its leadership ranking in Africa. We either fail to show up at international meetings, or we arrive late or we go there and make no significant impact, and this is so particularly in relation to our obligations as members of bilateral and multilateral organizations. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's former Finance Minister, was in Tanzania in her official capacity as Managing Director of The World Bank, but other African delegations kept relating to her as if she was there to speak for Nigeria. She had to keep pointing out that she now works for the World Bank. President Yar'Adua wants to go to the G-20 Summit to enjoy all that photo-opportunity with Obama, Her Majesty The Queen and other world leaders and have Madam Turai join the G20 wives at the concert performance? It is important to realise that the G20 is in every sense, about them not us. In the end, Africa's voice was not heard at the London Summit, as always. The rich countries of the world sought in London to address the global economic recession, restore confidence in the global economy and return the world to the age of prosperity. There was much talk about stimulus packages and putting an end to trade protectionism. For their people, not ours. The AU-NEPAD was of course represented by the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, (current chair of NEPAD) but the only major relevance of the London Summit for the poor countries of Africa was the decision to increase resources available to the IMF and the World Bank. But even then the over one trillion US dollars that has been promised is too little. In principle, the rich club is providing more resources for lending to poor countries. The IMF now has about $780 billion, and an additional Special Drawing Rights Allocation of $250 billion. There is yet an additional $100 billion to assist developing banks to lend to poor countries. The leaders of the world further resolved that for growth to be sustained, it must be shared. But poor countries are not part of that sharing. Their fortunes can only be further worsened by extensive borrowing and greater debt. And it remains to be seen whether the G20 would fulfil its promises. All the promises that have been made in relation to World Trade and Development in the last ten years, by the G7 and the G20 in Doha, Mexico and elsewhere have not been met. A more equitable global arrangement will require the G20 reflecting all voices and interests, North and South, rather than a few rich nations dictating to the rest of the world. Africans like to argue that their continent is the last frontier for human development and that the world can only ignore it at its own peril. But the only harvest for the poor nations of Africa at the just concluded summit is the poisoned offer of more loans. The purpose is not necessarily the development of those countries but to lend them more funds in the hope that this can be used to prevent such humanitarian crises that can constitute a burden to the rest of the world. The fear is that global economic recession could result in turmoil in underdeveloped countries undergoing a governance crisis. Should Nigeria seek to borrow more money? Certainly not. Yet, only a fortnight ago, the Minister of Finance had been reported as saying that Nigeria's debt profile is too low, only about 12% of GDP, and that in due course government would have to borrow more to fund development. It is amazing that this bowl in hand mentality has not been roundly condemned. The Obasanjo government had worked hard to clear the bulk of Nigeria's debts. To propose a fresh regime of national indebtedness to creditors, either local or foreign, is to stand the logic of the debt management process initiated by the ancient regime on its head. President Yar'Adua had asked: "What do we lack? Is it the will?" Yes sir. The political will to make a difference in the people's lives is very important to the governance process. And this is what is sorely lacking in Nigeria. Nigerian leaders are alienated from the people. They are not working hard enough to put the people first. They lack the will to transform Nigeria, to build on the country's potential, and to sustain the little gains of the past. About fifty years after independence, the country is still groping for greatness. Nigeria used to be described as the "giant of Africa". These days, when the word giant is used to describe the country, the statement is met with cynical laughter. Things have gone so bad, we can't even play good football any more. Football used to be one of the good things that defined Nigeria and our boys excelled in it and helped to brand the country positively in the eyes of the world. Unfortunately, since 1994, we have not won any major trophy at the senior level. At the moment, we face the risk of not being able to play at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with our uninspiring performance in the pre-World Cup qualifying matches. Last week, we couldn't even score a goal against Mozambique. It is failures such as this that should make every Nigerian sad. The President says he is sad too. But for him, sadness is not good enough. We do not expect him to lament and express despair like every ordinary man on the street. His responsibility as President is to help turn the people's sorrow into happiness, it is his duty to help provide Nigerians an opportunity to smile again and believe in themselves and their country. The oath of office that he took requires him to defend the laws of the land, part of which is that every Nigerian shall be given the opportunity to enjoy the right to human dignity. Our absence at such privileged clubs as G20, and seeing South Africa being part of it, reminds us clearly that ours is a second class country. President Yar'Adua's assignment is to provide the leadership that this country desperately needs. That will require character and vision. President Yar'Adua says all Nigerians including civil society groups must be prepared to make sacrifices in the face of austerity. The poor and long-suffering people of Nigeria have been making sacrifices since 1967. We were told to make sacrifices for national unity by the Gowon administration. The Murtala/Obasanjo administration introduced austerity measures. Shagari also talked about austerity. The Buhari/Idiagbon forced the pill of sacrifice and discipline down the people's throats. Babangida also talked about sacrifice - something about some amorphous "we" giving their today for the "tomorrow" of Nigeria's children. And so on. How much sacrifice do Nigerian leaders still require from the people? The people are often willing to give, but their leaders have learnt only to take. It is these leaders who must now learn to make sacrifice. The Nigerian leadership elite must become enlightened. US President Barack Obama provided the key sub-text of the London Summit when he noted that every country will be required to play its part in addressing the challenges of global recession. He minced no words in telling the summit that other countries of the world should not expect the United States to bear their own share of the burden. It is a message that African countries must pay careful attention to. The future of Africa does not lie in the harvests of globalisation but in quality leadership and good governance in the continent. The world will co-operate with Africa and listen to its voice only when it is obvious that African leaders are prepared to run open and efficient systems and defend their people's interests. South Africa has passed that test, that is why it gets invited to the G20, and that is why it is hosting the 2010 World Cup. Nigerians are busy talking and day-dreaming, and refusing to act and take charge of their own destiny and future. This is what should make us sad.
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