The March of Democracy

Text of a Speech By His Excellency, Alhaji (Dr.) Abdullahi Adamu, (Sarkin Yakin Keffi), Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, On the Occasion of the 3rd International Nobles Award, Ghana, Thursday, September 9, 2004.

 

On behalf of the government and people of Nasarawa state, and indeed all Nigerians, I salute this august gathering of West Africans who are here to join us in savouring the joy of accomplishment and service. We deeply appreciate your presence in our midst and assure you that we will continue to remain steadfast in our resolve to be of service to our fatherland.

Beyond that, we wish to thank God for the wisdom given to the management of West Africa International magazine to institute the West African Nobles Award and Forum which is devoted to accountability and transparency in governance as a basis for democratic practice in West Africa. This is a vision we share and will continue to promote in every avenue where God gives us the grace to be of service to our people. Our people deserve to be provided service in a transparent manner. As leaders, we must know that our people have the right to hold us accountable for our policies and actions while we serve them.

The people of West Africa have come a long way since ancient times. Our achievements and contributions far surpass what is recorded in our history books and chronicles. The West African sub-region has made significant contributions to the development of the African continent, and of mankind as a whole. In our opinion, historians are yet to do justice to the epoch making contributions of the people of West Africa to the development of the African continent and the world. Though our history books are replete with various accounts of the great contributions made by empires and kingdoms of West Africa in the middle ages to the development of the African race and mankind in general, we are of the opinion that these accounts need to be further updated to give a comprehensive picture of the our peoples’ contribution to human progress.

It is pertinent to state here that there is still room for improvement in the recorded accounts of the contributions of great empires and cultures like the Nok culture in North Central Nigeria, the Ghana, Mali and Songhai empires, Kanem Borno, Oyo and Benin empires and such great states as the Hausa States, Kebbi and Kwararafa of Northern Nigeria. We also know that individuals like Sundiata, Mansa Musa, Idris Aloma, Usman Dan-Fodio, Jaja of Opobo, Oba Eware of Benin, etc, played prominent roles in the organisation of African kingdoms with exceptional organisational skills and abilities.

Aside from the stories of war exploits, the contributions of these empires and kingdoms to the development of public institutions, politics, and governance have been left out of documented accounts. We are therefore left to think that issues of transparency and accountability are only constructs that commenced with European civilisations and cultures. Whereas when Magancanta was being written in England in the 13th century, West Africa was already doing quite well in terms of both the art of public administration, concept of the separation of powers, accountability and justice as well as the responsibility of government to its citizens. Indeed the various civilisations that were founded in various parts of West Africa proved conclusively that we were already on the path of development, and without foreign influences and interventions, would have grown to be definers of world thought and precepts in several fields. For example, the Oyo empire was able to organise her military, political and economic structures in such a way that there were clear channels of communication, and role description was not in question. There were also clear-cut separation of powers between its various arms.

From later day explorations and results of carbon dating, we now know that when West Africa had entered into the iron age, Europe was still completely in the dark ages or in the stone age. They were still fighting the wars for territories when there were well established West African kingdoms in existence. At the time when our great empires were flourishing, most Europeans were being marauded by barbarians. As at the time of the advent of slave trade and colonialism, West Africa was doing relatively well in terms of governance with developed economic, social and political structures. Our agriculture was also sustaining rapid population growth and urbanisation which had reached advanced stage in many parts of our sub-region.

That brings us to the question – if at the advent of colonialism our West African empires and domains had organised themselves and were doing relatively well in comparism to other civilisations, where did we go wrong? What happened to our well organised institutions of statehood?

The world as we know it today is in a global age and we are fascinated by developments in public administration as developed in Europe. Developments in the western hemisphere are constantly broadcast through the media as they happen and these developments are then used to define and control public opinions and norms. Our duty as a people is to borrow where we need to, but in doing so we must look at our history, culture and institutions and see where we had made progress or gains that can be employed to solve current problems of state and governance.

When Africa greats like Kwame Nkurumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sedar Senghor, etc where fighting for independence and freedom in the late 1940’s to early 1960’s, least did they imagine that West Africans with their rich historical background, would come to this stage where lack of accountability hold sway and where military regimes who will hold sway, compounding issues of corruption, transparency and abuse of human rights. Most of the countries in West Africa have all been victims of this pillage and the destruction of established structures of public administration and governance.

There however seems to be light appearing at the end of the tunnel. Following our peoples heroic struggles, democracy has slowly but surely crept back into our various countries. Our people are beginning to experience freedom in its best forms. In most West African countries, leaders are now coming to power through the will and mandate of the people as expressed in free and fair elections. Unpopular leaders are being replaced by those whom the people want to rule. The ideology of democracy is sinking gradually into our peoples’ minds and they now know that their votes are a powerful tool of governance. We salute Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal for leading the way to democracy, but we must caution that we have not yet attained the ultimate. We must never allow this vision to die again. We also salute the new African Union which has declared any unconstitutional take over of government illegal and unacceptable in any part of Africa for whatever reason. Indeed the union has gone further to threaten that where coups occur, the other countries might employ force to dislodge the insurgents.

Our duty as leaders and rulers in promoting the ideal of democracy is to lead our people in such a way that the past misdeeds are corrected. Government must be a social contract between the leaders and the people. We must ensure that our people are truly free to practice their constitutional liberties without let or hindrance. Freedom of information and expression must never be curtailed, just as civil society and human rights groups must be allowed to flourish. Once these are in place, we shall witness a lot of progress in the practice of democracy in West Africa.

Corruption can and must be defeated as a basis for sustainable development in Africa. All governments and citizens of west Africa must join hands in this struggle. Like John F. Kennedy admonished fellow Americans, we must not only think of what our countries can do for us, but must work hard and enforce accountability, transparency and the rule of law in order to sustain the practice of democratic governance in out continent. That should be our mandate as leaders in the continent.

In conclusion, we wish to salute the present chairman of the African Union, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria for putting in place structures that will ensure the sustenance of democracy in the African continent. The NEPAD project is one that is well conceived and should be commended and implemented by all governments in Africa. Democracy and a sound economy compliment each other. We also salute the government of Ghana as led by President John Kuffour for sustaining and deepening the practice of democracy in Ghana. We are keenly watching to see how the December 2004 elections will be conducted in Ghana. We are sure that this will serve as an example to most countries in the West African sub-region.

On behalf of other recipients, we thank the management of West Africa International for instituting the West African Nobles Award and for considering us worthy of this award. We wish to assure that this will become bacons in our service to our people and in our struggle to liberate them from all encumbrances. We fully associate ourselves with the objectives of this award and the visions of those who instituted it. We would continue to work together to sustain democracy and good governance in our continent.

On this note, it is now my pleasure to formally launch the West African Nobles Forum in Ghana.

Thank you and may God continue to bless our efforts.

Saturday, April 14, 2007
 
 

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