Gen.Muhammahu Buhari Full Speech at the Royal Institute of
International Affairs, CHATHAM HOUSE, London, United Kingdom, February
26, 2015.
"Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria’s Transition" - By General Muhammadu Buhari.
Kindly take an intelligent listen, or better put, have a right-minded read: CHANGE is assuredly here:
Permit me to start by thanking Chatham House for the invitation to talk
about this important topic at this crucial time. The 2015 general
election in Nigeria is generating a lot of interests within and outside
the country. This is understandable. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous
country and largest economy, is at a defining moment, a moment that has
great implications beyond the democratic project and beyond the borders
of my dear country.
So let me say upfront that the global
interest in Nigeria’s landmark election is not misplaced at all and
indeed should be commended, for this is an election that has serious
import for the world. I urge the international community to continue to
focus on Nigeria at this very critical moment. Given increasing global
linkages, it is in our collective interests that the postponed elections
should hold on the rescheduled dates, that they should be free and
fair, that their outcomes should be respected by all parties, and that
any form of extension, under whichever guise, is unconstitutional and
would not be tolerated.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989,
the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the collapse of communism and the
end of the Cold War, democracy became the dominant and most preferred
system of government across the globe. That global transition has been
aptly captured as the triumph of democracy and the ‘most pre-eminent
political idea of our time.’ On a personal note, the phased end of the
USSR was a turning point for me. If you will, that was my own road to
Damascus experience. It convinced me that change can be brought about
without firing a single shot. As you all know, I had been a military
head of state in Nigeria for twenty months. We intervened because we
were unhappy with the state of affairs in our country.
We wanted
to arrest the drift. Driven by patriotism, influenced by the prevalence
and popularity of such drastic measures all over Africa and elsewhere,
we fought our way to power. But the global triumph of democracy has
shown that another, and a preferable, path to change is possible. It is
an important lesson I have carried with me since, and a lesson that is
not lost on the African continent.
In the last two decades,
democracy has grown strong roots in Africa. Elections, once so rare, are
now so commonplace. As at the time I was a military head of state
between 1983 and 1985, only four African countries held regular
multi-party elections. But the number of electoral democracies in
Africa, according to Freedom House, jumped to 10 in 1992/1993 then to 18
in 1994/1995 and to 24 in 2005/2006.
According to the New York
Times, 42 of the 48 countries in Sub-Sahara Africa conducted multi-party
elections between 1990 and 2002. The newspaper also reported that
between 2000 and 2002, ruling parties in four African countries
(Senegal, Mauritius, Ghana and Mali) peacefully handed over power to
victorious opposition parties. In addition, the proportion of African
countries categorized as not free by Freedom House declined from 59% in
1983 to 35% in 2003. Without doubt, Africa has been part of the current
global wave of democratisation.
But the growth of democracy on
the continent has been uneven. According to Freedom House, the number of
electoral democracies in Africa slipped from 24 in 2007/2008 to 19 in
2011/2012; while the percentage of countries categorised as ‘not free’
increased from 35% in 2003 to 41% in 2013. Also, there have been some
reversals at different times in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic,
Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mali, Madagascar,
Mauritania and Togo.
While we can choose to look at the glass of
democracy in Africa as either half full or half empty. While you can’t
have representative democracy without elections, it is equally important
to look at the quality of the elections and to remember that mere
elections do not democracy make. It is globally agreed that democracy is
not an event, but a journey. And that the destination of that journey
is democratic consolidation—that state where democracy has become so
rooted and so routine and widely accepted by all actors.
With
this important destination in mind, it is clear that though many African
countries now hold regular elections, very few of them have
consolidated the practice of democracy. It is important to also state at
this point that just as with elections, a consolidated democracy cannot
be an end by itself. I will argue that it is not enough to hold series
of elections or even to peacefully alternate power among parties.
It is much more important that the promise of democracy goes beyond
just allowing people to freely choose their leaders. It is much more
important that democracy should deliver on the promise of choice, of
freedoms, of security of lives and property, of transparency and
accountability, of rule of law, of good governance and of shared
prosperity. It is very important that the promise embedded in the
concept of democracy, the promise of a better life for the generality of
the people, is not delivered in the breach.
Now, let me quickly
turn to Nigeria. As you all know, Nigeria’s fourth republic is in its
16th year and this general election will be the fifth in a row. This is a
major sign of progress for us, given that our first republic lasted
five years and three months, the second republic ended after four years
and two months and the third republic was a still-birth. However,
longevity is not the only reason why everyone is so interested in this
election.
The major difference this time around is that for the
very first time since transition to civil rule in 1999, the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing its stiffest opposition so far
from our party the All Progressives Congress (APC). We once had about 50
political parties, but with no real competition. Now Nigeria is
transiting from a dominant party system to a competitive electoral
polity, which is a major marker on the road to democratic consolidation.
As you know, peaceful alternation of power through competitive
elections have happened in Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in
recent times.
The prospects of democratic consolidation in Africa will be further brightened when that eventually happens in Nigeria.
But there are other reasons why Nigerians and the whole world are
intensely focussed on this year’s elections, chief of which is that the
elections are holding in the shadow of huge security, economic and
social uncertainties in Africa’s most populous country and largest
economy.
On insecurity, there is a genuine cause for worry, both
within and outside Nigeria. Apart from the civil war era, at no other
time in our history has Nigeria been this insecure. Boko Haram has sadly
put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of our
nationals, displacing millions internally and externally, and at a time
holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium. What has
been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle
against insurgency.
I, as a retired general and a former head of
state, have always known about our soldiers: they are capable, well
trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty in the
service of our country. You all can bear witness to the gallant role of
our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone,
Liberia, Darfur and in many other peacekeeping operations in several
parts of the world. But in the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers
have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives
to tackle this problem. The government has also failed in any effort
towards a multi-dimensional response to this problem leading to a
situation in which we have now become dependent on our neighbours coming
to our rescue.
Let me assure you that if I am elected
president, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as it has
had to recently, that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in
West Africa, and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to
the enemy because we will pay special attention to the welfare of our
soldiers in and out of service, we will give them adequate and modern
arms and ammunitions to work with, we will improve intelligence
gathering to choke Boko Haram's financial and equipment channels, we
will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a
comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural
development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected
areas.
We will always act on time and not allow problems to
irresponsibly fester, and I, General Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead
from the front and return Nigeria to its leadership role in regional and
international efforts to combat terrorism.
On the economy, the
fall in prices of oil has brought our economic and social stress into
full relief. After the rebasing exercise in April 2014, Nigeria overtook
South Africa as Africa’s largest economy. Our GDP is now valued at $510
billion and our economy rated 26th in the world. Also on the bright
side, inflation has been kept at single digit for a while and our
economy has grown at an average of 7% for about a decade. But it is more
of paper growth, a growth that, on account of mismanagement, profligacy
and corruption, has not translated to human development or shared
prosperity. A development economist once said three questions should be
asked about a country’s development: one, what is happening to poverty?
Two, what is happening to unemployment? And three, what is happening to
inequality?
The answers to these questions in Nigeria show that
the current administration has created two economies in one country, a
sorry tale of two nations: one economy for a few who have so much in
their tiny island of prosperity; and the other economy for the many who
have so little in their vast ocean of misery. Even by official figures,
33.1% of Nigerians live in extreme poverty. That’s at almost 60 million,
almost the population of the United Kingdom. There is also the
unemployment crisis simmering beneath the surface, ready to explode at
the slightest stress, with officially 23.9% of our adult population and
almost 60% of our youth unemployed. We also have one of the highest
rates of inequalities in the world. With all these, it is not surprising
that our performance on most governance and development indicators
(like Mo Ibrahim Index on African Governance and UNDP’s Human
Development Index.) are unflattering. With fall in the prices of oil,
which accounts for more than 70% of government revenues, and lack of
savings from more than a decade of oil boom, the poor will be
disproportionately impacted.
In the face of dwindling revenues, a
good place to start the repositioning of Nigeria's economy is to
swiftly tackle two ills that have ballooned under the present
administration: waste and corruption. And in doing this, I will, if
elected, lead the way, with the force of personal example.
On
corruption, there will be no confusion as to where I stand. Corruption
will have no place and the corrupt will not be appointed into my
administration. First and foremost, we will plug the holes in the
budgetary process. Revenue producing entities such as NNPC and Customs
and Excise will have one set of books only. Their revenues will be
publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The institutions of state
dedicated to fighting corruption will be given independence and
prosecutorial authority without political interference. But I must
emphasise that any war waged on corruption should not be misconstrued as
settling old scores or a witch-hunt. I'm running for President to lead
Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity.
In reforming the
economy, we will use savings that arise from blocking these leakages and
the proceeds recovered from corruption to fund our party’s social
investments programmes in education, health, and safety nets such as
free school meals for children, emergency public works for unemployed
youth and pensions for the elderly. As a progressive party, we must
reform our political economy to unleash the pent-up ingenuity and
productivity of the Nigerian people thus freeing them from the
indignities of poverty.
We will run a private sector-led economy
but maintain an active role for government through strong regulatory
oversight and deliberate interventions and incentives to diversify the
base of our economy, strengthen productive sectors, improve the
productive capacities of our people and create jobs for our teeming
youths. In short, we will run a functional economy driven by a worldview
that sees growth not as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a
society that works for all, rich and poor alike. On March 28, Nigeria
has a decision to make. To vote for the continuity of failure or to
elect progressive change. I believe the people will choose wisely.
In sum, I think that given its strategic importance, Nigeria can
trigger a wave of democratic consolidation in Africa. But as a starting
point we need to get this critical election right by ensuring that they
go ahead and depriving those who want to scuttle it the benefit of
derailing our fledgling democracy. That way, we will all see democracy
and democratic consolidation as tools for solving pressing problems in a
sustainable way, not as ends in themselves.
Permit me to close
this discussion on a personal note. I have heard and read references to
me as a former dictator in many respected British newspapers including
the well regarded Economist. Let me say without sounding defensive that
dictatorship goes with military rule, though some might be less
dictatorial than others.
I take responsibility for whatever
happened under my watch. I cannot change the past. But I can change the
present and the future. So before you is a former military ruler and a
converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms and is
subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic elections for the
fourth time.
You may ask: why is he doing this? This is a
question I ask myself all the time too. And here is my humble answer:
because the work of making Nigeria great is not yet done, because I
still believe that change is possible, this time through the ballot, and
most importantly, because I still have the capacity and the passion to
dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity
of nations and that all Nigerians will be proud of.
I thank you for listening.
Gen.Muhammadu Buhari.
Below is one of my friends verdict:
My Friend Verdict:
Sir, for always, you have my most reserved and well-considered respect.
If wishes were Horses, even the present incumbent would ride, but it is
not given to all to deliver a World-Class speech. A man is condemned by
nature, from giving what he does not have. Sir, you have it, you once
gave it, you are always giving it, and you are giving it again, not just
at home, but before watching and right-thinking International
community. Sir, we celebrate you, we celebrate NIGERIA, and we celebrate
CHANGE that for this time around, Nigeria has the right President.
Please enjoy your weekend Sir, and have some more good rest in the UK,
while the mediocres in the Presidential Villa knock their heads some
more against the walls where they are currently trapped. Our People have
summed it all up when the said, "He who thinks he is leading and has no
one following him is only taking a stroll". General Sir, while you
receive my salute, know that you are leading, and millions of Nigerians
are right behind you matching your steps of integrity and forthrightness
by following; the current Office holder can enjoy his stroll, while
bemoaning the end of his 6years travel with the retinue of Oil thieves
in his government. CHANGE has come, CHANGE is here and the revered
General from Daura has our vote
