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Nigeria: Eizenstat Speech
Nigeria: Eizenstat Speech
Date distributed (ymd): 990419
Document reposted by APIC
+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++
Region: West Africa
Issue Areas: +political/rights+ +economy/development+
+US policy focus+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains excerpts from the April 12 speech in
Lagos by U.S. Under Secretary of State Stuart Eizenstat, on
U.S.-Nigerian relations. A previous posting contains a
letter to Nigerian President-elect Olusegun Obasanjo from the
New York-based Africa Fund, concerning the need for continued
dialogue with pro-democracy and human rights groups on
democratization in Nigeria, as well as selected links to other
recent documents on the transition to democracy in Nigeria.
+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Eizenstat Outlines Partnership Hopes With Nigeria
April 15, 1999
Lagos - Remarks by U.S. under secretary of state for economic,
business and agricultural affairs Stuart Eizenstat
on April 12
in Lagos:
Excerpts only. Full speech available at
http://www.africanews.org/west/nigeria/stories/
19990415_feat11.html [type URL on one line]
The speech should also be available later at the State
Department web site (http://www.state.gov/www/regions/africa),
along with other background information on U.S. relations with
Nigeria.
This is my first trip to Nigeria, and it's another example of
the commitment by this administration to support sound African
efforts to build democracy, to grow economically, and [to]
develop sustainably.
I am here to make clear that the U.S. understands that this is
a critical time for Nigeria. With its recent progress on human
rights and economic reform, and with the completion of your
elections, Nigeria stands at a crossroads.
There is a potential for Nigeria, Africa's most populous
nation, to turn the corner on a new chapter in its history, to
democratize and reap the untapped economic and social
potential of your human and natural resources. We are prepared
to work with you to write a new chapter in U.S.-Nigeria
relations.
We are ready to stand side by side with you as you forge a new
future, one in which you can be an engine of growth and
development and an anchor for democracy and stability not only
in West Africa, but for the whole continent and indeed a model
for the developing world around the globe. With the successful
transition from military to elected government on May 29, all
sanctions will be removed, and the door will be open for a
U.S. partnership.
General Abubakar deserves a great deal of credit for taking
important steps in protecting human rights and beginning
economic reform. President-elect Obasanjo has shown courage
over his lifespan, particularly his years in prison. He is
widely respected as the only military leader who ceded power
peacefully to a civilian government, and for his enlightened
role in Transparency International and other international
humanitarian organizations. We look to him to further the
remarkable work of General Abubakar and to represent all of
Nigeria's people in leading your country out of the darkness
of over 15 years of military rule and into the light of
democracy.
...
Your movement away from military rule and toward democracy,
along with President Clinton's decision to grant a one-year
waiver of your narcotics decertification, now make it possible
for the U.S. to begin to engage across the board on many
fronts, starting on May 29. We have proposed to the
government, to the Vice President-elect, who I met last night,
and to the new transition team that I met today that we
establish a new U.S.-Nigeria Joint Economic Partnership for
Bilateral Growth and Development.
This is a joint commission that, by the way, we do with only
a select number of countries around the world -- I don't go to
every country. We don't have the resources and time.
Literally, there are two handfuls of countries that we have
these joint commissions with -- Poland, for example, because
of its importance in Central Europe. Egypt, because of its
importance in the Middle East. You would be one of a few
countries with whom we would do that. We would organize our
Departments of State, Transportation, Treasury, Agriculture,
Commerce, Energy, the USAID, and many others to work on a
regular basis with your counterparts to support your efforts
at prioritizing your development needs.
We will also work to increase participation by our U.S.
private sector, which is going to be one of the engines, along
with your private sector, for genuine growth. They are already
Nigeria's largest foreign investors and number one trading
partners, and I had the privilege of meeting with many of
those business leaders last night.
With the end of sanctions when the new president is
inaugurated, we will do the following:
- This year alone, we will provide over $30 million in
assistance to Nigeria.
- Our Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) will
immediately open again for business to provide loans and
insurance to help Americans invest in Nigeria through large
and small projects. OPIC's programs will help leverage capital
and know-how that will be of great value to Nigeria. Nigeria
will be able to take advantage of more than $650 million in
OPIC equity funds for Africa for infrastructure and other
projects. Our Export-Import Bank will begin looking to
promoting U.S. exports to Nigeria.
- Our Trade and Development Agency (TDA) will start
undertaking feasibility studies for business-related
development projects.
- Our military will be in a position to begin closer ties
with the Nigerian military and to assist in building its
capacity to support democracy and stability.
- And we will work closely with the entire international
community and international financial institutions like the
World Bank and the IMF and the Asian Development Bank to help
support your success.
...
We also call upon our own enormously talented private business
community to maintain the high standards of corporate
governance that they have here* and to bring their best global
practices with them when they invest in Nigeria. Again, as I
mentioned, I met with many of them last night, and they have
told me that they will continue to be good corporate citizens,
to promote good labor conditions, sustainable environmental
practices, and they will continue to invest -- as they have
already done so -- in strong local communities. They cannot be
surrogate governments, but they can help an effective
government do its job even better. But they've also told us
that what they need is an environment free of violence and
characterized by open and inclusive dialogue among all
parties.
...
Let me tick these off and then go into some detail about each.
They fall in basically four areas -- fighting corruption and
building the rule of law; privatizing your State-owned
enterprises in the right way; being part of an IMF program,
which will eventually allow debt rescheduling; and integrating
Nigeria with the rest of the region. Let me take each of
these.
First, with respect to corruption. Corruption can bleed the
public trust. It transfers wealth from the many to the few. It
is the enemy of sustainable development. And frankly,
corruption has crippled this great nation, and it must be
rooted out in every institution of government and in the
courts. I have, frankly -- and I wouldn't say this if it were
not the case -- been very encouraged in my meetings with
President-elect Obasanjo's advisers, with the Vice
President-elect, and indeed with the current government that
this will be a top priority, and that indeed new institutions
will be created to combat it.
This will send an important signal early in the life of this
new government to U.S. and foreign investors that there will
be a new Nigeria. Corruption, though, is one piece of it. But
when we talk about fighting corruption, there is also a
positive side to this, and that is creating good governance.
Indeed, hand in glove with fighting corruption is creating
good governance.
...
Now governance goes beyond just addressing corruption. It's
the whole relationship between government and the private
sector. It's creating accountability and transparency and
openness. It's creating a legal and judicial system that
works. It's assuring that contracts are respected, that there
is contract sanctity, that the terms can't arbitrarily be
changed in midstream, that when there are disputes, they can
be taken to a court and be resolved in a fair-minded way.
This is what good governance means, and it's essential that
your newly elected national government go forward with these
efforts and end the shamefully wasteful impact that corruption
and bad governance has had on the lives of your people. You
deserve better, and frankly I believe with the new government,
you are going to get it.
We ourselves know that corruption is also not just a one-sided
story; it's not just the countries that receive it. We know
that we in the West have a responsibility because it is
oftentimes our citizens who are giving the bribe. It takes two
in this case to tango. And that's why we've taken the lead in
the United States since 1977 when I was President Carter's
chief domestic adviser, and we drafted the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act.
It's taken 20 years since then to get other industrial
democracies to begin to criminalize their payments of bribery
to developing countries for contracts. Now we have it. Just
six or eight weeks ago the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention has
gone into force and we hope that soon 30 countries -- it's not
there yet -- but soon 30 countries in the West and around the
industrial world will criminalize the payment of bribes to
developing countries. ...
Second is privatization. Privatization is also crucial, and it
has to be done in the right way. I know that there are worries
about how to privatize critical functions in ways that achieve
real and equitable results. Of course it has to be done
properly, but the reasons to do it are overwhelming. It will
spur change.
It will bring in foreign investment that creates jobs. It will
bring world-class management. It will create resources for
your treasury that you can reinvest in education and in
agriculture and in infrastructure. It will reduce your budget
deficits, improve your service delivery, and set the stage for
economic expansion.
It will help assure a predictable investment climate, based on
the rule of law as a magnet for domestic and foreign
investment. And let's see if we can't get some of that $50,000
million in your own capital that has gone out of Nigeria and
is waiting for a signal to come back.
One of the things that I've talked about with your new team
coming in and your existing team is to try to pick out a few
projects that will have an immediate benefit for your people.
Things so that they can tangibly see that democracy works for
them.
One good example would be getting your four oil refineries, or
at least several of the oil refineries, back to work. It's
just inexcusable that in a country with one of the largest
productions of oil, people have to wait in line for hours for
gas. If these refineries can come back, then that will be
ended. And electricity grids so we don't have power outages.
Third is engaging in the importance of a discipline of the
IMF. If you can go from your current staff-monitored program
(SMP) over the next several months to what we call an ESAF
[Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility] program, that
program will provide resources from the IMF, but equally
important it will make you eligible for debt rescheduling
through the Paris Club. And you will find if you do so that we
will be supportive. The IMF Executive Board has said that it
will consider granting Nigeria an Enhanced Structural
Adjustment Facility once your current reform program is
successfully completed.
This ESAF program will provide you access to
balance-of-payments support and it will open the critical
possibility of debt rescheduling from the Paris Club of
creditor nations. We will support you in the Paris Club under
these conditions, if you stay the course and reform. And this
will help alleviate in the early years of this new government
some of the debt burden that you now have.
There are other things that need to be done. I mentioned a
fourth area, which is regional development. We want ECOWAS
[Economic Community of West African States] to become a
stronger institution to bind this region together. Let me give
you an example of what can happen. Right now in the countries
of ECOWAS, in which Nigeria, of course, is the largest member,
only 10 percent of the total trade of the countries in ECOWAS
is among and between those countries. Only 10 percent.
Contrast that with Europe, where 60 percent of the trade
amongst the countries of the European Union is between
themselves. To give you a more pertinent example -- the
creation of MERCOSUR in Latin America.
In MERCOSUR, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay joined
together a few years ago, and trade among those countries
leaped 20 percent a year in the first seven years of its
existence in the 1990s. If that happened here, think of the
wealth that would be created for all the countries of ECOWAS,
and it will happen, if you lower the barriers to your trade.
One important project which can also link this region together
is the West African gas pipeline, in which our company,
Chevron*, is involved. This would use Nigerian gas for Togo,
Benin, and Ghana. There are so many other things that can be
done in the short term. ...
All of the things I've talked about are not just coming from
the United States. These are consistent with your own Vision
2010. So indeed this is an exciting time. What a wonderful
time to be a Nigerian. What a wonderful time to look forward
to a bright future. What a wonderful time to build a new
democracy.
What a wonderful time to put together a shattered economy. And
in that effort I pledge to you that if you will stay the
course, we will stay the course. We have faith and confidence
in your resourcefulness and in your abilities. We want to work
with you as your partners. We want to be and meet you as
equals, with equal interests and equal responsibilities. We
look forward to seeing Nigeria in the 21st century take its
place as a thriving, democratic leader in a region with vigor,
creativity, and renewed purpose. And I promise you that as you
make that journey, no more will a democratic Nigeria be
isolated. You will be part of the global world, and you will
be a full partner of the United States. And if you will stay
the course, we will stay the course. Thank you very much.
APIC note: Four members of Congress are requesting an
investigation of Chevron's involvement with human rights
abuses in Nigeria. For more information see the postings in
the shell-nigeria-action listserv:
Letter from Reps. Kucinich, McKinney, Payne and Waters, March
http://lists.essential.org/shell-nigeria-action/msg00196.html
Call for action by Essential Action, March
http://lists.essential.org/shell-nigeria-action/msg00229.html
Article in Village Voice (April 1, 1999)
http://lists.essential.org/shell-nigeria-action/msg00238.html
See also the Human Rights Watch (Africa) report on the
involvement of international oil companies in Nigeria.
For the full 200-page report, see the HRW web site
(
http://www.hrw.org/hrw/reports/1999/nigeria). For a press
release and summary see the Africa Policy web site
(
http://www.africafocus.org/docs99/hrw9902.php).
This material is being reposted for wider distribution by the
Africa Policy Information Center (APIC). APIC's primary
objective is to widen the policy debate in the United States
around African issues and the U.S. role in Africa, by
concentrating on providing accessible policy-relevant
information and analysis usable by a wide range of groups and
individuals.
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