Nigeria must sustain democratic rule — Clinton

Written by The Punch Friday, 06 August 2010

United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on Thursday urged Nigerians to ensure the sustenance of democratic governance in the country.

Speaking after a closed door meeting with her Nigerian counterpart, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), in Washington D.C, Clinton said that the issue went beyond organising successful elections, Empowered Newswire reports.

Although the United States has praised the appointment of credible electoral officials by the Federal Government, Nigeria needs to continue efforts to sustain democracy in the country, Empowered Newswire reports. She said the US was happy at the appointment of credible officials for the Independent National Electoral Commission, adding that her home government was ready to offer help in the conduct of the 2011 elections.

Pointing out, however, that the sustainability of democracy in the country was up to the Nigerian people, Clinton added that “the United States is very optimistic about Nigeria’s future.” This, she stated, was based on Nigeria’s huge potential, which she said should be harnessed to create sustainable progress.

Clinton said that both countries had been making a lot of progress together, recalling that only recently, the US made a $1.5m commitment to Nigeria’s power sector. She enumerated the progress recorded since the signing of the bi-national commission agreement between both nations in April to include support for Nigeria’s energy sector, working with civil society groups for free and fair elections and the proposed meeting in September on the Niger Delta and regional security.

Applauding Nigeria on its 50 years of independence, she reiterated the need for both countries to continue to work together to build a greater success story.

In his response, Ajumogobia said the bi-national agreement had deepened the relationship between both countries. While commending the role of the US in ensuring stable governance in Nigeria, Ajumogobia assured his counterpart that Nigeria was working towards organising credible elections in 2011.

Acknowledging that there was a rather tight time limit for the next general elections, he gave the assurance that the Federal Government was on the right track. According to him, “We are working to meet international benchmarks for free elections in Nigeria. This we have done through the new electoral laws which right the wrongs of the past and the appointment of a new INEC headed by a man of integrity.”

After his meeting with Clinton, Ajumogobia was scheduled to meet US Under-Secretary Maria Otero and US National Security Adviser, Gen. James Jones.

At a separate event organised by the council on Foreign Relations in Washington D.C on Wednesday, Ajumogobia and Nigeria’s Ambassador to the US, Dr. Ade Adefuye, had deplored attacks on the nation’s image.

The gathering was made up of top US government officials, retired envoys such as Ambassador Princeton Lyman and some US business leaders.

The minister was the guest speaker at the influential CFR’s diplomatic and public forum, where he also asked the US government to help “us in countering some of these destructive negative stereotypes.”

Ajumogobia, whose speech was titled, “Challenges and Prospects: Perception and Reality of Nigeria at 50,” said, “The unconstructive and prejudicial negative portrayals, images and generalisations of the country that are syndicated through global media networks and by journalists with new stories to tell totally ignore the progress that the country has made, against all odds.”

Referring to a book by titled, Africa Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, written by Richard Bowen, he said the chapter on Nigeria was “the most scathing indictment of my country.”

Ajumogobia noted that after Bowden had cast Nigeria in a bad light, it was surprising that he concluded that “Lagos survives, it pulsates, it grows, it works… and so does Nigeria.”

Adefuye described the author’s account about Nigeria as “selective and self-serving.” He noted that Bowden was like a social scientist that put his own thesis forward first and then proceeded to seek empirical data to fit into his preconceived notions about Nigeria.

Adefuye noted that people like Bowden failed to accurately note the fact that Nigeria had been taking care of about 70 per cent of the funding of the Economic Community of West African States for many years. He added that Nigeria had also been providing technical aid to several countries under the Technical Aid Corps for about 20 years.