While President Barack Obama’s strong worded speech during his just concluded one-day trip to Ghana hinged more on the need for home grown solutions to the region’s many problems, it nevertheless established widely held views of a rounded snub of countries like Nigeria that are failing to make progress on governance.
Speaking at the Ghananian parliament in Accra, Mr. Obama patted Ghana’s back in his less than 30 minutes speech, remarking at every point on the country’s great potentials to shape the course of global economy, politics and culture. Ghana’s successful back -to-back elections drew praises and applause from Mr. Obama, who noted that these endeavours were helping to plant an enduring democratic culture in the region for good.
“The people of Ghana have worked hard to put democracy on a firmer footing, with peaceful transfers of power even in the wake of closely contested elections. And with improved governance and an emerging civil society, Ghana’s economy has shown impressive rates of growth,” Mr. Obama stressed.
Contrastively, the American president found a soft role for Nigeria in his speech with respect to the fight against malaria, and he saluted the collaborative inter-faith effort of Christians and Muslims.
However, a veiled message seemed unmistakeably directed at the Nigeria as he alluded to the problem of corruption. His speech is sure to pinch a nerve in Abuja where a European Union funded report was released on Thursday, 9th July, slamming the current administration for negative progress in the anti-corruption war.
Mr. Obama’s take on the issue was brusque: “No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or the head of the port authority is corrupt,” he said in a pricking reference to the problem of elite corruption in the country, and apparently as a pointer to the ongoing trial of the former leadership of the country’s ports authority.
Nigeria’s anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is currently prosecuting Olabode George, the former chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) board, along with five others, on a 68 count charge of corruption which they allegedly carried out between 2001 and 2003.
On May 21, 2009, when Mr. Obama’s itinerary was published by the White House, NEXT reported reactions from leading policy experts following reports of the United States president’s planned visit to Ghana.
“I believe that the advisers of Obama were right in suggesting to him to visit Ghana as a mark of approval of the democratic process in Ghana,” said former Nigerian ambassador to Ethiopia, Segun Olusola.
Darren Kew, a Professor of international dispute resolution and a prominent commentator on Nigerian politics and foreign policy at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, United States, in agreement with Mr. Olusola, said that “the Obama team feels that President Yar’Adua has done little to fight corruption in Nigeria.
“President Yar’Adua will probably not be given the same level of respect as Ghana or South Africa until he earns it by reforming INEC [Nigeria’s electoral body], holding a serious election in 2011, and reinvigorating a credible anti-corruption campaign, beginning with cleaning up his own administration,” he said.
Itse Sagay, a Lagos-based attorney and professor of law, had commented that, “there is no way that Obama will stain his own records by coming to Nigeria,” a theme that Mr. Obama, in his speech, seemed to develop further by suggesting that his accolades for Ghana went beyond their successful elections.
“This is about more than holding elections – it’s also about what happens between them,” he said.
Stressing the need to develop relations in support for ‘responsible individuals and institutions’, Mr. Obama’s resonant declaration focused on themes familiar to many Nigerians via the language of rule of law.
“No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end,” he said.
To end corruption, and many other concerns like conflict, religious bigotry, abuse of women and proper governance, Mr. Obama turned to the next generation of young people saying, “here is what you must know; the world will be what you make of it.
“You have the power to hold your leaders accountable and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, end conflicts and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can. Because in this moment, history is on the move.”