I have returned to Abuja yet, to speak once again, on this infinite subject and process commonly called democracy but uncommonly appreciated and applied. I have returned to Abuja, to this path where it all began: where I raised the crucial question whether the Press had indeed properly directed the national inquiry and the evaluation of our journey on this wide and tortuous road. Indeed, for the sake of convenience of expression and reference, we have agreed to describe ours as nascent democracy. I have again returned to the safety of the City of the Protecting Rocks in whose shadows we had dared to re-define the focus of the inquiry and the flow of the debate, mid-May, last year. I am once again in the solemn company of the great men and women of the pen and tube, who labour to inform the flock.

Let me quickly emphasis that whereas I strongly appreciate and indeed eulogise the capabilities of our men and women of the pen and tube, I will continue to drive it home that editors and controllers tend to forget the historic duty they have assumed and so have taken much for granted, much to our risk in this enterprise of making a new nation. My thanks must also go to all the wonderful people who have formed the esteemed audience in these hallowed chambers where Nigeria has hosted its most esteemed guests.

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, your project, Rediscover Nigeria is indeed a challenge, not just to a democratic participant like Chimaroke Nnamani, but a confirmation of the dominance of the absurdities which altered our national dream and which illustrated our marked departure from the known track on which great nations were born and nurtured.

In three remarkable years of democracy and with so much to show of conscious as well as unconscious drive at remaking a nation, I feel proud to stand before you to talk about a return to order, a return to new values, a return to new hope and a hope for tomorrow for our children. I am gladdened that we are operating on a terrain of political plurality and debate with the attendant freedom to pursue that which is sanctioned in law but on whose stead we gain the satisfaction that we can always bare our mind and seen to have contributed to the debate and the issues. In addition, nothing could be more heart warming than the fact that we who are gathered here, even particularly men of the high table, believe strongly in the representative tradition which compels leadership to pursue that which appeals to followership – democracy. Both the men (or in this case, the man) who husbanded and a prime factor in the team that took the ball, have gathered here today to say that we shall be led but we shall be represented in the truest sense – democracy.

I see democracy as a means and I see democracy also as an end in an unusual cycle where the means and the end are constantly working to impact one upon the other. As a means I see the great opportunities which democracy provides for the state and the individual to attain peace and prosperity. I see the great space, which the individual is allowed to optimize his individualism and actualize himself. I see a process, which operates to guarantee the greatness of the state in the guarantee of the personal liberties and aspirations of the individual within the state in an atmosphere of negotiated co-existence – that is constant debate.

As an end I constantly remind myself that democracy cannot simply be about discussions of political space; that democracy cannot merely be about debates about personal liberty and freedom; that democracy cannot simply be about opportunity for discussions and negotiations. I remind myself that democracy is largely about the welfare of the individual and group, in tangible and ordinary terms. I remind myself that the uneducated and the impatient who cannot endure these exalted moments of intellectualism must nevertheless be able to feel and experience and appreciate democracy. I have always sought, not merely to understand and explain democracy in contradistinction to military mis-rule, but, more importantly, to understand and explain democracy by reference to its measurable impact on the welfare and quality of life of the people. Have we not sought to create the parallel between the rewards of commercial investment and the dividends of democracy?

Democracy therefore cannot be merely for its sake. I have frequently listened to the debates about the real essence of democracy as just freedom and equality under the rule of law. But in reality, can we have freedom and equality under the law in a society where access to the means of basic existence is largely uneven? Or can we by merely chanting the mantra of democracy – centred only on the refrain for freedom and equality - usher in a condition of even access to the means of basic existence? Isn’t the capacity of the individual to negotiate within the democratic space dependent on his ability to secure a platform within the available space? Or can we by simply singing the refrain of democracy guarantee the individual a platform within this democratic space?

Our people inaugurated the return to constitutional democracy after one and half decades of military dictatorship. The new dawn had been with fanfare fired by great expectations as the political class stoked this fire with promises of instant resolution of all the problems. But were these promises informed by a proper understanding of the issues, or were they spurred by the selfish motivation of the political class to reinforce its legitimate claim on the arena of power?

Given the apparent feeling of agitation in the country today, I repeat the questions: Were all the issues properly explained? Were all the issues properly understood? My verdict has always been that all the issues were not explained at inception. And if all the issues were not explained, they may very well have never been fully understood. Perhaps, had we explained all the issues at inception, the apparent feeling of agitation in the country today would have been mellowed?

And I attempt to pose and answer the question: How should we have explained the issues? On a more analytical level, it would seem that we over-defined the self-propelling power of democracy. It would seem that we did not try to connect the process of democracy with the desired results of democracy. And so, we failed to ask and address the question: Can the fundamental structure of our society engender such democratic process as would deliver the desired results - instant a? We did not raise and resolve the more pointed question: How far could democracy serve its end, with a measure of immediacy, in an environment of widespread poverty and criminal material disempowerment?

But in spite of these limitations as well as conceptual and fundamental difficulties, it would be unfair for the judges to pass a harsh judgment on the entire political class and on our democratic experience so far. And I speak with much confidence about the efforts of the Federal Government and about our efforts in Enugu State.

I will build my argument on the recent proclamation of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN). It attested to the point that the Federal Government’s economic policies have resulted in increased capacity utilization, which in turn will result in new phases of growth and development.

For us, we saw in democracy a means for continuously building and sustaining an environment that aimed to provide better living conditions for the individual as well as peace and stability in the society. For us, we aimed to create an environment that would promote and foster investment, growth and overall development. For us, we saw the current challenges of the current dispensation as those of wealth creation and poverty alleviation.

We have remained conscious of the fact that the real anchor for democracy can only be found in the empowerment of the individual to take independent decisions in matters affecting self and society, and to freely and openly express such decision without fear of mortal or material peril to self or family. For us, the challenges of democracy in the Nigeria of 1999 and the Nigeria of the current decade must necessarily differ from the challenges of democracy in countries with different historical, economic and social fundamentals. The ends of democracy must necessarily be appreciated and defined by reference to history and in the context of a particular society, that is in total agreement with the splitting of the world into emerging democracies and advanced democracies.

Certainly - in the case of Enugu State and most likely in that of the Federal government – this new enterprise had been largely approached as the gradual institution of a social order which places primacy on the separation of powers among the three arms of government; the reinvigoration of the institutions of the State coupled with the entrenchment of the rule of law, as well as, impersonal authority coupled with due process which inevitably pave the way for the release of the hitherto bottled-up creative energies of the various segments of the population. In consequence, there is a stimulation of a wide range of activities in the economic sphere.

I am aware that we have yet to emerge from the recent political past in which the superstructure was too powerful for the structure and which provided for every segment of the society to wait, cap-in-hand, to be spoon-fed by the bloated institution of governance. Even conscious of that, I have always viewed democracy as the platform for the enthronement of not just the plurality of views and options but an extension of the platform for seeking the actualization of man and the group. I have been further convinced in this by the evidence of bi-lateral and multi-lateral incursions into the social as well as economic arena of states on whose terrain democracy has taken roots.

We are living witnesses to the giant stride already recorded by the economies of a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which blazed the trail in embracing the model of democracy. The South African economy is no doubt a well known case, what with its singular capacity to stimulate foreign direct investment equivalent to approximately 60 percent of Africa’s gross total. In other areas, overall industrial output is up by 10 percent vis-à-vis the immediate post-apartheid period; aviation traffic and earnings have doubled at a time a host of previously viable African airlines and national carriers are mired in distress.

Less well known, perhaps, are the dramatic achievements thus far by the previously near-banana cases such as Ghana, Mali and Senegal in West Africa in addition to Uganda in East Africa. Ghana’s unremitting economic woes, for example, barely began to show signs of let up with the transition from dictatorship to a multi-party democracy. This vital transition provided the necessary stimulus for the leap flogging of an economy in death throes to the path of recovery. The former Gold Coast has since become a sure destination for foreign investment, while major international organizations, United Nations agencies and donor organizations found in the country a veritable haven. By some projections, it is estimated that Ghana’s economy over the past five years has been driven in large measure by funds issuing from a number of these bilateral and multi-lateral agencies as well as non-governmental organizations (NGO). The annual cumulative amount that this entails can hardly be underestimated.

If Ghana’s case speaks for itself, Senegal stands out as a bold advertisement for democracy in all its ramifications. It has to be said that for nearly two decades now the country has managed to hold out as an oasis of hope in a famished continent. Without a strong industrial base or a viable solid minerals sector, Senegal has had to rely on the wide acceptability of its democratic traditions within the international community as a basis for attracting generous aids, grants and tourism revenue.

Growth is looking up; GDP is well above the African average, while per capita income effectively positions her as a middle-income country. A second-generation democracy such as Mali has similarly followed in this tradition. Ditto for Uganda.

I find in the examples cited above a veritable source of optimism and enduring hope for our dear country, Nigeria, with a chequered history of democratic struggle. While the prevailing outlines – huge market, natural resources, human capital – appear to be highly favourable, it is rather the case (and it is naturally expected) that the ongoing democratic experiment has been long on promise of economic revival, but (again expectedly) slow on actual delivery. Unfortunately, we, particularly propelled by high and unrealistic expectation framework shaped by the mass media, appear to have believed that those social and economic indices, which served other democratising polities so well, cannot seem to replicate similar positive results here.

Without searching too far for answers to the emerging jigsaw, I wish to recommend a closer scrutiny of the peculiar internal characteristics of the domestic environment that invariably pre-dispose the national economy as being non-competitive on a global scale. The rot and advanced stage of atrophy in which social infrastructure and public utilities find themselves are lamentable, to say the least.

The question can therefore be posed in these two-pronged ways: How much longer will the country wait to appreciate its peculiar environment so as to have a proper expectation framework and how much longer will the citizenry have to wait before it begins to reap the benefits of economic progress commensurate with their democratic environment?

By way of historical overview, we may take a look at a certain pre-military-incursion social and political setting which gave the hint that the success of democracy is not far from us and is indeed embedded in our previous planning. The Government of Eastern Nigeria, under the able leadership of the Michael Okpara generation, articulated and designed a development plan for the region covering the period 1962 – 1968. I am inspired to use this development plan as a model of democracy-driven commitment in view of its roaring success in propelling the social, politics and economy of Eastern Nigeria to astronomical growth rates.

Today, we are talking about a target of 7% to 10% growth rates to take Africa out of the abyss of poverty by 2010; yet the Eastern Nigeria development plan of 1962 – 1968 at a time achieved a growth rate of 12.5% per annum. I am therefore compelled as a student of history to draw lessons from that success story for the benefit of the present and future generation of Nigerians.

Out of the total planned expenditure of 108,923 million, capital expenditure accounted for 75.2 million, while recurrent expenditure was allocated a total of 33.7 million. Thus, allocation for capital investment represented 69.1% of the total allocation for the period. The only deviation was in education where 21.091 million was set out for recurrent expenditure (largely teachers’ salaries) out of the total sector allocation of £29.896 million. Lesson number two.
In agriculture, the emphasis was on the rapid expansion of tree crops, especially crops with export potentials, namely, oil palm, rubber, cocoa, and cashew nuts. The development of citrus, rice, vegetables and other crops was also envisaged through the Farm Settlement Scheme. There was also a plan to expand animal husbandry, especially poultry keeping. The result in oil palm was instant. Half a decade before Okpara’s plan, the East was importing oil for industries but before the end of his era, the East was exporting oil and palm kernel.

In trade and industry, the emphasis was on the attraction and promotion of private investment through the provision of basic services, well-equipped industrial layouts and estates and staff housing units. Certain businesses were targeted for promotion based on the needs of the region; namely, building and construction materials, manufacturing as well as manufacturing industries, which would replace imported consumer goods. Thus, while the plan targeted export promotion in the short term on agricultural produce where the Region had competitive advantage in the international market, it targeted import substitution in products where it did not feel confident to compete in the international market. As we would see, the preferred option of the then regional overnment was to encourage the private sector to invest in these businesses: the government got involved either as joint venture partners with foreign investors, or as sole investor, apparently only when no private investor was willing to invest in an enterprise, which the generation of leadership considered critical to the growth of the economy.

The democracy-driven regional governments as in the case of Okpara believed in private investment as the engine of growth was demonstrated by his remarks to the visiting American Ambassador to Nigeria at a dinner, which the Premier gave in his honour. Dr. Okpara said: American private businessmen have shown little or no interest in our Development Plan. Go; tell them that we have a conducive investment climate. We run a democratic Government in which there is no fear for any foreign capital invested. We are friendly to all friendly countries. We prefer trade to aid even though we welcome both even from the moon.

Thus, at a time in the 1960s, when most developing countries in the world were fixated on State-owned enterprises and State-run economies, Eastern Nigeria was already running a private-sector led liberal economy, a trend, which would only begin to consume other developing countries 30 – 40 years later. Little wonder the economy of the region was able to outpace other developing economies at the time.

In the transport sector, road development was accorded a high priority. This was so not withstanding the fact that the region almost certainly had the highest density of roads in any part of Africa at that time: approximately 0.47 miles of road per square mile. The plan projected an expenditure of 10.15 million pounds on road development (out of a total sector allocation of 10.2 million). And priority was given to roads, which would open up new industrial and agricultural areas and to the widening and strengthening of existing roads where necessary to take on increased traffic densities.

In the social services sector, the emphasis on the programme in education was on teacher training, the development of technical schools and the provision of scholarships, especially in the fields of science and engineering.

That the plan succeeded is not a subject for debate. But please permit me the luxury of enumerating some of the specific components of the success. In agriculture, existing plantations and abandoned Farm Settlements in several parts of Eastern Nigeria today bear eloquent testimony to the commitment of that democratic government in political leadership to the development of agriculture. Do you know that the only partially functional irrigation dam in the old East remains to the glory of that era? Do you know that by 1965, Eastern Nigeria produced “enough, if not more, eggs and chicken” than the country needed? Do you know that the problem of marketing farmers’ produce led to the establishment of marketing organisations in Eastern Nigeria? That was the Eastern Nigeria Marketing Company.

In the area of trade and industry, the Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout was established, while several manufacturing and leisure businesses were set up in the region, mainly in joint venture with private and foreign investors. Some of these businesses are still in existence today. Let me attempt to mention some of them:

Government Shareholding
– Michelin (Nig.) Ltd. 20%
– Nigersteel Limited 49%
– Apex Limited 50%
– Nigercem Limited (Expansion project) substantial
– Turners Asbestos Limited 20%
– Nigeria Glass Industry Ltd. 100%
– Independence Brewery Ltd. 100%
– Hotel Presidential Ltd. 100%
– Nigergas Company Ltd. 90%
– ENDC Pepsi-Cola Project 100%
– Textile Printers of Nigeria 100%
– Eastern Enamelware Ltd. 20%
– Modern Ceramic Ind. Ltd. 100%
– Aba Textile Mill Ltd. 30%
– Zenith Plastics Ind. Ltd. 20%
– Sunray flour Mill Ltd. 50%
– Williams & Williams Ltd. 50%

In addition to the above major businesses, government’s policy thrust in the industrial sector led to the establishment of several small and medium scale manufacturing businesses in the region. I am almost certain that many of us do not know and may not have cared a bit how some of today’s flourishing concerns came to be and what roles their fore fathers played in their birth.

In the area of road development, I will only repeat the verdict of Sam Uba, a correspondent of the Drum Magazine, in his article entitled "Inside Okpara’s East", which was published after the correspondent’s tour of Eastern Nigeria in October 1965:

The most striking achievement of the Okpara administration has been road construction. The roads and highways of the Region are second to none in the Federation; all the major towns and centers of population and trade are linked with first-class tarred roads.

The same strides were also recorded in other areas such as water supply, rural electrification, basic health services and education.

Let me make one point in the area of education. What I have observed from my study of the democracy-driven development programmes of Eastern Nigeria is the fact that the government of the day did not ride on the crest of free education which in turn did not affect the ability of the region to raise a well educated workforce, which by the outbreak of the civil war in 1967 could boast an army of world class scientists and engineers. What the region practised was what it could afford at the time and which was also consistent with its development plan, namely, the selective encouragement of science and technology education.

Let me quickly make the point that the plan succeeded because it was well articulated, designed and people-based. It was simple, focused and targeted. It was realistic and not necessarily populist. The plan also succeeded because it was pursued with sincere commitment not only by the political class, but also by the people who had faith both in the programme and in the architects of the plan.

Against this backdrop, I view this democracy as the commencement of the journey to rediscover Nigeria, not on the point of any wishful thinking but on the stead of building on previously established infrastructure as well as initiating ones, which will create a society and leadership steeped in the famed principles of social contract. I look at our situation this way because, in the recent past, leadership, particularly that of military dictatorship had failed to appreciate the texture of governance, which sustains on proper perpetuation of the people and their environment.

In then appreciating that situation, we defined our targets in Enugu State at inauguration on 29 May 1999 in full realization of the historical imperatives of the fundamental conditions of our society and our people? Then I had made a commitment to our people that the challenge of the new administration was to work to ensure the optimum operation of public institutions and public utilities necessary to enable wealth creation and distribution on an equitable basis in order to reduce poverty and ensure improved conditions of living for our people.

In that respect, we had then defined the focus of our administration as the rehabilitation and expansion of public infrastructure, the provision of free and qualitative basic education up to junior secondary school level, the provision of a safe and enabling environment for a private sector led economic expansion programme. We had consequently defined governance as a partnership between the public sector, the private sector and other development agents, especially our international development partners. In defining and designing our programmes, we were minded by the overriding urgency to protect democracy in Nigeria by demonstrating to our people the superiority of democracy over military rule, not in terms of rhetoric, but in delivering better living conditions within the shortest possible.

We have since then adopted an overall strategy, which has enabled us to move quickly to deliver tangible and easily ascertainable results in physical development and wealth creation for the individual. We have also taken concrete steps to signal reform in key sectors to make our public service more responsive to the needs of our people by delivering (and not obstructing) service, while working gradually to build real capacity and engender popular interest and understanding necessary to sustain the pace of development and more far-reaching reforms as we moved along on a sustainable basis. We have also gained the support and assistance of local and international development partners in key areas of our programme.

Today, I will therefore be looking at investment, growth and development in the context of our democratic experience from two perspectives: investment, growth and development as a cause on the one hand and investment, growth and development as an effect on the other hand – the former relating to public sector related activities and the latter relating to individual and private sector related activities. And I have been challenged by the topic of this lecture to use Enugu State as a poster.

We have invested in our people by spending massively in basic health care delivery and basic education. The people must be healthy and they must possess minimum knowledge and skills to engage in wealth production. Today in Enugu State we have created 54 health districts, with a special corps of doctors, who are specially motivated to live and work in the rural areas, for the purpose of effective primary health care delivery. Each of these districts is designed to comprise a cottage hospital and a collection of health centers. To date over 30 of these cottage hospitals have been built or completed under the World Bank assisted Health System Fund Programme. We have also planned to develop a specialist general hospital in every senatorial zone in the state, including the Medical College of Enugu, State University of Science and Technology.

I must state nevertheless that while we have not pursued the specialist hospital programme for every senatorial zone as we had intended as a result of resource constraints, we have successfully upgraded the Park Lane General Hospital to specialist status, now accredited to undertake specialist training for doctors. But we hope that we would be able to meet our target in this sector as soon as the delayed Phase II of the Health System Fund Programme eventually takes off. We are however delighted to add that Enugu State recently received a letter of commendation for meeting the World Health Organisation budgetary and expenditure ratio for health care delivery in relation to other public expenditure items. We are also working in partnership with the Federal Government, international development agencies and civil society to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

In Enugu, we are also currently working with the Department for International Development (DFID), of the United Kingdom, which is the overseas development agency of the British Government to design ways and means of supporting and reinforcing our existing reform efforts aimed at improving capacity not only in the public sector but also among the civil society to be able to ensure optimum delivery of public services and overall good governance. This programme, which is planned to last over seven years, is intended to be a major investment in our people that would ensure not only the immediate delivery of democracy dividends, but also more importantly the delivery of these dividends on a demand driven and sustainable basis. I am confident that the public service, which has supported us so far in this journey, will be the greatest beneficiary of this programme in terms of direct investment in human capital development.

We have also invested in physical infrastructure, where our greatest investments have been in road reconstruction and expansion. We have continued to pursue aggressively the Enugu State ring road project, which is a nearly circular road network designed to connect all Local Government Headquarters in the State. The affected roads include the Opi – Nsukka road, the Obollo Afor – Enugu Ezike – Nsukka road, the Ozalla Agbani – nara – Nkerefi road, the Agbani – Akpugo road, the Eha-Amufu – Ikem – Ugwugo-Nike road, the Oji River – Achi - Awgu road, the Awgu – Ndeaboh – Mpu – Okpanku – Nenwe road, the Ugwuoba – Oji road, the Aguobu-Owa – Umumba – Ugwuoba road, the Udi – Ozalla road and the Ameke Ngwo – Eke – Ebe– Egede – Affa – Akpakwume Nze – Aku road. While work has been completed on most of these roads, the drop in statutory revenues has hampered progress in some of the roads. But we still stand firm on our promise to pursue work on these roads in the months ahead.

Out of 50 towns, which fell within the first phase of our rural electrification programme, we have so far completed work in Ituku, Ozalla, Amodu, Isu, Ugwuaji, Akpugo, Ebe, Amalla, Iheakpu-Awka, Nara, Ugbawka, Ihe-Agbogugu, Umueze, Amuri, Ekwegbe, Umuida. The second phase of the programme is targeted to provide electricity in over 100 communities in Enugu State.

Still on rural development, we have invested in rural water supply. We have completed and commissioned water schemes in Okpo, Olido, Ozalla-Ezimo, Amodu and Nwere Inyi among others. We are also, with the support of the UNICEF, sinking several boreholes in guinea worm infested areas of Aninri, Nkanu East and Isi-Uzo Local Government Areas of the state. Our greatest legacy in the rural water sub-sector would lie in the effective implementation of the Enugu State Rural Water and Sanitation Agency Law of 2001, which aims to give the local people greater participation in the management of rural water schemes.

Our rural infrastructure development programme is part of our economic empowerment programme for our rural dwellers. We are currently designing a comprehensive Rural Livelihoods programme with the DFID in consultation with all the stakeholders, the adoption and implementation of which will result in a dramatic transformation of the economy of our rural communities in Enugu State. This programme, which is being facilitated by our Community Development Coordination Council project, has reinforced the power of the logic of our involvement of the rural people in the articulation, ownership and implementation of rural-based programmes. The World Bank assisted Local Empowerment and Enviromental Management Programme (LEEMP), which is due to take off in Enugu State in October this year (among other selected pilot states in the country) is also aimed at the economic empowerment of our rural people. We had sought out these donor-assisted programmes, not only because of our interest in the economic well-being of our people, but also as a matter of our conviction that the economic empowerment that would come with improved living conditions would liberate our rural people and afford them the independence to play a real part in the democratic process. Democracy will only be protected and promoted by the rural people if they see in it, not merely the unending promise and hope of utopian rhetoric, but rather the real and palpable experience of improved economic conditions.

But we have not limited our efforts to rural development. We have so far improved water supply and distribution in Enugu and Nsukka urban areas. Admittedly, the level of water supply and distribution in these urban areas do not reflect the scope of our ambition. But it is hoped that with the completion of the Oji water project to which the Federal Government is contributing N1.8bn, water supply and distribution in Enugu metropolis would improve dramatically. We are also working on ways and means to make the State Water Corporation more efficient as well as exploring avenues of involving the private sector in the urban water sector in Enugu State. Our reform initiatives in this sector have been boosted by the selection of Enugu State as one of the few pilot states for the new World Bank assisted urban water sector reform programme. We have also improved the condition of urban roads in both Enugu and Nsukka.

While our investment in rural infrastructure has boosted our programme for rural economic growth and development, our investment in urban infrastructure has also complemented our aggressive investment promotion and overall economic expansion programme.

Today, formerly moribund state-owned enterprises have sprung back to life on the basis of partnership between the State Government and credible industry leading firms. Today, Sunrise Flour Mills, Nigergas Company Limited, Protea Hotel Nike Lake Resort, and Hotel Presidential Enugu are clear testimonies to our commitment to a private sector led economic growth model. In addition to the numerous small and medium scale business that have sprung up in the past months, at least 4 major business and investments have come into Enugu State – Heineken International, Guinness, Limca and 7-Up Bottling Co. We are confident that our investment promotion efforts will continue to attract other big businesses and investments to Enugu State.

My assessment is that we have spent the past 3 years dealing largely with an emergency situation in the area of social and physical infrastructure; a situation, which we reasoned must first be arrested and reversed to provide an environment for real development. And with our modest success so far, we are encouraged to adjust our programmes and to aim higher. Today, we can begin to dream about a modern economy driven by the greatest assets of our people – knowledge, our entrepreneurial spirit, our peaceful and beautiful environment and our hospitable disposition.

I have sounded rather optimistic about Nigeria at a time when people are worried about the future of the country. There is widespread criticism against the current dispensation across all tiers of government. There is the unnecessary tension, which is being generated about the 2003 elections. There is an unusual resurgence of ethnic jingoism in our national politics. Yet I sound upbeat.

As I said on a different occasion, I sound upbeat because Nigerians have begun to address the real issues in an open and frank manner. These are the issues of how to preserve the unity of the country and how a responsible government should run. The Supreme Court recently delivered two landmark judgments on ‘resource control’ and federalism, thus seeking to hold the balance the Federal Government and State Governments. No one is talking about disintegration; Nigerians can no longer suffer an irresponsible government as we had done in the past decade and more. We now have a lively press, which attempts, in spite of its limitations, to bring all the issues up for national debate. More importantly, my experiment in Enugu State has confirmed to me that Nigeria responds positively to proper treatment.

As we strive to advance the cause of democracy in Nigeria, we must continue to keep in mind that a major task in this enterprise at this time is the true economic empowerment of our people. We must therefore, with a sense of urgency, continue to invest in and promote those programmes and structures that will bring about wealth creation, poverty alleviation and economic emancipation of the bulk of the people. It is only when the people are economically liberated that the notion of freedom and liberty and the free expression of will at elections associated with democracy would have meaning.

As I once argued, it is because the bulk of our people are not economically liberated; it is because the livelihood of the bulk of our people is somewhat tied to the ‘charitable dispositions’ of the minority elite in our society that some characters who had at several times plundered our national patrimony and debauched our communal values have now swamped the political landscape purporting to offer alternatives. They are masters of the dependent society they had created; and so they believe in the vulnerability of the masses, whose conscience and votes they boast can only be bought and sold.

Let me end on the optimistic note that 2003 is no more than the description of a date, which merely sets a standard for, and compels, better governance in the sense that any player who desires to remain relevant in 2003 and beyond must creditably acquit himself. 2003 will also compel an explanation from all those who had at one time or another usurped and abused the common trust of the people. Only those who cannot stand up to this rigorous inquiry are stoking the embers of national panic. There is, indeed, no need to rattle Nigerians. We shall move on with our nation getting stronger by the day, and on that note we have rediscovered Nigeria and for which we say with some immense thanks: