A. I didn?t see the BBC report but I heard about it, I did see the CNN report, I want to proceed by saying that in my personal capacity and in my capacity as the minister of information and national orientation, that we vehemently reject this attempt by the international media to profile Nigeria and to profile Nigerians as a criminal country, and a criminally minded people. But in saying this, I?m not saying that we do not have social challenges back home, but Nigeria is not the only country in the world with social challenges. We have made very strong representation to the US embassy in Nigeria; I have also made very strong representations to CNN International. Local Nigerian media have also risen up in arms against these international media, likewise many other Nigerians who have protested in various forms.
Q. You sound very angry, how does that make you feel as an individual being that we have been suffering from such negative reports since our independence despite the socio-economic reforms going on in Nigeria?
A. I feel very sad, very sad especially because the things they refer to are not peculiar to Nigeria. In my response to CNN, I did remind them that Nigerians were not the ones that ran down companies like Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen and many of such failed corporations. Also Nigerians were not part of the Whitewater scandal which was perpetrated by criminally minded Americans. In the interest of objectivity, they should profile these Americans as well, who are their countrymen that have carried out these massive frauds which had serious implications for global finance and economy. One does get the feeling that such reports are conscious efforts to malign our people, and to create the impression that we are less human. We reject such negative reports completely.
Q. You?ve made representations to the media concerned, are there also high level contacts between the Nigerian government and the governments of these countries aimed at getting these governments to try to influence their home media to desist from future negative and biased reporting of Nigeria and her people?
A. The truth is that you already know what the answer will be, I have not yet received a formal response from the US embassy in Nigeria, and although I?ve been away but maybe by the time I?m back in Nigeria I may receive the response. But I feel that they may probably say that these are private media agencies and therefore are free to do what they want to do, and so therein lies the dilemma, for me it is a profound example of the power of the media when it is deployed positively or negatively. The government therefore will have to double its efforts to develop our own media systems so as to contain the CNNs and BBCs. This is the only way we can tell our own story. CNN treats news relating to America more positively and sensitively because of American national interests; therefore the local Nigerian media should do the same. We have to tell our own story.
Q. This raises the issue of press freedom in Nigeria in the light of recent reports of the arrest and release of an AIT journalist by the State Security Service (SSS). Here you are propagating for Africans to develop their own media systems to challenge the international media but sometimes, those that have attempted do get knocks from the government.
A. I salute enterprise, I salute vision and also respect freedom of expression and the rest of them, however every individual and corporate organisation is expected to be responsible and to play within the rules. In that wise, I do not believe that state security should be compromised in the name of freedom of speech, I believe that lack of respect for law and order is the bane of our society. In the western world, people seat nice and cosy in comfortable environments, this is because there is a conscious effort by all, the citizens and the government to obey and observe these laws. Ours should not be any different.
Q. Your project which you are passionate about (the heart of Africa project) is something that if well managed can help forestall such negative reports about Nigeria in the western media. What role do you think Nigerian diasporas can play, how can they be a part of the project and what would you want them to do?
A. First of all, I must warn that although we have this image project going on, but it is not peculiar to Nigeria, there are few countries in the world today that are implementing one image project or the other. I must also warn that the issue of the management of the image of Nigeria is not a destination; it is an ongoing process, more like a journey. With the HOA project, we are trying to tell our story more positively, to re-orientate our people and get them to have self- belief and to dissociate and disengage themselves from attitudes and tendencies which have the potentials of eroding our national image. So whether it is Nigerians back home or in the diaspora, we all have a collective responsibility to watch the kind of things we do, to be responsible, to respect the laws of the country in which we live, to ensure that we earn an honest living and to ensure that we do not ?bad mouth? our country, because indeed part of the problem we have is that a lot of Nigerians do not see anything good in their country, and I think that such Nigerians are challenging God, and you know how religious our people are, nobody wants to be told that he or she is challenging God, challenging God in the context of the fact that you are asking God why you were created in Nigeria, and if we believe that God is an omnipotent and omniscience God, then it means you are challenging his decisions. If He thought you should have been created in America, you would have been born in America, what it then means is that there is a burden of citizenship on you, if you believe your country is not the way it should be, what I expect you to do is to try and do things to effect changes in the country. The burden is on you ? the Nigerian. The Chinese built China, The Indians are building India, Britain was built by Britons, America was built by Americans, and so Nigeria has to be built by Nigerians.
Q. So in effect, you are saying that criticisms against the government should be constructive
A. Absolutely, it has to be constructive otherwise you come across as an iconoclast, it looks like you have some axe to grind with somebody, and so you don?t see anything good. If you are saying something is not right, you must at the same time say this is the way I believe it should be done, and show some proof that it is workable.
Q. You are currently taking the Heart of Africa message around the world, Israel was
your latest stop, how was the outing out there?
A. It was wonderful, I was excited, but let me correct you there, I went to Israel at the invitation of the Nigerian Ambassador to Israel, Dr George Mazu and his wife, apart from my presence and the presence of some of my staff, we did not really play an active role, because it was the initiative of the Nigerian High Commission. What they did basically was that for two days, they hired this 500-capacity theatre and in the two days we were there, the theatre was always filled to capacity, we told Israelis about Nollywood, we tried to sell our country through our local film industry, some Nollywood stars were there too, the Israelis were happy to see them in person, we had cultural dances, Nigerian fashion shows, we also had Nigerian food on display which people were happy to taste.
Q. So it was more about facilitating contacts and relationships with non-Nigerians
A. Yes, and telling people who we are. I believe that Nigerians are one of the most resourceful people in the world, we are very intelligent, we are warm hearted, skilled and talented. The Israelis were astonished because the things they saw on display from Nigeria could as well have been from Hollywood, they marvelled that things like these could actually come out of Nigeria, that?s the story we want to go out there, that despite the challenges, Nigerians are honest people and have the skills and talents to compete against the best in the world. I believe strongly that many more of our embassies and missions should be attempting to do what our embassy in Israel did.
Q. If you qualify the Israeli event as a success, is that something you would want to see replicated in other Nigerian embassies around the world?
A. Absolutely, it is something that I believe that they should do, because it is very consistent with what we are trying to do back home. To be honest, whats the essence of a foreign mission if they can?t do such things? For me, Dr Mazu has justified his appointment as Nigeria?s representative to Israel. He has also shown very clearly that he understands his brief, I believe that the contacts that were made there would advance Nigeria?s cause. For instance right at the event, people were proposing to take the event?s concept to California and other locations, they were very keen.
Q. What are your immediate plans for the UK, are you planning a similar event here with the High Commission anytime soon?
A. Yes, we hope to have a formal launch of the Heart of Africa project sometime in August, we?ve been meeting to that respect, and our expectation is that the UK event should be as good if not better than the Israeli event.
Q. How do you expect Nigerians living in the UK to be part of the HOA project?
A. We are going to be communicating formally with them, however, we don?t want to come to the Uk to tell the Nigerian story to Nigerians, our interst mainly is to tell our story to foreigners, Britons and non-Britons in the UK. My message to Nigerians however is to believe in themselves, we are the best in the world, wherever we?ve had the opportunity to compete, we?ve often dusted our rivals and excelled. So, I believe that Nigerians must remain positive and proud of our country, just like foreigners flocked to our country in the 70s, we are going to have them back again.
Q. Lets talk about 2007, the third term issue is over now, can you tell Nigerians the extent of your involvement, and were you in support of it?
A. There was nothing like third term, and if I knew the issue would come up at this interview, I would have come with the draft bill of the proposed constitutional amendment. The entire exercise was the outcome of a constitutional review and it is pertinent to reiterate how we got to the point where the national assembly discontinued the debate. Just before the 1999 elections, there were calls from civil society, NGOs and individuals for elections to be put off pending the formal review of the 1999 constitution, the reason being that the constitution was crafted by the military, the feeling was that Nigerians should now craft their own constitution, but of course wise counsel prevailed and the elections were held. Shortly after that, the Conference of National Political Parties of Nigeria (CNPP) made a similar call, they met severally and identified areas in the constitution that needed to be looked into. Academics, civil rights activists did the same, ultimately the national assembly whose constitutional right it is to make laws for our country including constitutional amendments when necessary looked at the document and felt strongly there was a need to progress the suggestions forward and ultimately set up a committee according to their procedures and practices. The committee did that, the political reform conference looked at the document too, and came up with a report which they subjected to public hearing and debate. The populace made some input, from which 116 issues from the 1999 constitution were identified as requiring review and amendment. These proposed amendments cut across many issues such as citizenship rights, state creation, local government financial autonomy, full autonomy and independence for INEC, the national assembly and so on. These were issues that would have changed the cause of our political history.
Q. So why did the issue of President Obasanjo?s tenure elongation overshadow the other equally important issues in the draft bill?
A. It was not just tenure elongation for President Obasanjo; it was part of the constitutional review, unless you are saying that after Obasanjo there would not be any other president in Nigeria. It was not just for President Obasanjo, it was about our country, the issues must be put in perspective. The phrase third term was a brilliant piece of propaganda by detractors, it was very dishonourable in that it was misinformative, misrepresentative, malicious, wicked and most dishonourable because it reduced all 116 important issues to just one phrase.
Q. So would you say that anti-progressives won, because they were able to reduce all 116 issues to just one issue, also could it be that the government did not really get across to Nigerians and the members of the national assembly to explain what the core issues were?
A. Unfortunately there was a lot of misinformation out there, a lot of it. But that?s democracy for you, because no matter what you and I felt, the burden was still on the national assembly to either pass the amendments or not. That was democracy at work. I am a democrat and the president is a democrat, his statement afterwards showed that much, and his actions show that much. He respects the will of the people and also has respect for the national assembly. He clearly and fully understands the concept of separation of powers, and he is not one to interfere in the duties and in the powers vested in any arm of government, he is a statesman.
Q. I don?t want to speculate and thrive in rumours but Nigerians in the diaspora read reports concerning the attempts by the government to bribe lawmakers to pass the bill, probably like you mentioned , this may be all down to misinformation, we heard that lots of money were changing hands in Abuja, what do you say about that?
A. The truth of the matter is that no such thing happened; it was a product of the rumour mills and grapevine. The president remains committed to the anti-corruption crusade, and has not left anybody in doubt about that.
Q. Nigerians have always complained that previous governments didn?t give younger people opportunities in government. It is on record that president Obasanjo has given a whole lot of young people like you an opportunity. Do you think that this is a trend that will continue, and also do you think that you have represented your generation very well in the government?
A. Frankly, the latter part of that question is something that you will have to decide yourself, I don?t know what your impressions of my performance as a minister are but I want to say that I have deep respect for the Mr President for giving us the opportunity. Therein again lies also the illogicality of the argument of opposition politicians. If Mr President had no faith in the younger generation, if he did not believe in succession, if he didn?t think he should plan for the future, I do not think that some of us would have had the opportunity. I don?t think that Oby Ezekwesili would have been known, likewise El-Rufai, Prof. Soludo. Osita Ogbu, Nuhu Ribadu, Ngozi Okonji-Iweala and so on.
I remember meeting the president of the Israeli senate and they were asking ?are you sure he is Nigeria?s minister of information?? this is because they are quite used to meeting much older politicians and cabinet ministers. The president has had faith in us, he has supported us, and he has empowered us, such that there couldn?t be a more profound example and proof of his faith in the future of our country. He believes that the future belongs to young people. Surely this is a trend that should be continued. With every sense of modesty, I believe that the younger people in cabinet have discharged their duties honourably.
Q. Your ministerial responsibilities would end with President Obasanjo?s government in 2007, what are your plans? Are you contesting for any elective position?
A. I don?t intend to run for any political office, I?m also not planning to retire to the farm in the village. I hope to return to the Kennedy school in America and complete my PhD in the next 1-2 years, and afterwards become a teacher.
Q. Thanks for your time and good luck with The Heart of Africa project
A. Thank you too.
Click here for the audio version of this interview.
Uche Nworah, a lecturer and brand scholar lives in London. [email protected]
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