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What Goodluck Jonathan Can Tell the 66th United Nations General Assembly By Sonala Olumhense

Why is it that Nigeria’s leaders, once out of office, win no international honours?
In 2007, for instance, Mr. Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique, won the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.   It earned him $5,000,000 over 10 years, to be followed by an annual stipend of $200,000.

Why is it that Nigeria’s leaders, once out of office, win no international honours?

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In 2007, for instance, Mr. Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique, won the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.   It earned him $5,000,000 over 10 years, to be followed by an annual stipend of $200,000.

 

Of greater importance, the awarding committee celebrated him for “bringing peace, reconciliation, stable democracy and economic progress to his country.   It cited his work in leading Mozambique from conflict to peace and democracy, and his contributions to combating HIV/AIDS.

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"The prize celebrates more than just good governance,” said former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who led the committee, “It celebrates leadership…”

This year, the World Food Programe (WFP), honoured Mr. John Kufuor, the former president of Ghana, and Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president of Brazil.  WFP annually recognizes the work of individuals in the area of improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. 

The Programme said that the programmes embraced by both leaders have helped ensure that their countries will exceed the development goal of cutting hunger by half by 2015.

On the issue of development, Mr. da Silva, who led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, is credited with prosecuting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in his country and leading as many as 20 million people out of poverty.  When he left office last December, his approval rating was about 80 percent.  During his tenure, he aggressively used social programs and subsidized housing loans to improve the welfare of poor Brazilians. 

Mr. da Silva’s "Bolsa Família" scheme alone is credited with helping to extricate over 11 million families from extreme poverty.  Under his guidance, the middle class in Brazil grew by nearly 30 percent. 

It is no surprise he has enjoyed the adulation of much of the world, including the WFP honour, since his departure from office.

When Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan takes the podium at the 66th United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, I hope he is inspired by men such as Mr. da Silva, Mr. Kuffour, and Mr. Chissano.

He may also wish to keep his eyes on a number: 2015.

2015 is when his mandate as President of Nigeria expires. 

2015 is also when the MDGs, development targets which all Member States of the United Nations agreed to work hard to achieve, will mature.

The dates are a coincidence, of course.  But it is one that Mr. Jonathan can convert to historic effect for himself and his country.  Regrettably, Nigeria has not paid generous attention to the MDGs, and our failure is expected to become official at about the same time as Mr. Jonathan is leaving office.

But he can change all that in the next four years, and make those development targets the fulcrum of Nigeria’s turnaround. If “transformation” is what Jonathan truly seeks, transformation is what the MDGs truly are, and Nigeria can focus on them and enjoy amazing results ahead of the so-called Vision 202020.   Some countries actually call MDGs “Minimum” goals.

At the General Assembly, I would not be surprised if Mr. Jonathan does not breathe one word about the MDGs, except, maybe, to claim that things “will be done.” That is how Nigerian rulers speak.  They do not speak about substantive, demonstrable achievements, often because propaganda speaks louder than honesty.  That is how we got here.

It is almost certain that he will talk about the election that brought him to office, which segments of the international community praised as “successful.” 

They were certainly an improvement on the elections that brought his predecessors to power, but because of that, I consider them the most dangerous elections in Nigeria’s history. 

Here is why: Because of what was seen as a success last April, nobody has looked under the rug.  Under that rug remains our stillborn electoral reform that was supposed to be undertaken under the widely-praised report of the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee, which Mr. Jonathan sent to the National Assembly early last year. 

The truth is that we have had no real electoral reform; changing the leadership of an agency does not constitute “reform.”  And unless Nigeria returns to that reform mode and implements the recommended structural and administrative changes, she will not have institutionalized election management, and our future elections will be worse than the worst elections we have known. 
The hurdle in the implementation of the Uwais report is, in a sense, Mr. Jonathan himself.  Had he not opted to run in the race he was supervising, he might have identified the wisdom in seeing the report fully implemented.  With the electoral commission thought to have done the impossible last April, although nobody is being held responsible for widespread registration and electoral manipulation, that process has been ominously abandoned. 

This week, therefore, if Mr. Jonathan is tempted to talk to the United Nations about our elections, I urge him to recommit to implementing the report without delay, as that is the only way to prepare the electoral commission for credible elections in the future.

If Jonathan speaks about elections, I think he will find it difficult to avoid convenient references to “good governance.” 

But he would be doing that paint job in front of people who have watched him pay only lip service to good governance.  Early last year, he was in Washington DC declaring his love affair with good governance; he returned to the country during the 65th General Assembly and continued the same song. 

When he mounts the pulpit this week, he will be speaking to people who know he has offered nothing substantive so far.   They will all know, for instance, that despite his statements of faith, he has refused to declare his assets. 

Let’s not delude ourselves: Unless Jonathan declares his assets before his appearance at the General Assembly, he will be seen by the leadership of the world, in the media capital of the world, as a political hypocrite. 

No leader can pronounce honestly about good governance or democracy unless he is standing on the tall tree of personal example.  So far, Jonathan’s failure to declare his assets has been the single most eloquent feature on the map of his administration. 

When you refuse to declare your assets, everyone believes you are hiding something.   You send out a very awkward message. 

Now, can the MDGs succeed in Nigeria?  There is no reason why not, but they cannot succeed when the leadership has an ambiguous agenda.

For Nigeria, the material resources to prosecute the MDGs have not been lacking; it is the political will that is missing.  Although we only have four years left, with the right attitude, Nigeria can still achieve most of them. 

The Conditional Grants Scheme, which was instituted in 2007, is said to be providing a lot of support for the implementation of the Goals at the local and state levels.   But exactly what have they achieved, and where are they active?  What is happening at the federal level?  Are MDG funds going into the MDGs? 

Nigeria gives the impression that the MDGs are unimportant; that there is no urgency in pulling our people out of poverty and ignorance, combating disease, or saving women from maternal mortality. 

That is not strange: government in Nigeria is often perceived as anything but public service.  Our rulers preach from written speeches, but there is no eloquence in their hearts.

And yet there is evidence that those leaders who truly serve their peoples without ambiguity live in the heart of mankind and the pages of history.  Everywhere, they are remembered, honoured and welcomed long after they have left office.

That remains a place in the sun that riches cannot buy. 
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