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I am particularly delighted to welcome you all to the inauguration of our Forum for Democracy and Good Governance, the first of its kind in the history of legislature and indeed the history of democracy in Nigeria. The formation of this Forum is informed by the need to strengthen democracy and reposition the legislature to play the role of check and balance so that Nigeria can, for once, attain the high standards of good governance that it deserves. Nigeria’s experience with democracy since independence has been fraught with astounding difficulties to say the least. We have spent the most part of our 43 years of independence under dictatorship, during which our resources were squandered, our growth stunted and many of our aspirations as a people, thwarted. Our peers, who though much less endowed, like Malaysia and Brazil but lucky to have had sustained democracy and sufficient freedom to allow full reins to their creativity, are today, doing very well and have achieved for their peoples standard of living close to that in the developed world of Europe and the United States of America. Malaysia for example, is today the largest producer and exporter of computer semiconductors and moving swiftly to the cutting edge of technology. Malaysia has been able to attract massive foreign direct investments from an array of companies generating employments as well as revenue for their economy. Companies producing semiconductor in Malaysia include Advance Micro Systems, Hitachi, Intel, Motorola, National Semiconductor, Hewlett Packard, NEC, Philips, SGS-Thomson and Texas Instruments. It is disturbing to note that at a time when the growth of nations is anchored on information technology, we are still among the least literate countries in the world. Brazil is another example, which despite its problems, has shot well ahead of us. In 1966, we established a defence industry of similar capacity, with similar targets. While Brazil has since been producing and exporting military hardware including fighter jets, ours until very recently was producing only furniture. India is yet another country, the mention of which, until recently, evokes image of poverty. Today India is associated with high tech development. India’s export of IT software alone amounted to $7.8 billion more than our total annual earning from oil. For India this represents only 24% of its export earning. Even in Africa, there are examples of the linkage between democracy and development. Mauritius, a small island of 1.2million sugar cane growers, shifted focus from traditional industries of sugar, textile and tourism into IT and duty- free zones and today is described as one of the strongest economies in Africa with 6% annual growth, GDP of $4.5bn and per capita income of $3,800. I could go on and on but this is not the place nor the time to elaborate. I have only alluded to these to show what difference freedom, equity, accountability and transparency, which is the essence of democracy, could do. It is important that we appreciate how much we have lost to dictatorship. It is also important we appreciate that democracy and good governance are key to development in any human society today. This is even more so in the near future as the world, is becoming increasingly competitive. Without democracy and good governance we may not even survive, much less thrive. Even countries like China are gradually appreciating the need to open up and move towards democracy in order to survive and thrive in a world that is asking for more exacting standards of freedom, liberty, prudence and sense of responsibility. The NEPAD initiative for example hinges primarily upon our ability to peer review each other so that we can attain higher standards of probity, transparency, freedom and equity and rule of law. These will make any assistance, both meaningful and useful. Our hope for debt reduction or cancellation, which is critical for any economic and social development also hinges on this ability to display a more prudent management of our resource through better accountability and transparency. These are only some of the many considerations that informed some of us in the House of Representative to consider ways of securing and strengthening our democracy. Soon after our inauguration, legislators of like minds started discussing ways to secure democracy, deepen its roots and see to the delivery of its dividends to the people who have voted us. While the process of consultation was going on events in the country were strengthening our conviction. The Anambra crisis for example, brought to the fore some of the challenges facing democracy in this country. These threats to democracy only encouraged us to proceed. We consulted widely and took time to develop our objectives. They include the following: 1. To work together with like-minded legislators from across the country and the political divide in order to promote the independence and effectiveness of the legislature. 2. To assist in developing the skill, efficiency, effectiveness and resourcefulness of members of the House of Representatives for the discharge of their constitutional role. 3. To create harmonious working conditions and relationship between the three arms of government, i.e the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary, in such a way as will enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and independence of all the arms of government. 4. To work with Civil Society Organisations to promote and protect values and fulfill the overall objectives of the Forum. 5. To assist members set up functional offices in their constituencies, fitted with information technology and other modern office equipment. 6. To work to strengthen and promote the independence and effectiveness of other democratic institutions in Nigeria. 7. To work towards ensuring that legislation affecting the rights and freedoms of Nigerians are in compliance wit universal Human Rights standards. Our idea of good governance is a gradual but consistent and unfailing drive towards transparency, accountability, recourse to rule of law, and best practices. We believe that the legislature through its oversight function and through legislation has a critical role to play in ensuring that the standards of good governance is attained and sustained. Our resolve alone may not be sufficient, legislators need to improve on their capacity and boost their resource base to be in a position to achieve these objectives. In building our capacity and equipping ourselves we shall count on numerous NGOs and institutions that are prepared to promote democracy and good governance. We hardly need to add that the world is much safer with democracy and good governance for the alternative can only breed such norms and cultures that will continue to threaten world security. We expect to collaborate and work closely with all democratic forces and institutions in and outside the country in the realization of these objectives. As Edmund Burke would say, “the only thing necessary for the success of evil is for good men to do nothing.” In pursuing these objectives we intend to use the legitimate process and procedures of the House. Issues discussed at the Forum will be shared widely among our colleagues and where we take a position on issues, these positions will be pursued through relevant committees of the House and debated on the floor and supported with rational arguments. We are aware that what we are embarking on what is new in the experience of the Nigerian legislature. But this is not new in many other legislatures around the world, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. While we shall use the experience of these countries, we shall tailor our own modus operandi to fit in with our peculiarities as well as our immediate goals. By the very nature of this enterprise, this Forum is multi party, multi ethnic, multi-religious and cuts cross all the states of the federation. This diversity I hasten to add, is very important. For, the essence of the Forum is not to promote partisan positions but to promote cross-party consensus on the principles of democracy and governance. In other words, to promote freedom, liberty, rule of law, accountability and equity in our polity. We are not unaware of the fact that some people will read meanings into this enterprise. We are aware that some will insinuate all manner of motives. Some enemies of democracy or people who have not been able to adjust to democracy and will be more comfortable with dictatorship, may feel threatened as they fear that they may not continue to have their way. But we cannot be distracted or allow anti-democratic forces to dictate the pace or set standards for us, we will do that for them. Let me assure all those skeptics that we shall run an open forum where any legislator who shares our objectives would rather be welcome to freely participate in our work. May I at this stage, also assure the leadership of the legislature and of particularly the political parties herein, that we are not positioning ourselves as a parallel leadership in the House. The real story about this Forum is not to challenge the various strata of leadership of the House nor are we on a quest for power. We are simply a band of men of women who want to influence issues we care about – to promote democracy, nurture it, protect it and ensure the observance of its tenants for the common good of this country. We are not, and we must not underestimate the challenge our new Forum for Democracy and Good Governance is going to face. Some will get unnecessarily frightened, some will sit on the fence to watch how things will play out and indeed some, few though they may be, will stick out their necks. This is life. History has shown that the development of human society has always been led by the efforts of the few who take the initiatives. History has also shown that even an army cannot defeat an idea whose time has come. “The tree of liberty”, it has been said, “requires eternal vigilance”. The sixty or so members who have signed up believe that we must keep vigil, so as to secure this liberty, which is so essential to our development as a nation. We believe we must stick out our necks so that this country can come out of the woods. We believe we must make the necessary sacrifice for this potentially great country to be great for once. We welcome you once again and we thank you for listening. |
