    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 35 (Monday, September 4, 2000)]
    [Pages 1954-1955]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks at a State Dinner Hosted by President Obasanjo of Nigeria in
    Abuja

    August 26, 2000

        President Obasanjo, to the President of Niger, to the distinguished
    leaders of the legislative and judicial branches of the Nigerian
    Government, and all our friends from Nigeria who are here, I believe I
    can speak for the entire American delegation when I say thank you all
    for an unforgettable day.
        And on a very personal basis, I want to thank you for enabling me to
    say something no previous American President has been able to say: It is
    good to be back in Africa for the second time.
        I will say, Mr. President, I was very moved by your generous
    remarks, and I was very glad to have a Nigerian name. [Laughter] But
    now, you will have to give me a copy of your remarks so that when we go
    out tomorrow, I can introduce myself properly to the people of your
    country. [Laughter]
        Mr. President, it's a great honor for all of us to be here. I wish
    that my wife could come, and your remarks indicated you understand why
    she could not. But I am grateful for her interest in Africa as well, and
    especially in the Vital Voices program that so many Nigerian women have
    been a part of.
        We meet at a pivotal moment in your history. The long-deferred
    dreams of your people finally can and must be realized. I spoke about it
    in detail to the members of the Senate and House today. I will only
    repeat that it is a daunting challenge, requiring both rigorous effort
    and realistic patience.
        Nigeria is poised to do great things for its own people and for
    Africa's democratic destiny. We in the United States have long known
    Nigeria as an economic partner and an important supplier of energy. But
    now, more than ever, we and others throughout the world will know and
    honor Nigeria for its greatest energy resource, the people of this great
    nation.
        We have come to appreciate it in many ways: the musical genius of
    King Sunny Ade; the brilliant writing of Chinua Achebe; and your Nobel
    laureate Wole Soyinka. We also think rather highly of the basketball
    feats of Hakeem Olajuwon. And we're coming more and more to appreciate
    the football brilliance of the Super Eagles. Indeed, every 4 years a
    growing number of people in the United States actually cheer for the
    Super Eagles in the World Cup. After all, the eagle is America's
    national bird, too. [Laughter] And more importantly, tens of thousands
    of Nigerians work and study in the United States, and we are honored to
    have them.
        I was quite interested, Mr. President, in the presentation before
    your remarks showing all the similarities between you and me. I would
    also like a copy of that. [Laughter] I don't know if I could persuade
    people back home with a case without all that evidence.
        For all our differences, even in a larger sense, we are not so
    different after all. Our Capital--Washington, DC--like yours here, was
    created as a compromise between North and South. Though I must say, ours
    took much longer to become a respectable city. And as I saw today when I
    addressed your legislative branch, your Government, like ours, often
    displays what might charitably be called a creative tension between its
    different branches. [Laughter] Finally, our greatest

    [[Page 1955]]

    strength, like yours, comes from the fact that we are many peoples
    striving to work as one.
        Mr. President, the hope we celebrate this evening owes much to you,
    for you have twice answered the call to restore civilian government. The
    United States will stand by a nation, any nation, and especially
    Nigeria, that faces its responsibility as bravely as the people of this
    nation have in the last few years.
        We outlined today our commitments, and we will keep them, to help
    you economically, educationally, in the struggles against AIDS and other
    public health problems and the struggle to rebuild your infrastructure
    in our common cause to restore peace in Sierra Leone and to support
    Nigeria as a leader for peace throughout the continent. And we look
    forward to fulfilling those commitments.
        I listened again to the case you made tonight, a case that I also
    heard from your legislative leaders this afternoon and first in our
    meeting this morning and, of course even earlier when you and I first
    met. I will do my best to help Nigeria succeed economically. You must do
    so.
        When Nigeria became independent in late 1960, almost 40 years ago
    now, the American people were also quite happy, because it was a time of
    great hope for us at home and around the world. We felt it in the new
    beginnings of President Kennedy's election and the progress of the civil
    rights struggle in our own country and with the crumbling of colonialism
    here and around the world.
        We were proud that some of your early independence leaders, like
    Nnamdi Azikiwe, studied in America. In 1959 this is what he told an
    American audience. He said, ``We struggle toward the same ultimate
    objective: to revive the stature of man so that man's inhumanity to man
    shall cease. Your success shall be our success, and your failure shall
    be our failure.''
        Since he said those words to Americans, there have been great
    achievements and profound setbacks in both our nations. But those words
    are as true today as they were when they were spoken. And today, we have
    the best chance since the early 1960's to make them come true.
        And so tonight Mr. President and all our distinguished Nigerian
    friends, let me repeat your hero's words back to you: Now and forever,
    your success shall be our success.
        I ask you to join me in a toast to the President of Nigeria and to
    the people of Nigeria, to the success of the democratic experiment here,
    to the friendship between our peoples, and to our common commitment to
    seize the future together.

    [At this point, the President offered a toast.]

     Note:  The President spoke at approximately 8:30 p.m. at the
    International Conference Center. In his remarks, he referred to
    President Mamadou Tandja of Niger. The transcript released by the Office
    of the Press Secretary also included the remarks of President Olusegun
    Obasanjo. A tape was not available for verification of the content of
    these remarks.