[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.