[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.