[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 35 (Monday, September 4, 2000)]
[Pages 1959-1964]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to Business Leaders in Abuja

August 27, 2000

    Thank you. Thank you very, very much. I am delighted to be here. I 
want to thank Mr. Moorman and Mr. Ndanusa and Reverend Jackson for their 
remarks. I want to thank the First Lady of Nigeria for joining us today. 
Thank you very much. I thank the members of the American delegation who 
have joined me from the United States Congress, from local government, 
the leaders of our Export-Import Bank and our AID operations, and many 
others. They're all over here to my right, and they are a part of what 
we are trying to do. And I thank the members of the Nigerian and 
American business communities for being here.
    As is usually the case when I get up to speak, everything which 
needs to be said today has already been said by the previous speakers--
[laughter]--and I might add, said very well. I would just like to talk a 
moment about the American response and what I hope will be the Nigerian 
response.
    After working so long to restore democracy and, in a way, to 
genuinely have it for the first time, there must be a dividend to 
democracy for the people of Nigeria. Now, what will the role of trade 
and investment be in that dividend? What will the role of the explosion 
in information technology be and communications on the Internet be? How 
will this totally new world change what Nigeria has been through in the 
last 30 to 40 years? And what things depend entirely on what the 
Nigerian people and business leaders decide to do themselves?
    From the 1970's to the 1990's, developing countries that chose 
growth through trade grew at least twice as fast as those that were not 
open to the world. Nonetheless, there are clearly new challenges. What 
does all this mean for you? That is what I would like to talk very 
briefly about--first, what you have to do; secondly, what we have to do.
    It really is a very different world now. For more than 100 years, 
we've been moving toward more global trade, but the information 
revolution has changed everything. In 1993, in January, when I became 
the President of the United States, there were, in total in the whole 
world, only 50--50--sites on the World Wide Web. Today, there are 20 
million or so and rising--in 7\1/2\ years.
    Even when we were having increases in trade, they were due largely 
to old, traditional sorts of things. You had oil; somebody else needed 
oil and didn't have it, so you would take it out of the ground and sell 
it to them, and they would send you the money. And the geographic facts 
dictated that. Or, you made beautiful cloth or pottery, and you sold it 
to somebody near you who made something else, and they sold that to you.
    Now, if you have ideas and imagination, the information technology 
has virtually collapsed the meaning of distance, and it's made the human 
mind and ideas even more important than riches in the ground. So what 
does that mean? What does it mean for you? What does it mean for us?
    Well, first of all, government policy still matters. So your 
government, any government of any nation that wants to grow wealthier, 
has to have the basics right--managing the economy well, keeping the 
markets open, establishing the rule of law, creating a good climate for 
investment--Reverend Jackson talked about that; President Obasanjo knows 
all that.
    Look at the record. Nigeria has turned a fiscal deficit into a 
surplus. Its growth is up, and it is moving to cut tariffs. I also hope 
it will follow through with planned economic reforms, including some 
privatization that will encourage some investment from abroad and at 
home, and improve services for Nigerian citizens.
    Now, if Nigeria does its part, then Nigeria's trading partners and 
the wealthier countries of the world, especially, must do their part, as 
well. You are America's important

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partner, and we are your largest trading partner. So we have a special 
responsibility to act. I'm glad to announce today that we are making 
your exports eligible for duty-free treatment under our GSP program. 
[Applause] Thank you. Now, what does this mean?
    Let me say something about this. I want all of you to--in spite of 
the fact that nearly everything has been said that needs to be said, 
here's one thing that hasn't been said. Along with the political tragedy 
of the last 20 years, you have had a colossal economic tragedy. You 
pumped a lot of oil out of the ground, got a lot of money for it, and 
somebody besides the people got the benefit of it. But let me just say 
this--looking forward, that's only one part of the tragedy. That's the 
real significance of what I said about duty-free treatment. In other 
words, if no one had stolen any money, if no one had kept too much to 
himself, you could still be in trouble if you didn't use the oil money 
to get into some business other than oil. That's the main point I want 
to make to you.
    So it's important--yes, I know you have to look at the past and you 
have to have accountability and all that. But let's not get too carried 
away about the impact of the past on the future. You have got to not 
only make sure that the money coming from the oil benefits the people; 
you've got to invest some of that money in a way that broadens the 
nature of the Nigerian economy if you really want people to get richer.
    You've got to rebuild the agricultural sector. You've got to broaden 
the manufacturing sector. You can actually have dot-com companies in 
Nigeria. You can make money off the Internet here, just like people do 
everywhere. And there needs to be a lot of thought given to how you're 
going to diversify the economy. I hope the fact that you can sell us 
things now without paying imports will make it more competitive and that 
we can help.
    Our Export-Import Bank--and I mentioned Mr. Harmon earlier, who's 
here--is signing--listen to this--$1.2 billion in loan guarantees today. 
Our Trade and Development Agency is beginning a feasibility study that 
could generate projects worth hundreds of millions more.
    We also signed the Africa growth and opportunity bill earlier, and 
every Member of Congress over here voted for it, and I'm grateful to 
them for doing that. That will provide even broader benefits than our 
GSP program for countries that are eligible. When we fully implement the 
Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, Africa will have the most liberal 
access to America's market of any region in the world outside North 
America. I am very, very proud of that.
    Now, so I will say again, we're committed to doing our part. But we 
have to reverse the practice that went along with the absence of 
democracy, not only because a lot of the oil money went to the wrong 
hands, but it wasn't reinvested. You could go around and just hand money 
out to everybody in Nigeria and be just as fair and equal as possible, 
and it still would all be gone in a month or two. We have got to 
diversify this economy.
    Now, what does that mean? It means, among other things, you have to 
rebuild your infrastructure as well as a lot of your basic industries. 
Half of the people don't have access to clean water. It means that you 
have to broaden access to education; your school enrollment levels need 
to be made more nearly universal. It means you have to dramatically 
broaden access to information technology; only 9,000 people have direct 
access to the Internet.
    Let me tell you a story. I was in India, where the per capita income 
is not much higher than Nigeria, in one of the poorest states in the 
entire nation, in a little village not so very different from the lovely 
little village I visited here this morning. [Laughter] You know? And the 
ladies of the village were in their Indian costumes, and they were very 
beautiful, and they danced. The only difference was, there they threw 
petals of flowers all over me, and they buried me in a mound of flowers. 
It was nice. [Laughter]
    But anyway, I went in to meet with the local government, and I was 
stunned. In this very old building that was not in very good repair, I 
was stunned to see this brand new computer. And I met a lady who lived 
in the village who had been trained to use the computer. And I saw a 
young mother come in and get on the computer, and she dialed in

[[Page 1961]]

the information for the nation's health department. And up it came, in 
two languages, Hindu and English, with pictures of what young mothers 
should do to care properly for their babies for the first 6 months. It 
was just as good as anything the wealthiest woman in Washington, DC, 
could get from the most expensive doctor. And she punched a little 
button, and the printer printed it out, and she took the information 
home. And because there were so many pictures, even if you couldn't read 
very well, you could understand what you were supposed to do.
    I went to another state in India, and every citizen could get a 
license for a car or any other kind of government permit over the 
Internet at common stations in all their cities, so that people learn to 
use the Internet who never would have learned to use it before just so 
they didn't have to go stand in line at a government office.
    The point I'm trying to make here is, it's not true that poor people 
in poor countries can't make their lives better or make more money out 
of information technology or can't have access to better education. It 
is not true. You should look at this as an opportunity to move faster by 
maybe 10, 20, 30 years than you could have moved otherwise with your 
economic development. But you've got to spread it out. You've got to do 
what is now called--you have to bridge the digital divide. And we have 
to help you do that.
    Now, I agree that we should help you with the debt burden, as long 
as you are going to spend the savings of the debt burden on the real 
human and economic long-term needs of the people of Nigeria. So, after 
all--and I think Nigeria has a compelling case because it was a very 
different government that ran up those debts, with very different 
priorities, so I think you've got a compelling case. But again, debt 
relief is just like oil money. You think about it. You could take it and 
go give it out to everybody, and in 2 or 3 months it would all be gone. 
[Laughter]
    Your President has promised the whole world, as well as the people 
of Nigeria, he's going to stay on the path of economic reform. And if 
that happens, I believe that we will be able to persuade our partners 
among the other wealthy nations that we ought to move more aggressively 
to help alleviate Nigeria's debt service programs. I believe that. 
[Applause]
    You don't have to clap for me. I'm not running for anything anymore. 
I'm not a candidate. You can totally ignore me. [Laughter] But keep in 
mind, if we take the burden off the government of having to make these 
debt service payments, then you must support the President and you must 
support your legislators, anybody with any influence over how this is 
done, to spend the money in a way that will grow the economy and 
strengthen the society of Nigeria over the long run.
    It is not--yes, everything must be honest and fair, but it's not 
just a question of being honest and fair. It's also a question of being 
smart about how this money is invested so that you are growing the 
economy over the long run in ways that benefit all the people. We have 
got to broaden the base of this economy.
    Now, it has to be done. And you have got to support your President. 
And you have to be willing, as business people, to stand up and say when 
somebody says, ``Well, why are we spending this on health care? Why are 
we spending this on education? Why are we spending this on clean water? 
Why are we spending this on a road in another part of the country?''--
I'll hear that; I know about that--[laughter]--``Why are we building 
those roads in the other part of the country,'' all this stuff--the only 
test you should have is, if they do this, are we going to have healthier 
children, better educated young people, and a stronger economy and a 
better prospect for a more diverse economy over the future? That should 
be your test. And if the answer to those questions is, yes, you should 
support it.
    So we have to do that. We also have to work together to keep 
infectious diseases from taking away your democratic dreams and your 
dreams of recovery. We just did an event on this whole issue, but one in 
four people in the world today who die every year, die from infectious 
diseases, in spite of all the advances in medicine. An enormous 
percentage of these people are under 5 years of age. AIDS threatens to 
lower the life expectancy of some African countries by 20 to

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30 years. There will be countries on this continent within a few years 
who will have more people in their sixties than people in their 
thirties.
    Now, you're going to have a million people die this year of malaria. 
Most of them could be saved by being less careless, taking precautions. 
And AIDS is 100 percent preventable.
    Yes, we are spending a lot of money now, and I'm very proud of my 
Congress, the Republicans and the Democrats in our Congress, for voting 
to put the United States in the lead of developing a global effort for 
an AIDS vaccine, because that's the ultimate answer. And we're going to 
spend a lot of money on that. I think we should spend more money to give 
you the drugs that are available today at more affordable prices, and 
I'm trying to raise a lot of money from drug companies and others, and 
I'm trying to get the Congress to give the drug companies in our country 
a tax cut to make more of these drugs available to you at a lower cost. 
We're trying to do that.
    But we have got to have your help in prevention. Nobody has to get 
AIDS. But it's difficult, painful--as I said at the other meeting--it's 
slightly embarrassing, even, to have to talk about how you get the 
disease and how you stop it. But it's not nearly as painful as watching 
another child die who doesn't have to die. And I applaud the fact that 
your President and your Government are trying to get ahead of this.
    Yes, there are 3 million Nigerians who have HIV or AIDS, and that's 
a terrible number, but it's nothing compared to the consuming numbers 
that are gripping other countries. And the fact that you are doing so 
much in an aggressive way on prevention is something that I hope 
everyone in this room will strongly support the President on and 
strongly keep working for, because otherwise, it can take away all these 
economic things that we're doing, and you have to be very serious about 
it.
    We need to work to invest more in education. We are helping to 
establish some community resource centers in every region of Nigeria 
that will provide Internet access and training to students and teachers 
and small businesses, so that we can have more Nigerians gain access to 
information technology. And we will try to do more, too.
    But you should try to think about anyone in the world you can ask to 
help you do more. You can't do what you want to do with this economy 
quickly with only 9,000 people with Internet access. You need 9 million 
people with Internet access, and you can do it in no time, and we'll 
help you. But you all should understand, it collapses time and distance; 
that's what the Internet does. And you need someone to help you collapse 
time and distance.
    Finally, one other issue here that I wanted to mention. You don't 
have enough people in school. And one of the things we're trying to do--
I've put up $300 million, and I'm going around the world pleading with 
other rich countries to give us some money, to offer a worldwide program 
to any country who will take us up on it--and President Obasanjo said 
he's very interested--to provide one nutritious meal a day in school for 
every child that will show up for school.
    Now, I'm convinced if we did that, we would dramatically increase 
school enrollment among girls as well as boys, where it's very, very 
important. We don't want to upset local agricultural economies; we have 
to work with them. We know we have delivery difficulties. This is not a 
miracle program, but we are committed to it. And I'm grateful that the 
President said he was interested in having a pilot program here. But 
again I will say, I think you've got a big interest in getting all your 
children in school. And it will pay rich dividends for your economy, as 
well as having fewer social problems, fewer public health problems.
    Now, the last thing I will say is that it really is important that 
there be an alliance between the Government and the people of Nigeria 
and the business interests that are investing in Nigeria, including 
those that are from other countries. I want more American investment in 
Nigeria--let me just say this--but I want it to be good old-fashioned, 
honest investment that benefits everybody who's willing to work for a 
living. And I want us to be good partners to this good new democracy you 
have.
    I think the American companies will do that. We are creating a new 
position in our

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Embassy to work with the Nigerian Government, with the oil companies, 
with local communities to promote democratic and economic development in 
the Niger Delta. I think that's good.
    This September the United Nations Foundation and several oil 
companies are going to launch the New Nigeria Foundation, to be 
administered jointly by the U.N. Development Programme and the U.S. 
organization Citizens International to help Nigeria create jobs by 
diversifying the economy, providing health care, fighting illiteracy, 
supporting small business. It's the first public/private partnership of 
its kind within the United Nations system dedicated to the well-being 
now of Nigeria's people. And I thank the U.N. and the oil companies that 
are funding it. This is a very, very important step.
    I will just close with this point--and I want to thank all the 
Americans who are here and those who have been doing business here a 
long time and those who are thinking about investing here. The President 
and the First Lady and my daughter and I and Reverend Jackson, a lot of 
the Americans, went to church this morning at the First Baptist Church 
here. And the minister gave a good sermon, even for people who aren't 
Christians. He talked about the story in the Christian New Testament of 
the Good Samaritan. And many of you maybe know the story, but basically, 
there's a poor guy that gets beaten up and robbed on the side of the 
road and left for dead. And a priest of the church then, in Judea and 
Samaria, sees him and averts his eyes and walks on. And then a man from 
a very prominent tribe sees him and diverts his eyes and he walks on.
    And then the Samaritan, who came from a sort of outcast people, 
people who were looked down on, thought to be alien and not friendly to 
the dominant peoples of the area, he saw him, went over to him, 
ministered to his wounds, made him better, took him to a local inn, 
asked the innkeeper to take the man in, paid money out of his own 
pocket, and said, ``I want you to let him stay here until he's well 
enough to go, and the next time I'm through town, if I owe you more 
money, I'll pay you.'' Quite a wonderful story.
    Now, here's what the preacher said. I mean, what's this got to do 
with you, you're asking. I'm getting to that. [Laughter] So the minister 
says, ``Now, there are three kinds of people in this story. The first 
kind says, `Whatever is yours is mine if I can take it away from you.' 
That's the person that beat up the poor man. The second kind of person 
says, `Whatever is mine is mine if I can just keep it.' That's the 
priest and the man from the fancy tribe who turned their eyes away and 
walked away. And the third kind of person says, `Whatever is mine is 
yours if you need it.' That was the Samaritan.''
    Now, the point I want to make to you is, from a religious point of 
view, whatever your faith, the third kind of person is the only sort of 
person worth being. But from a political and economic point of view, 
there's a fourth sort of person I want you to be. [Laughter] I want you 
to think about this.
    We live in a world which is overwhelmingly more interdependent. A 
bunch of people in Nigeria get malaria, and they have to travel for a 
living--they're going to give it to Americans in airports. Think about 
it. People are now giving people AIDS all over the world. And yet good 
things are happening, too, in partnerships all over the world.
    Therefore, if I want every child in America to have a future 20, 30, 
40 years from now, that will be as bright as possible, I should do 
something to help every child in Nigeria have a future that is as bright 
as possible, because it's actually good for the American kids. If you 
have more people making more money by selling products to Americans, 
it's good for us because then we'll be able to sell you some things.
    So the Good Samaritan story is right for another reason. It's not 
just whatever is mine is yours if you need it, but if I give you a 
little of mine now, I'll get it back many times over--[laughter]--
because this old world is like a boat in a sea, and sometimes the sea is 
stormy, and sometimes the sea is calm; sometimes the winds blow with us, 
and sometimes the winds blow against us; sometimes one of us is the 
captain of the ship, and then three or four decades later somebody else 
may be the captain of the ship. You can say all of that, but when it's 
all said and done, no matter what, we're all still in the same boat.

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    I believe that. That's really why I'm here. And that's why I want 
you to support the President, to support economic reform. I want the 
Americans to put more money in here. But I hope you will remember what I 
said.
    Fairness is important, and honesty's important. But you have a 
country to rebuild here. So it's also important that you do the 
intelligent thing, and that we think about the Good Samaritan and 
realize that in the end, the Good Samaritan was better off. He got a lot 
more out of life than the priest and the other guy that walked by. Why? 
Because in the end, we're all in the same boat. So let's sail.
    Thank you very much.

 Note:  The President spoke at 5:50 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the 
Sheraton Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to President Olusegun 
Obasanjo of Nigeria and his wife, Stella; Edward L. Moorman, director 
general, General Motors Nigeria Limited; Alhaji U. Ndanusa, president, 
Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and 
Agriculture; U.S. Special Envoy to Africa Rev. Jesse Jackson; and Iraael 
Ikanji, minister, First Baptist Church in Abuja.