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Joe Garba’s Legacy
Selected
Speeches and Lectures on National Governance, Confronting Apartheid and
Foreign Policy
Joe Garba
remains a well-known and fondly remembered name in Nigeria and
internationally, even ten years after his passing on 1 June 2002. As foreign minister of Nigeria from 1975 to
1979, when Garba spoke, people listened; for he was a highly regarded,
credible, authentic and forceful Nigerian and African voice in foreign policy
matters. He retained that niche until his death.
To mark the tenth anniversary of his passing, Joe
Garba’s daughter, Fatima Nduka-Eze, and erstwhile aides, Oseloka Obaze and
Kamaruden Olatunde, have published some of his selected speeches and lectures
delivered between 1975 and 2002, in a volume aptly titled, Joe
Garba’s Legacy. Garba’s former
boss, General Yakubu Gowon, who wrote the foreword to the book, characterized
the collection as “vintage Joe Garba”.
Joe Garba’s Legacy is
a collection of thirty-two of Garba’s speeches as Nigerian Foreign Minister
and President of the 44th Session of the UN General Assembly; his speeches as
Nigeria’s Permanent Representative and Director-General, National Institute
for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru-Jos, Plateau State. The reader
may find it convenient, that the 32 speeches have been classified by the
editors, according to three determinants: Perspectives on National
Governance, Confronting Apartheid and Perspectives on Foreign Policy. Apart
from the foreword written by Gowon, Nigeria’s former head of state, the book
also contains a detailed prologue, several notable tributes, and the piece, Joe Garba: A Man Before His Time commemorating
the first anniversary of his death, written by Mr. Oseloka Obaze, who was
Garba’s special assistant.
The prologue is a comprehensive
account of Garba’s life as a public servant; but also offers the reader a
personal glimpse of the man that was Joe Garba, written as it was by those
who knew him well. From the prologue, the reader will learn much about
Nigerian politics, she will acquire knowledge of international politics and
policy making from an African perspective; the reader will learn that Joseph
Nanven Garba became the youngest ever Nigerian foreign minister at the age of
32, that he had spent over 3 decades in service to his country counting from
when he joined the Nigerian army as an officer at 22, to when he died at
59. The reader will see from the
prologue that Joe Garba was a voracious reader, a keen student of political
history and a man of deep humility. A soldier, a diplomat, an eloquent
speaker, a prolific writer who authored many books, Joe Garba was
unmistakably, a man of exceptional intelligence. Considered by many to be
last true “vicar” of Nigerian foreign policy, Joe Garba, was unarguably, to
my mind, the most dynamic foreign minister Nigeria has ever had, evidenced by
the abundance of his writings. Coincidentally, as an aside, I was struck to
discover that General Gowon was also 32 when he became head of state. Perhaps
the reader will ponder on the present day disdain for youth in African
politics.
To avoid confusion I acknowledge
from the start, that the preview contains nothing original. Needing no
adornment, I have simply extracted from the speeches, excerpts that I found
particularly irresistible, poignant and relevant. It was challenging to
decide what to include and what to leave out, for though the speeches span
over 4 decades from 1976 to 2002, they all remain remarkably undated and
pertinent.
Gowon writes in his foreword that,
“Joe
Garba’s Legacy is a rich collection of ideas spawned by great
thoughts and desire to promote Nigeria’s image, growth and development. They
are also reflective of his role and service to our country. Joe Garba openly
dreamt for Nigeria’s peace and progress so she could assume her rightful
leadership role in Africa.” Had Garba lived today, he would have been
immensely disappointed to know that the Nigeria and Africa he dreamt of is
still but a dream. Reading Joe Garba’s
Legacy will bring home to the Nigerian and African reader the plight of
Nigeria and the continent; it will make the reader both angry and sad. But it
will also make the African reader proud to be African, particularly if one is
Nigerian and realizes the positive role that country has played in African
politics, particularly in southern Africa. For those readers who have seen
the South African movie District 9
or who know personally the South Africans’ opinions of Nigerians (deserved or
not), feeling proud to be Nigerian is no small feat.
Reading Joe Garba’s Legacy, I
was proud to be Nigerian and pleased to be informed of Nigeria’s significant
role in combating apartheid as well as her immense contributions to the
continent politically, fiscally and otherwise. I jumped and applauded Nigeria when I read in the speech, The
Problem of Southern Africa, delivered
by Garba in his capacity as the Commissioner for External Affairs, during the
31st Regular Session of the General Assembly in New York in 1976, “It
is worth mentioning here what I said at the Security Council a few days ago,
that “we will not accept any dialog with the racist regime of South Africa
without its renouncing the policy of apartheid . . .” In addition, we must
not be diverted from the reality of the situation in South Africa, where
“bantustanization”, the quintessence of apartheid, continues to be
implemented.”
As Garba reiterated, “We shall
never relent until the South African racists appreciate that such abuse of
power, such degradation of human values, cannot stand the test of time. We in
Nigeria are convinced that the genocide being perpetrated by the racist regime
in South Africa, to which some powerful Members of this Assembly continue to
turn a blind eye, cannot solve in perpetuity the basic problems of human
resistance and reaction to suffering.”
Likewise,
in the
speech titled Ian Smith’s Internal Settlement
in Rhodesia, delivered to the UN Security
Council on 10 March 1978, against the backdrop of the Turnhalle Talks and
fraudulent unilateral efforts by the Ian Smith-led apartheid regime in
Rhodesia to co-opt some Africans into a settlement agreement that would fall
short of full independence for the people of Zimbabwe. Garba boldly declared, “We refuse to accept that a simpleton like Smith should
continue to defy the world and be allowed to commit this most heinous
crime, the worst since the United Kingdom turned over power, in political and
material terms, to racist minorities in southern Africa. We still say
categorically, for the umpteenth time, that the United Kingdom, as the
colonial power, has the primary responsibility to end the Smith rebellion. But
it would appear that it has decided, for reasons other than those of
acceptable moral standards and legality, not to discharge its duty in the
matter in accordance with international law and practice and the recorded
decisions of successive British Governments.”
On Southern Africa, Garba was bold
and passionate, but he was even bolder and more passionate on Nigeria and her
development (if this is possible). Comprehending that not often is one proud
to be Nigerian, Garba acknowledged in the speech, Nigeria the Way Forward, A Domestic Agenda for Constituent
Development, “Today being a Nigerian, is almost synonymous with
criminality and corruptibility. As a nation, we do not produce narcotic
drugs, but internationally, one hears of derisive epithets such as the
Nigerian Drug Cartel and of the Nigerian Mafia our circumstances confound us,
and the blame points to degenerating leadership, diminished government and
loss of values. Rather than objectively address the causes of these vices, we
chase mirages. And when accosted, the exculpating refrain often seems to be,
“let him who is not guilty, cast the first stone”. Those who dare, often pay
an agonizing price.”
Pinpointing education as
fundamental to national greatness, Garba stated in the same speech that,
“Every great nation has been propelled by leaders who were once students;
great leaders, erudite scholars have all been students. But, yet, as a
nation, we have wittingly politicized our educational system and in the
process, relegated the care as well as quantitative and qualitative character
of studentship in this nation to the abyss of neglect.” Advanced thinking
even for today, Garba further proclaimed, “Our contemporary educational
system, in spite of being like the nation, thirty-one years old and
independent, is a shameful shadow what it was on the eve of our independence.
The fault is squarely on the doorstep of government; for there is no nation,
no matter how rich, where the control, ownership and finance of education is
the responsibility of government. Time has come for us to admit that
government takeover of schools, was and remains a flawed policy. And that the
guarantee of quality education is neither the preserve nor sole
responsibility of government. Quality education cost money, it is therefore
not a privilege that all can enjoy. The time has come for government to
return to its role of regulation, and allow private entrepreneurs, missions
and states to run the business of education.”
In the same speech, Garba further
explained that democracy would not necessarily result in automatic
accountability and good governance unless the populace insists on it. As
Garba put it, “More questions ought to be asked of those who seek to rule us.
For we cannot merely be content, with this highly flaunted freedom—forgetting
in its wake, that whether we call it freedom or democracy, the political
system we are about to embrace is neither self-motivating nor automatic in
its functionality. It cannot find its own realization, nor can the nation
politically self-actualize, if the operators of the system are not committed
to a national agenda that addresses the needs of the constituency and the
vital questions of national development.”
In Beyond the Transition, What Vision, What Goals, Garba declared
that “the parameters of greatness and the barometer of success with which we
measure our political and development wherewithal has been long broken;
despoiled by our myopic consideration and reluctance to accept that our
national remedy lies not in our self-deceit and being politically
obstreperous, but in our willful acceptance of our limitations and embarking
on the appropriate means of action to remedy them.”
“We covet a leadership role in
Africa. That is all well and good. But then, far lesser endowed nations of
Africa, whom we dubiously use as the yardstick—would have done unquestionably
better than us, were they fortunate to have the resources at our disposal. I
have strained to hear our leadership both past, present and the aspirants
compare us with Indonesia or South Korea. What I hear is a compelling and
resounding silence, because there is no basis for comparison with these two
nations that are our national contemporaries.” “I am loath to dwell on our
past, not because it is not pertinent, but because it is painful and almost
sacrilegious to recall, given what it represents—an utter national
failing—that tends to suggest that this nation is by divine instigation
bereft of purposeful leadership. We neither lack men or women who can be
captains of politics and industry, nor do we lack erudite personalities who
can champion our national ascendancy in education, science and technology.
The limitations we have suffered and continue to suffer, having been a
self-imposed one, can only find its redress in a purposeful leadership, that
is courageous, bold and visionary; a leadership that panders neither to the
whims of the political elite, nor to the dubious exploitation of a projected
emphasis on serving the needs of the minority.”
In The Church as an Enabler, Garba said, “Today, I look at the
Church and I am saddened by the picture before me. I see servants of God, who
have abandoned their flock to worship at the altar of materialism. We have
abandoned the eternal Kingdom to seek with all our might the establishment of
a fleeting earthly Kingdom. We have abandoned the glory of God in pursuit of
our own glory, our own selfish, narrow-minded (I dare say) political
ambition. It is to our collective shame that the detestable word,
‘settlement’, is now being mentioned in reference to the shepherds of God’s
humble flock.”
Speaking on national pride, in the
speech Who is Nigeria’s Best Ambassador,
Garba stated that Nigeria’s best ambassador is that individual who travels
the world and is proud to stand up and say I am a Nigerian. “Today, our image
linked to our declining fortunes has further been bedeviled by growing
problems of drug trafficking, credit card scams, insurance fraud, and other
criminal activities. These are the activities of a few who belong to the
criminal fringe. But the price for such activities are paid, not by these
few, but by millions of Nigerians who can no longer travel the world without
‘let or hindrance,’ and who are perceived as guilty before proven innocent
and are seen as potential criminals for the mere fact that they carry a green
passport that says Federal Republic of Nigeria on its cover. Our fate has
become that of those who must have the sins of a few visited on the many who
are innocent.”
With so much meaty content, I fear
that if I were to go on, the preview will itself turn into a book. Fittingly,
Joe
Garba’s Legacy ends with the speech number 32, Africa: A Time for Hope, Resolve and Change. In this speech,
Garba spoke of two critical factors responsible for Africa’s problems:
unfulfilled aspirations and un-kept promises. The first problem, he said,
arises from failed leadership in Africa. And the second from the extraneous
factors of un-kept promises “from our Western friends and interlocutors.” In
the first instance, those lucky or calculating enough to acquire political
power, soon shut out public opinion and excluded meaningful discourse and
advice. Experience has taught us that in most instances these people are the
least qualified to govern. In the second instance, our Western interlocutors
and erstwhile colonial masters, in their enlightened self-interest have made
promises that they never intended to keep.
“We know all too well what has
been the fate of Liberia and Somalia. The latter was one of America’s staging
grounds in Africa during the Cold War years, and the former, its African
backyard. Somalia especially, typifies yet another promise un-kept, as the
United States, after a brief sojourn there, has all but withdrawn taking
along with it its allies. They have left behind a dangerous political vacuum.
Somalia has now become an inextricable and vexatious African problem that
requires an African solution.
Of Nigeria, he said, “Try as hard
as we may to analyze the many and various factors that led to the aborting of
the political transition in Nigeria, we cannot dismiss the one preeminent
factor: failed leadership. Whether we think of it in terms of military or
civilian leadership, the sad fact is that payoffs and bribes in politics
robbed millions of Nigerians of the opportunity to exercise their
constitutional right to elect a leader of their choice.” “Nobody—I mean
nobody—can applaud the way things have gone in Nigeria since 1985, or General
Abacha’s scrapping of the democratic institutions established at enormous
cost.”
Particularly Joe Garba’s Legacy is
refreshing for not being another apple polishing offering as is the norm from
Nigerians in leadership positions or those seeking such positions, who in
their quest to appear righteous and hold on to power or in their enthusiasm
not to step on toes, (so as not to forfeit the possibility of a turn at the
national cake) have been less than frugal with the truth, with the result
that most of what they have offered (when they have bothered), have been
banal at best and sycophantic at worst.
In this regard, it behooves me to
comment on the intriguing relationship between Garba and Gowon and later
Garba and Abacha. General Gowon tells us in his foreword, that Joe Garba was
his most loyal and gallant officer who served him faithfully as Commander,
Brigade of Guards responsible for his personal security of the head of state,
but for his surprising and unexpected participation in the events of 29 July,
1975 which he subsequently sincerely regretted. While I have no doubt that
Garba repented, on a personal level, his actions against his boss and friend,
by my reading of the speech, The Role of the Military in African
Development: The Nigerian Experience, it appeared to me that Garba, given
the same circumstances, would act in the same way. Clearly, in acting as he
did, he believed that he was putting country before friendship. Further, some
of the more cynical of us, would go as far as to argue that perhaps Garba
saved Gowon from the curse of the quintessential African leader, who hangs on
to power long past their time. But as history interceded, this will forever
be a subject of conjecture, for it may be that Gowon would have willingly
relinquished power when the time came. Nonetheless, the Garba-Gowon saga
makes more bewildering the Garba-Abacha association. As Mr. Oseloka Obaze
tells us in Joe Garba: A Man Before His
Time, (the piece is included in the book in lieu of an epilogue)“Garba recognized that nothing in his fifty-eight years did
more damage to Joe Garba’s image than his dalliance with the Abacha regime.”
From my reading of the man, it seems to me that he must have had the best
intentions but we cannot really know for sure and, this it seems we must also
consign to speculation. Sometimes, the road to hell is indeed paved with good
intentions.
What I do know for certain is that
Joseph Nanven Garba was a patriotic Nigerian. I am left with no doubt that
Nigeria would not be as crippled as it is now if our leaders were more like
him. Joe Garba’s Legacy is a seminal contribution to our
understanding of Africa in general and in particular, Nigeria’s political,
social and economic dilemmas. The collection of speeches reveals Nigeria’s
aspirations to a leadership position on the continent and her increasing inability
to fulfill that potential. The reader will see how after decades of
mismanagement and corruption, Nigeria’s ambitions for superpower status
within the continent have become delusions of grandeur. Undeniably, since her
independence in 1960, the country’s civilian and military governments alike
have played a prominent role on a host of issues. From the struggle against
apartheid, the struggles in Angola, Zimbabwe, demands for a permanent seat
for Africa at the UN Security Council, reparations for the Slave Trade,
peace-keeping initiatives in regional trouble spots like Liberia and Sierra
Leone. But the combination of domestic and external forces, coupled with
economic mismanagement and failure to stabilize and democratize politics,
have negatively affected its foreign policy options and capacity to exercise
regional leadership.
The book provides a source of knowledge on Nigeria and Africa that could be
useful for anyone interested in the continent, its challenges and hopes for
the future. The subject-matter of the speeches, I am sure, have exercised the
minds of many people, but perhaps, more so, the minds of those who are
Africans, and those who belong to the attentive international public with
keen interest on Africa matters. Joe Garba’s Legacy is a must read
for African historians, policy makers, those who lead or aspire to lead, as
well as those who are led. As Gowon wrote in his foreword, “every speech in
this volume is instructive and good reading. The collection is a valued
contribution to existing works on administration, governance and foreign
policy anywhere and everywhere.”
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