ADDRESS DELIVERED BY CHIEF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO.
vtcE-CHAlnMANOF THE 'FEllEIU~L'EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, ,ANDFEnERAL COMMISSIONER FOR FINANCE" AT TIm AFRICAN CENTRAL BANK TRAINING COURSE IN LAGOS,
, ON5TIi OCTOBER, 1970. aT'lO A.M. '
On behalf of ,myself, the, Government, and the ,entirj;>.!?eople
or the
Federal Republic 'of Nigeria, I have great pleasure in whcon\iriii 'Yout6 this Course.When, last December, the Association of African Ce n tr a L
, ' ; ' 0''~",,.0 ' " ", ; ' :, '" ' \ : .. ,' ,' ,.. 0
Banks took a decision to hold this 'I'r-a a n i.n g Cou r se in Lagos this", ' . . . , " ' . 0 .
yea·r., i:t, did. so in faith. The civil war was s t i l l raging. Its end was a matter of both sober and wild ~pe.culati<?ns, and at a l l events, was not immediately in sight, Even for those of us Who we.re close to General Gowo n I s counsel, the best we could hope
for
w":s'tha:'t'the war .would come toan end be'fore the third . 'a:rinivEii--'sary of de<:la1"ation of secession in May this ·year. I tw8:rl"lnthbse gfoomycircumstances 'that you decided''tohold this Co'ur15e 'i'ii'Niger:i'a, thereby demonst r a t Ln g your faith '1.nNigeria
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as a p'oli'ti'<!al 'going c o n ce r-n , and in her capacity and su'rvlvetIl'e 'frightful diff'iculties with which confronted:
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to overcome she was then
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I have no doubt that you will all feel gratified that ~our
faith in 'Nigeria 'has' not been misplaced. Indeed; y()or f'a Lt h h~s b'e'''m more' than well-justified. :in that this, Co uz-s e is now beirig'heili under three auspicious circumstances. First, the civil' war 'whiCh over""hartged your decision last Decembe'r is now ath'ing <:>1' the'past, and vpea ce is hilly restored to our country.
Second·~'this'ope n Ln g 'ceremony is taking place" so to say,' in the after-glow of 'ourninth Independence .\nnivei~ary Celebrations which had peen witnessed by eminent delegations from allover 1\f·rica •. I understand that some of .you arrived in time to witness
the last stages o.f the Celebrations. Third,whilst this Course is st,iitl oni ' the Sup.r.eme Military Council of Nigeria will be
mp;z--E/CN.14/AMA/ 29
Annex X(b)
Pag"2
Less' ,than avmo n t h ago, the Federal Indeed, i t Plan,.
Deye Lopme.nr
be la';nched to,wards the, close Nat'ional
Pla,nmay delibera t.i'llg
.on-o
ur' 'Il'e,xt'is not unliI{ely'th~t''tlie of this
Trai~ingCou:se:,
l3xe'cutive,::ouncil of Nigeria
.~' .: . -.. .
exercise on the Plan,
concluded i t s first roupdof detailed
The atmosphere which Nigeria offe.rs you, therefore, is. one of peace, exhilaration. and well-fo\1l1ded op t Lm.i.em , I t is,an
badly, i f their efforts are td be fruitful, and not to be in atmosphere which is conducive
is an atmosphere such as this
.
..
Course - lecturers and Central
r ,
to study and mental.. exertions, It that all the. participants at this' . _ , , c
Bank Staff, alike -. ~;-. need'very
t
vain",
For a va r Let yvof peasons, the e co n omic .a nd monetary p r ob Lem s of any country ~ whether
~nottyand complicated.
a nd.. cpmplicatedstill.
had. slap.tfa.r too long,
developed or underdeveloped-aretoday But .those of Africa are mu ctr.mo r e kno t ty For one t.hing, 'ine conomicterms, . Afri ca
compared with otherCont ilients; . for a n.o.th el ',when i t di.d· wakeup - .or , bette!' ;still,was "rudely awaked - i t found itself in political and economic shackles'of the most degra.ding cne r-a cter- •
.
,
Fot' a period of almost one.hund.red y.ears,.: most .p a r t e of:
Africa Nere. .unde r one ,form of .colonial .rule or another. For 11"11
t h e e a ti!".e03.,. pur, p o Lat.Lca L .a nd economic affairs 'were subserve'd~"
a nd all, mnn e.t.ar-y po.La.c i.e s , such as they: we!'e" strictly tied .to
;t,h05,!,!. of' ,the .a Li.e n titular p.ower,s •. , We Were perforce. dragged into wars. which we,re no:taf: our, own making, .an d. our economic and
ma npowec-r-esour ce e Were mobilized ·for winning'them.
The effect o f a b these was to impose and' impreiils on 0\11' ',af'fai:r-sandout'look generally,' an alien pattern ~;'d'orlentation.
Some p;'rt$of Ahlca hav~ acquired the British patie~I1'and orielitation,otners theFrench,and yet 6th~rs the Spanish and Portuguese. In the days of colonial rule, the affairs of many
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, )E/CN • 14/.AMA/29 Annex X(b)
Page 3
of the African countries were so distorted and oriented that.
even ten years after Independence. some of us Elre still heavily dependent on.a'nd helplessly tied to. the apron strings of the former'colonial masters in economic and monetary matters. As a matter of fact. it is :::onventional these days; 1n reference to Africa, to speak of the Ang~ophile and Francophone countries, or of the Sterling and Franc areas.
HOJ.;'ever mucll we ,may cllerish the good things, "7 termination
o~ inter-tribal wars, law and order, education~trade and commerce, etc, -, however much, we may cherish these good things which colonialism bestowed upon us, the fact remains that on the whole, foreign rule and its af'termath have made economic co-ope,;ation,'not to talk of economic union and integration.
very difficult for the African countries. ~e s t i l l have with us much ~f the prejudices, partial affections, rivE.lries, and' the' gfabbing'propensitiesof our former'masters; and~u6consciously,
'we alltiw tllese inllerited traits to influence 6s in our dealings with one another, Even now that-the former imperia11st powers of 'EurO'pe"areseeking ways and maa n s of economicandpcilitical Lnt e g r-at Lo.n amongst themselves, we strive to enter irito,this foreign union on the side of our respective former masters. "
Trueen()ug~. we have shaken off odr political shackles. It is'now our, business - and an ur ge rrt one at tLat - to 'break 'our e co n omt c chains; and remove every little trace 6ft'hem' from the face of Africa. To this end, the United Nations got us toa very -go od vst a rt "it'h the ',esti'lbl:lshment'in 1958 of the Economic Commis sLo n 'forAfr.ica , This Commission has, since itsi'nception, worked strenuously for e e o nomi c cooperation amongst Afri,can
countries, In phe face of 'difficulties, a rLe i.n g fr'om antithetic , orientations, amongst the States of Africa. the Commission has
had 'some outstanding achievements to its credit:
In general, <the econoi11iG cooperation
EeA
can be,said to be the harbinger of among independent African States. InE/ en, 14/AM.4./29
Annex X(b) Page
4
ilr All,
part~cular, i t was the fnitiator of steps Which rapidly led to:
(1) the estabJ"ishment df the African Development Bank a ndyt h e African Institute of Ecqnomic D~velopment
and Planning,
(2) ",the p r-oduc tLo n of the Triffin Report, and (3) the convention of the First Gaference of
:'Governore; of African Ce ntraL Banks, 'i,n February 1966.'
The c'$~cond Confer'ence'c;e Governors of Africaii Central Banks was h eLd Shortl~ after the first one 'in 'AUgust' 1966; and the third Conference in December 1969. I t was 'at this thirdConfer~.nce that the Association of African Gentral Banks was formally' inaugura'ted. and a de cision taken to hold this Training Course.
It mu st; not!?e supposed th~t the AACB is the answer to a l l our economic problems, or ,that the Tr-a i.nd n g Co ur-s e , ,wh.ichbegins today and will last about six weeks, will provide the cure for al,l,our monete,r,yills. All that can be said for these and other measures like the ADB and the IDEP,is that they are d",finite steps in the right direction.
But the AACB can contribute, immensely to thsEloltitions to our problems. In t n Ls 'connect'on, i t as, I thinl,<:"a,pposite to, take a tOOk at .its "',+md, a n d its. proposed me.tho d s of achieving them. It is not usual for ~n Org~ni,ation to set out,its
objectives as well as its proposed modus operand~ of a chi.e vi.ng those objectives. But, the
propositi~~
mustbeaccePtedth~t;
unless people ,Hho are desirqus of' working together for', the, attainment of certain ends can llaveidentical objectives and at"
d
the same time agree as to the methods of achie:ITing those objectives.
their intended cooperation is likely to, be futile and "fru,itless.', " " .', .,.. '. . ,- .
As Amos said of old, "can two talk together. except they be
agreed?" The AAcB has therefore done the right thing by agreeing
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not o n.Ly on common objectives. .but; also on co.ncer ced methods for,achieving their prescribed object±ves. According to its Const.Lt.ut.Lon t h e aims of the AACB are as follows:
,(i) To' promote coop e r a r Lon in the'monetary, banking and financial sphere in the' Africa'nregio n ; (ii) To assist in the formulation ofgliidelines
aiong which agreements among African countries in the monetary arid financial fields shall proceed;
(iii) To help to strengthen all efforts aimed at bringing about and maintaining monetary and, financial st.ability in the Af r-Lca n region; and (iv) T08xamiriethe effe'ctiv'eness of interna'tional
econom±c *~d finanCial institutions in which African countries have
an
interest and suggest ways of possible improvement.Its m6dus operandi is spelt out' in the' follo'wing terms:
! 1!
,
~ ( i)
(ii )
(iii )
To provide for periodic meetings of Governors of African Central Banks, arid. Where Central Ba';'ks are non-existent, the Head's of similar mo n et a.r-y
"inst'itutiOris in the region;'
To promote the exchange of ideas and experiences on monetary and banking matt.r~ and questions of
moneta~y, banking and financialcoopjration in AftLcar
To facilitate the collection, pqoling and dissem.ination of information on monet ary , banking, financial and other economic matters of interest to its members.
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E/CN.14/AMA/29 Annex X(b) Page 6
(iv)
( v)
(vi)
(vii)
(viii)
TO"under,takethe study. of monetary and financial pr.ob1ems in t.h-e Afr.ica.nregi·onand all such matters as may 'b'e deemed necessary t o the ma i.nt ena nce of financial stability, or. generally conducive to grea ter coop e r at Lo n amon g .its membe r e ;
To organ i.z e seminars,
.
" courses and oth er training programmes for personnel of banking and financial institutions in the African region;To provide technical advice and assil3tance which serve its purposes and came within its functions;• 1 ' ,
To establish study groups and/or. institutions and sub-regional committees and such other subsidiary bodies as i t deems appropriate for facilitating the carrying out of itl3 functionl3 and activitiel3 and the f u Lf i1ment () f i t s purposes; and
To undertake 'l3uch other activities and concern itself wi.th any other mat t e r s a s may advance itl3 purposes.
In emp1oyi!1g these methods of operation, the AACB il3 resolved to establish and maintain appropria,te r-o Lat Lo n s }<'ith interna-tional organizations pursuing objectives l3imilar or related to thqse of its own.
It will be seen that the AACB's aims, and its proposed methods of achieving them are laudable and unexceptiqnab1e.
With the holding of this Training Course, however, only a
small beginning has been made in the long and laborious process of accomplishing the worthy objectives which theAACB has set before itself. But it must be emphasized that this Training Course is both a correct beginning and a step in the right direction.
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