welcome to the african leadership series
where we bring you great inspirational
speeches of african leaders
nigeria hopes to work with other african
states
for the progress of africa and to assist
in bringing
all african territories to a state of
responsible independence
the recent tragic events in the congo
republic
must be uppermost in all our minds
and it is about that country which i
wish
to speak to you first i frankly admit
mr president there are many
features of this seemingly intractable
problem
which remains of secure to me
i am in some doubt as to the exact
manner in which
the constitution granting independence
to that country
was drawn up by the colonial power
which formally administered the
territory
and as to the degree of consultation
which there was with the congolese
peoples themselves
and at what level that consultation was
carried out
i do not know how widely the provisions
of the new constitution we are known in
that country
or whether there is any pattern of
administration
going up from the village to the
provincial
and to the national level
many other questions present themselves
which require to be answered if we are
to find
a solution to the present problems
for instance mr president
with the new constitution imposed from
above
or freely accepted by the congolese
and what are the human resources in the
country
and what sort of government machinery is
available
to execute whatever policies may be
designed upon
by the congolese government nevertheless
with the information which is available
to us
we in nigeria feel that there are
several important factors
to be constantly born in mind in dealing
with the problem
the first of these is that africa
must not be allowed to become a
battleground
in the ideological struggle
for this reason the congo situation
must be a matter to be dealt with
primarily by
african states at the political level
[Applause]
secondly we believe that in dealing with
the problem
of creating a real political life
in the country itself it will be
necessary to start
at the bottom by seeing that local
and provincial authorities are
established
while maintaining the essential unity of
the country
we also believe that the congolese
people
we are right to appeal to the united
nations organization
for help and advice in rebuilding their
country
rather than to turn to any individual
country
individual power until achieving our own
independence we have hesitated
to add our voice to the general
discussion about the congo
lest we should merely add to the
confusion
but now mr president i feel
that it is my duty to put before you
and to ask for your sympathetic
consideration
of the possible solutions which have
suggested
themselves to us we warmly applauded
the immediate response of the united
nations organization
to the congolese disaster
the speed with which troops were sent to
maintain law
under order was most commendable
but the mere ascending of armed forces
is not enough i consider it essential
that the united nations organization
should thoroughly investigate
the root causes of the troubles which
have arisen there
and i suggest the appointment
of a fact-finding commission to look
into
the circumstances which caused the
present
crisis without a proper and sarah
diagnosis
it is idle to pretend that an effective
remedy can be prescribed
and here i would say that to my mind
it is most important that none of the
great powers
should be represented on the
fact-finding commission
because however
[Music]
honest are their intentions it would be
inevitable
that they would be regarded as having a
particular
interest in the problem if you like more
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