AAPAM AWARDS
During the 27th
Roundtable Conference that was held in Livingstone,
Zambia, 5 – 9,
December 2005, AAPAM unveiled and launched its Awards Programme. The following is the description of the Gold Medal Award
THE GOLD MEDAL
AWARD
The first AAPAM Gold Medal was awarded to Professor Adebayo Adedeji CFR in recognition of his exemplary leadership in Public Administration and Development Management in Africa. The Rt. Hon. Absalom T. Dlamini, Prime Minister of the Royal Kingdom of Swaziland, presented the award during a special ceremony held at the 29th AAPAM Roundtable Conference at the Ezulwini Valley, Mbabane, Swaziland.
The AAPAM Gold Medal Award is awarded as a mark of distinction and exceptional achievement to a person who has shown distinctive leadership in advancing public administration and management in Africa. Or who, by his/her writings or other endeavours, has made a significant contribution in the field of public administration and management in Africa. Among the five categories of awards in the AAPAM Awards Programme, the Gold Medal is the highest award of recognition and honour bestowed on the individual by AAPAM.
AAPAM GOLD MEDAL AWARD PRESENTED TO PROFESSOR ADEBAYO ADEDEJI, CFR
C I T A T I O N
Presented by Mr. Tlohang Sekhamane, AAPAM Deputy President, Government Secretary/Cabinet Secretary and Head of Public Service, Kingdom of Lesotho
• THE RT HON. PRIME MINISTER, ROYAL KINGDOM OF SWAZILAND
• HON. MINISTERS
• HON. MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
• HON. DR. PONTSO SEKATLE, AAPAM PATRON AND MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, KINGDOM OF LESOTHO
• THE AAPAM PRESIDENT
• DISTINGUISHED DELEGATES AND GUESTS
• LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
I HAVE THE GREATEST PRIVILEGE TO PRESENT TO YOU A GREAT NIGERIAN, A GREAT AFRICAN, A GREAT INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SERVANT, A GREAT SCHOLAR, A GREAT WRITER AND LEADER IN THE FIELDS OF AFRICA DEVELOPMENT, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT, FOR THE PRESENTATION OF THE HIGHEST AAPAM AWARD OF HONOUR AND EXCELLENCE – THE AAPAM GOLD MEDAL. THIS IS PROFESSOR ADEBAYO ADEDEJI. PROFESSOR ADEDEJI HAS A RICH CURRICULUM VITAE AND A LONG LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS THAT MAKE HIM TO TRULY DESERVE AAPAM’S HIGHEST AWARD OF HONOUR AND RECOGNITION. I WILL HOWEVER BE BRIEF IN MY PRESENTATION.
PROFESSOR ADEBAYO ADEDEJI WAS BORN IN 1930 IN IJEBU-ODE IN NIGERIA. HE GRADUADED WITH A BACHELOR HONOURS DEGREE AND A PHD IN ECONOMICS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON AND A MASTERS DEGREE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY WHICH HE OBTAINED FROM THESE UNIVERSITIES BETWEEN 1958 AND 1967. AT THE AGE OF 36 YEARS IN 1966, HE BECAME THE FIRST NIGERIAN PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IFE, NOW RE-NAMED OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY.
PROFESSOR ADEDEJI HAS HAD DISTINGUISHED ACADEMIC, MANAGERIAL, NATIONAL AND INTERANTIONAL, DIPLOMATIC AND POLITICAL CAREERS. IN NIGERIA, HE SERVED AS THE POST-CIVIL WAR MINISTER OF ECONOMIC PLANNING AND RECONSTRUCTION BETWEEN 1971 AND 1975. AMONG THE NUMEROUS INNOVATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS DURING HIS TENURE WAS HIS LEADERSHIP IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS) IN 1975
AT THE AFRICA CONTINENTAL AND UNITED NATIONS LEVELS, PROFESSOR ADEDEJI WAS APPOINTED AS THE UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL AND EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE UN ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA IN JUNE 1975 AND ROSE TO THE RANK OF UNITED NATIONS UNDER-SECRETARY GENERAL IN JANUARY 1978 – A POSITION HE HELD WITH TREMENDOUS SUCCESS UNTIL JULY 1991.
AS UNITED NATIONS UNDER SECRETARY – GENERAL AND EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA (UNECA), PROFESSOR ADEDEJI WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR HIS UNIQUE INITIATIVES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA, AMONG WHICH WERE THE LAGOS PLAN OF ACTION (1980), THE FINAL ACT OF LAGOS (1980), THE AFRICAN ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORK TO STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME (AAFFSAP, 1989) AND THE AFRICAN CHARTER FOR POPULAR PARTICPATION (ACPP, 1990). HE ALSO SERVED AS THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPECIAL REPRESETATIVE ON AFRICA’S ECONOMIC CRISIS BETWEEN 1984 AND 1986.
WHILE HE WAS THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF UNECA IN ADDIS ABABA IN THE 1970s AND 1980s, WE IN AAPAM REMEMBER PROFESSOR ADEDEJI IN A SPECIAL WAY. WHEN AAPAM WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1971, IT DID NOT HAVE AN OFFICE UNTIL 1976. THE OPERATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATION WERE CO-ORDINATED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PERSON HOLDING THE POSITION OF AAPAM SECRETARY GENERAL IN WHICHEVER COUNTRY HE WAS BASED. IT WAS PROFESSOR ADEDEJI WHO FIRST GAVE AAPAM AN INSTITUTIONAL FACE BY PROVIDING OFFICE ACCOMMODATION TO THE AAPAM FULL TIME SECRETARY GENERAL IN THE UNECA BUILDINGS IN ADDIS ABABA IN 1976. AND THIS WAS NOT ALL. PROFESSOR ADEDEJI WAS A DE FACTO PRESIDENT OF AAPAM FROM 1972 TO 1975 AND LED AAPAM AS ELECTED PRESIDENT FOR 10 YEARS FROM 1975 TO 1985. IT WAS DURING THE TIME OF HIS LONG LEADERSHIP THAT AAPAM BECOME A TRULY MATURE ORGANIZATION.
SINCE HIS DEPARTURE FROM THE UNITED NATIONS IN AUGUST 1991, PROFESSOR ADEDEJI SERVED AND CONTINUES TO SERVE EXTENSIVELY AS CONSULTANT TO THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATIONS, AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS AND NON-GOVERMENTAL ORGANISATIONS AND UNIVERSITIES BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE AFRICA MAINLY ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT ISSUES IN AFRICA.
ON THE AFRICAN PLANE, PROFESSOR ADEDEJI HAS SERVED WITH DISTINCTION IN MANY CAPACITIES. FROM MARCH TO MAY 2002, HE WAS APPOINTED NIGERIA’S SPECIAL ENVOY TO ZIMBABWE TO FACILITATE THE RECONCIALITION BETWEEN THE TWO WARRING POLITICAL PARTIES, ZANU-PF AND MDC FOLLOWING THE COUNTRY’S ELECTIONS OF MARCH 2002. FROM DECEMBER 2002, TO JANUARY 2003, HE SERVED AS CHAIRMAN AND LEADER OF THE 54 - NATION COMMONWEALTH OBSERVER AND MONITORING GROUP DURING KENYA’S PRESIDENTIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN 2002. IN BETWEEN, THESE ASSIGNMENTS, HE SERVED AS ADVISER TO THE OAU SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE TRANSFORMATION FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY (OAU) TO AFRICAN UNION (AU).
IN JUNE 2003 PROFESSOR ADEDEJI WAS APPOINTED BY THE AU HEADS OF STATE TO THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE SEVEN EMINENT PERSONS PANEL OF THE AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISM (APRM) WHOSE MANDATE IS TO EXERCISE OVERSIGHT ON POLICIES, STANDARDS AND PRACTICES THAT LEAD TO POLITICAL STABILITY, SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND ACCELERATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AMONG AFRICAN COUNTRIES. WE HAVE LEARNT THAT SO FAR, PROFESSOR ADEDEJI HAS SERVED ON THIS PANEL WITH DISTINCITON.
PROFESSOR ADEDEJI HAS BEEN A STRONG ADVOCATE OF DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA AND OF THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS SINCE 1975 AT A TIME WHEN IT WAS DEEMED IMPRUDENT TO DO SO. HE HAS CONSISTENTLY ARGUED THAT AFRICA’S PERSISTENT ECONOMIC CRISIS – SEVERE AS IT HAS BEEN – IS BUT A CONSEQUENCE OF THE POLITICAL CRISIS WHICH MANIFESTS ITSELF IN THE LACK OF DEMOCRACY, ACCOUNTABILITY, GOOD GOVERNANCE AND THE PURSUIT OF A HUMAN-CENTERED DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM. HE ARGUED FURTHER THAT ACCOUNTABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT THE FRAMEWORK OF A FUNCTIONING STATE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WERE THE ROOT CAUSES OF AFRICA’S PERENNIAL BOUTS OF INSTABILITY, CONFLICTS, VIOLENCE AND WAR.
PROFESSOR ADEDEJI HAS WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED MANY BOOKS IN THE FIELDS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION WITH PARTICULAR FOCUS ON AFRICA. IN HIS CONTRIBUTIONS THROUGH A BROAD ARRAY OF SCHOLARLY AND POLICY-ORIENTED PUBLICATIONS AND INITIATIVES, HE HAS BEEN STRESSING THE NEED FOR AFRICA’S SOCIO-ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION AND FOR GENUINE DEMOCRATIZATION BASED ON A HOLISTIC AND INDIGENOUSLY – CRAFTED DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM. HIS PUBLICATIONS TITLED AFRICAN ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORK TO STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMMES AND THE AFRICAN CHARTER FOR POPULAR PARTICIPATION BEAR HIS UNMISTAKABLE IMPRINT.
PROF. ADEDEJI’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO DEVELOPMENT THEORY, STRATEGY AND POLICY SUITABLE FOR AFRICA AND OTHER DEVELOPING REGIONS HAVE BEEN COGENTLY AND SYSTEMATICALLY PRESENTED IN BOOKS WRITTEN ABOUT HIM AND HIS WORKS. THESE INCLUDE
(i) AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT: ADEBAYO ADEDEDJI’S ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES, BY S.K. B ASANTE,
(ii) ISSUES IN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF ADEBAYO ADEDEJI AT 65. EDITED BY BADE ONIMODE AND RICHARD SYNGE AND
(iii) ADEBAYO ADEDEJI – A RAINBOW IN THE SKY OF TIME (His Vision; His Mission; His Life and Times) – A BIOGRAPHY BY SANMI AJIKI.
AFTER ABOUT FIVE DECADES OF DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC SERVICE AT NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS, PROFESSOR ADEDEJI ESTABLISHED AN ORGANIZATION KNOWN AS THE AFRICAN CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGIC STUDICES (ACDESS) BASED IN HIS BIRTH PLACE IJEBU-ODE IN NIGERIA. ACDESS IS A NON-GOVERNMENTAL, INDEPENDENT, CONTINENTAL, NON-PROFIT MAKING THINK-TANK WHICH IS DEDICATED TO MULTI-DISCIPLINARY AND STRATEGIC STUDIES ON AND OR AFRICA. IT WAS BORN OUT OF THE NEED TO FILL THE VOID IN STRATEGIC THINKING IN AFRICA. THROUGH HIS ENGAGEMENT IN ACDESS ACTIVITIES, PROFESSOR ADEDEJI THUS CONTINUES TO DEDICATE HIMSELF TO THE STRUGGLE FOR AN AFRICA WHICH IS AN INTERGRAL PART AND A FULL RESPECTED PARTNER OF THE WORLD COMMUNITY.
IN RECOGNITION OF HIS MERITORIOUS SERVICES AT ALL LEVELS, PROFESSOR ADEDEJI WAS AWARDED NATIONAL HONOURS BY SEVEN AFRICAN COUNTRIES BETWEEN 1972 AND 1985. HE WAS BESTOWED WITH THE PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL AWARD OF THE COMMANDER OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC (CFR) BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.
MANY ARE THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL HONOURS WHICH HAVE BEEN BESTOWED UPON PROFESSOR ADEDEJI. HE IS A FELLOW AND PAST PRESIDENT OF NIGERIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND THE LIST GOES ON. IN 1982, HE RECEIVED THE INTERNATIONAL GOLD MERCURY AWARD (AD PERSONAM) AND IN 1991 THE ARTHUR HOUGHTON STAR CRYSTAL AWARD OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN INSTITUTIE. IN A FURTHER RECOGNITION OF HIS SERVICES TO AFRICA AND HUMANITY, HE WAS MADE AN HONORARY CITIZEN OF THE REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA IN MARCH, 1997.
THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER, IN A NUTSHELL THIS IS THE MAN WHOM AAPAM WISHES TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOUR WITH ITS HIGHEST AWARD – THE AAPAM GOLD MEDAL. HE IS A TOTALLY ACCOMPLISHED MAN WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED A GREAT DEAL TO THE PROMOTION OF EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT IN AFRICA AND THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF THE AFRICAN PEOPLE.
RT. HON. PRIME MINISTER, I PRESENT TO YOU PROFESSOR ADEBAYO ADEDEJI FOR THE AWARD OF THE AAPAM GOLD MEDAL.
PROFESSOR ADEBAYO ADEDEJI, CFR
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH AT THE AAPAM GOLD MEDAL AWARD AT THE
29TH ROUNDTABLE CONFERENCE
MBABANE, SWAZILAND, 3 SEPTEMBER 2007
On July 31 2007, I received a telephone call in Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria, from the President of the African Association for Public Administration and Management (AAPAM), Mr. John Mitala, informing me of my selection for this award. A few days later, I received his formal letter conveying this message. In my letter of acceptance dated August 8 2007, I confirmed, with appreciation, my acceptance of the honour from AAPAM. I would like to say it here and now how much I appreciate this honour. I thank you all and particularly the leadership of AAPAM for remembering an “old fogey” like me. Thank you very much, indeed. God bless AAPAM!
It is now 22 years since I handed over the Presidency of AAPAM. A founding member of the organisation who was “present at the creation” of this esteemed institution and was its first Vice-President, I became, perforce, its President de facto from 1972 to 1975 since the secretariat had to move from Nairobi to Lagos due to the relocation of Chief Oputa Udoji, our first Secretary-General. Our first president, Dr. Robert Ouko, also moved from Nairobi to Arusha to become an East African Community Minister. I was subsequently elected as AAPAM president in 1975 in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, and was re-elected in 1980 so that by the time I insisted on the Association letting me go in 1985, I had served the organisation for over 12 years. I am indeed very happy that the Association has gone from strength to strength. It is now 36 years old and this is its 29th Roundtable. Let me congratulate you all on this achievement. We should all look forward to celebrating the organisation’s 40th anniversary with a “big bang” in 2011! May the good Lord spare our lives for this historic occasion.
This is the second time that I am attending the AAPAM Roundtable since 1985. The first was in January 1994 when I was invited to inaugurate the David Anderson Address at the 15th Roundtable Conference in Banjul, the Gambia. It is always a pleasure for me to be in the AAPAM environment.
I cannot believe that it is almost 12 years since I was last in Swaziland: a country I still fondly refer to as “Africa’s Switzerland.” It was after all here in Ezulwini, meaning “heaven,” that African foreign ministers crafted the famous consensus on the continent’s position towards UN reform in February 2005. I was here to deliver the King Sobhuza II Memorial Lectures inaugurated by the University of Swaziland whose Vice-Chancellor, in 1995, was the indefatigable Professor Lydia Makhubu. His Majesty King Mswati III provided the lectures his royal patronage.
I am delighted that this 29th AAPAM’s Roundtable is focusing on the theme of Political and Managerial Leadership for Change and Development in Africa. The greatest value of these colloquiums, seminars and roundtables – too often erroneously dismissed by cynics as “talk shops” - is the ideas that they generate. People have too often underestimated the power of ideas while grossly overestimating the idea of power. Such people regard ideas as shadowy, innocent, and harmless and no more than epiphenomena. But nothing could be further from the truth. It is ideas which have invariably changed the world and led to industrial, social and political revolutions. It is ideas which have led to knowledge, made discoveries possible and penetrated nature’s secret places. But we must always remember that ideas are also transient in the whirling flux of things: they vanish unless they are operationalised sooner rather than later.
Indeed, the failure to capture and operationalise ideas has constituted Africa’s Achilles Heel for decades, despite the many brilliant intellectuals the continent has produced. This is particularly true about leadership, I dare say, at all levels. The interactive sessions which you are planning to have at this Roundtable should be part of a process because the leadership deficit is quite extensive. Corporate leadership, leadership in the education sector (particularly at the tertiary level) are all essential in fostering change and development in our environment. They too should be engaged in the discourse. And what about religious leaders? Why has the incidence of poverty been considerably reduced in east and southeast Asia which are basically Buddhist and Hindu societies, while poverty has become even more pervasive and devastating in Africa which basically has what Kenyan political scientist, Ali Mazrui, famously described in 1985 as “the Triple Heritage” of Christian, Muslim and indigenous religions? Why is Africa the only continent not to have enjoyed a “Green revolution” despite a large part of the continent having apparently been bequeathed with a “Protestant work ethic”? Swedish economist, Gunnar Myrdal, had postulated the exact opposite in the 1950s in his four-volume Asian Drama. He gave the Asians very little hope of achieving socio-economic transformation due to what he saw as their non-acquisitive and materialistic cultures and religions. On the other hand, Myrdal postulated that Christians, due to their Protestant ethics and acquisitive culture were likely to save highly, invest highly, work very hard, and consequently achieve rapid socio-economic development and transformation. Whereas the world has now witnessed and is still witnessing the “Asian drama” and the emergence of “Asian Tigers” such as South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore – and more recently China’s so-called “peaceful rise” to Great Power status – there has been no comparable “African drama” in sight. Can we therefore continue to ignore or discount the religious factor in Africa’s failure to transform its economy and society? The retiring Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, was quoted in Cape Town’s Weekend Argus on September 1 2007 to have said at the special session of the Synod of the Diocese of Cape Town on August 30 2007 that “what we need is a recovery of the soul of the people…..it is not the responsibility of the church to do the job of government.” While respecting the social commitment of His Grace who has been active on international debt issues, it is fair to ask whether this a sustainable proposition today?
No one now disputes the hypothesis that, as long as the failure to confront the past and make a strategic turnaround persists, Africa’s present will continue to be haunted by its past and sustainable development in politics, democracy, socio-economic development, and transformation, will continue to be a will-o-the-wisp as the continent stumbles around in an Alice-in-Wonderland dizziness. The past will continue to haunt the present and the future, and consequently, progress will be nigh impossible while accelerated pauperisation and immiseration remain the plight of what Frantz Fannon described as the “wretched of the earth.”
In spite of the need to broaden the scope and complexity of leadership, there is no denying the fact that the deficiency in the quality of political leadership and the lack of popular empowerment and participatory democracy is responsible for the plight of Africa. During the Roundtable, it is therefore essential to identify forthrightly the factors and qualifications for effective transformational and developmental leadership, and which attributes are missing which may need to be urgently cultivated and inculcated and what is needed to initiate the operationalisation process.
I wish this 29th AAPAM Roundtable every success. And once more I thank you for the honour of the AAPAM Gold Medal Award. As the South Africans often say: God bless Africa!