Looking Back with Gratitude

IBRAHIM BABABANGIDA

No matter our points of origin in the Nigerian encounter, we all share the experience of a fascinating national journey. Ours is the story of a thrilling past, an engaging present, and a most promising future. Today’s event reminds us that we are not just here to remember the past but to actively shape the present and envision a bright future with hope—a future that each of you, with your unique perspectives and contributions, will help build.

The first aspect of today’s event is the public presentation of my book of memoirs: A JOURNEY IN SERVICE. This memoir, a culmination of over three decades of reflection, significantly contributes to our understanding of our national history. Through the public presentation of this book, I believe I am paying a huge part of my debt to the public. Over three decades after leaving office, the most constant question I have had to contend with is this: When will you tell your side of the story? Understandably, our period of service has somehow evoked, and rightly so, many questions and stories among our public. This book, which chronicles my experiences, decisions, and challenges during our national service, tries to answer some of these questions from my modest perspective.

My colleagues-in-arms and I presided over significant change and turbulent reform. We confronted monumental challenges in the economy, the polity, foreign affairs, and defence and security spheres of our national life. We surmounted obstacles, sought change from old ways, encountered unusual obstacles, and devised innovative solutions. We all sought to leave Nigeria a better place than we found it, often at great personal sacrifice and in the face of significant challenges. I am deeply aware of the inconveniences and sacrifices the public endured during this period, and I acknowledge and appreciate their resilience and commitment to progress.

Although the reform caused inconveniences for our people, we built lasting national institutions, some of which are still in place today.

Undoubtedly, credible, free, and fair elections were held on June 12, 1993. However, the tragic irony of history remains that the administration that devised a near-perfect electoral system and conducted those near-perfect elections could not complete the process. That accident of history is most regrettable. The nation is entitled to expect my expression of regret.

As the leader of a military administration, I accept absolute responsibility for all decisions taken under my watch. June 12 happened under my watch. Mistakes, oversights, and missteps happened in quick succession. But as I say in my book, in all matters, we acted in the supreme national interest so that Nigeria could survive. Our nation’s march to democracy was interrupted, a fact that I deeply regret. But Nigeria survived, and democracy is alive, a testament to our resilience and commitment to progress.

This book is part of my personal story of that encounter with national history. I did not travel alone. I undertook the challenging walk of leadership in the company of many patriots. Many are still here, while others have gone the way of all flesh. I cannot name all our allies and fellow travellers. But let me acknowledge the contributions of men like the late Augustus Aikhomu, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, General Ike Nwachukwu, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, Dr Tunji Olagunju, Chief Olu Falae (now Kabiyesi!), the late Professor Ojetunji Aboyade (who, by the way, was an outstanding man), the late Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman, the late Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the late Professor Omo Omoruyi, the late Professor Gordian Ezekwe, the late Professor Tam David-West, the late Professor Babatunde Fafunwa, the late Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, the late Dr Shetima Mustapha, the late Alhaji Bunu Sheriff Musa, the late Rear-Admiral Patrick Koshoni, Lt-General Alani Akinrinade, General Aliyu Gusau, General Haliru Akilu, the former Senate President, Brigadier General David Mark, Brigadier General Tunde Ogbeha, Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, the late U. K. Bello, the late General Nuhu Bamali, Colonel Sambo Dasuki and a whole list of other prominent colleagues and friends, all of them fellow travellers in the challenging walk of leadership.

The second aspect of today’s event is establishing a befitting Presidential Library, which I consider a tribute to history and a contribution to the world of knowledge and leadership.

In this regard, I thank my friend and family member, our former Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who created a unique architectural design for the Presidential Library for my 80th Birthday. As you can see from the programme details, it is an outstanding design. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

As leaders, our activities belong to history in the form of written records. These records will serve as evidence-in-chief for posterity long after we have gone. The proposed presidential library, which will house these records, would be a lasting tribute to our period of national service (1985-1993) and a resource for future leaders and scholars to learn from our experiences and decisions.

As I understand it, what members of the Library’s Board of Trustees have in mind is not a library as a museum where treasured historical documents and books are left to the dust. The plan is more of an interactive centre for lively exchange among people of different backgrounds and generations.

Once again, I sincerely appreciate and treasure your presence at this gathering. Your participation and the conversations following this event will undoubtedly contribute to a better Nigeria. I am grateful for your support and look forward to our shared journey towards a brighter future.

The task of recovering memory can never be easy. As I said in my acknowledgement pages in the book, apart from my publishers, Messrs Bookcraft, headed by Mr Bankole Olayebi, in writing this book, I acquired debts of gratitude to several other persons that deserve adequate mention. Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi (Mr Activity himself!), Dr Chidi Amuta, Mr Abiola Phillips, Mr Clement Fajimokun and Mr Tobi Soneye gave generously of their time, experience, and resourcefulness, not just in the area of research but also in painstaking editorial work. I thank Mr Oladimeji Bajela for the Book’s beautiful design.

Yemi Ogunbiyi’s unwavering commitment to ensuring the expert production of the book and his tireless work towards realising today’s event will never be forgotten. Thank you, Yemi.

Yemi’s efforts and those of his colleagues were amply complemented by the commitment of other young friends and colleagues, such as Mr Donald Duke, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, and Mr Francis Ogboro, who made several trips to Minna for consultations on this project. My gratitude to these and other friends who assisted is eternal.

I thank you all for your support.

I wish you all a safe return to your places of abode.

God bless you all.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Excerpt

I thought I should read an excerpt from the book which documents our efforts to deal with the challenging problems of the economy. I am reading from page 151.

 “When I assumed office, I was convinced that we needed to reform the economy urgently. My colleagues and I shared the conviction that the economy was in bad shape, but we were also confident that the nation possessed the resources and human capital to chart a new path of reform. Even before assuming office, I believed that we needed to reform the economy along free-market lines to free our people’s energies and begin to realise the full potential of our economic endowments.

Over the years, I have made extensive acquaintances with knowledgeable and experienced Nigerians in various fields. I reached out to as many renowned Nigerian thinkers and persons of knowledge as possible, especially in business, finance and economics. I naturally started my consultations with those I had met and had practical contact with over the years. In this regard, I reached out to Professor Gabriel Olusanya, whose intellect and experience impressed me greatly during my tenure at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). Through him, I expanded the group of reputable Nigerians to consult on how best to design an appropriate economic reform agenda.

In this regard, I contacted Professor Ojetunji Aboyade, Professor Ikenna Nzimiro, Mr Michael Omolayole, Professor Akin Mabogunje and Dr Chu Okongwu. We could rely on the technocratic expertise and vast bureaucratic experience of men like Olu Falae. Through Ike Nwachukwu, who had been the military governor of Imo State, I engaged and incorporated Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, who had done impressive work on the state’s economy.  Before that, he had worked at the World Bank and served on the Asia Desk, where he garnered extensive knowledge on what became the Asian Tigers. In particular, his creative approach to rescuing the economy of Imo State made a positive impression on me. Under the famed ‘Imo Formula,’ he excited me, and I brought him to the federal level to help us with the economics of spending only what you have. Such prudent management and economic realism was what, in my view, our desperate economic situation required.

What I found exciting about working with these outstanding intellectuals, men of ideas and experience, was that they were a community of ideas. They knew and respected each other. With each one you consulted and brought on board; he had a string of other colleagues with similar expertise to bring along. In little or no time, we had a virtual faculty of people with extensive ideas, vast experience and diverse backgrounds.

We interacted through a series of dialogues and consultations in very enlightening sessions. We became more like a community of friends and colleagues. But we were united by our shared commitment to making Nigeria self-sufficient and workable. We had endless brainstorming sessions on different aspects of national life, especially the economy.

I found our brainstorming sessions very enlightening and refreshing. People brought their vast experiences to bear on the problems that faced us then. In particular, I recall the insights of Professor Ikenna Nzimiro, who brought a lot of life to our sessions by relating our present problems to his experiences from the past. He would, for instance, jovially ask me how old I was when he was active in the Zikist movement!”

*(Above are excerpts from the speech delivered by former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida at the public presentation of his memoirs entitled “A Journey in Service: An Autobiography” at the Abuja Transcorp Hilton on Thursday, February 20, 2025.)