Nigeria, Others Parley On Cartoon Crisis

[Richard Akindele]

The 174th Session of the Executive Board of UNESCO, which ended in Paris last Thursday, has elected Nigeria and 11 other countries to negotiate a decision on the cartoon crisis, following the cartoon publications which infuriated the Muslim world and the violence that attended it in many countries.

In the light of its mission to promote peace in the world, the organisation had invited two delegates from each of the six regional groups (Africa, Arab, Asia/South Pacific, Eastern Europe, Europe and North America, as well as Latin America) to serve on a working group convened by Norway, chair of the Programmes Committee, to consider the subject of a resolution to be agreed upon by consensus.

Nigeria and Namibia were designated by Africa to represent the region in the sensitive working group, the former being represented, both on the Board and the group, by its Ambassador/Permanent Delegate, Prof. Michael Omolewa.

Omolewa had observed, during his intervention in the General Debate that, "UNESCO has a golden opportunity to demonstrate its potential as a promoter of the culture of peace at this period of increasing intolerance and violence." Addressing the chairman of the Board, the Ambassador added that, "Nigeria shares your vision on the insensitivity that has been generated by the cartoon publication, and agrees with the Director-General that UNESCO can use the current development to build on its goodwill and mandate and make an impact."

Another highlight of the 17-day meeting was the decision, the draft of which was supported by Nigeria, that Cuba's method of literacy promotion be studied by UNESCO with the possibility of its adoption for the achievement of the objectives of the United Nations Decade for Literacy. Indeed, Cuba has considerable experience in this field, having won the UNESCO Literacy Prize, way back in 1962.

Still in his intervention, Prof. Omolewa said UNESCO holds considerable promise to assist member states resolve their educational challenges. "That is why Nigeria remains firmly as a working partner of UNESCO in her bid to provide access to quality education at all levels to all Nigerians, as you have frequently heard our President Olusegun Obasanjo declare. This is also why UNESCO cannot fail in its mission to assist every member state achieve the Dakar (Education for All) and the Millennium Development Goals."

He said Nigeria associates "itself with the request for increased action in favour of the E-9 Countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan, who together have the highest number of the world's illiterates), the proposed arrangements in the Secretariat for South-South Cooperation, the Jakarta Declaration on the Right to Education and the plea for increased support to the critical field of Higher Education."

The 174th Session of the Board was significant to Nigeria. It was the first since its return to the Board during the 33rd Session of the General Conference, held in Paris last October. What victory that was! That was one election that members of the Nigerian delegation to the conference and the country's Permanent Delegation to UNESCO cannot forget, in a hurry, with the Minister of Education, Mrs. Chinwe Obaji and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mallam Nu'uman Danbata monitoring it every step of the way.

It was perhaps the first time in the history of the organisation, that African countries would openly demonstrate their hostility towards Nigeria, saying it had had more than a fair share of being the voice of the African Region in the organisation.

The country last served on the board between 2001 and 2003 when it was elected President of the General Conference. Some countries, including those who were interested in occupying the important seat, argued that Nigeria had registered its presence long enough and should therefore give others who had not served on the Board in a long while a chance.

But Nigeria and her supporters also argued that what was important was not how long, but the effect of a country's presence on the Board. The lobbying and politicking that followed these two positions lasted several days.

Elected by the General Conference of UNESCO, the 58-member Executive Board is one of the three constitutional organs of the organisation. It examines the programme of work for the organisation and corresponding estimates for the effective and rational execution of the programme by the Director General.

The 58 seats are distributed amongst the six geographical regions. Each elected member state serves a four-year term after which the seat becomes vacant and is contested for by other states in the region.

Ten African countries vied for the seven vacant seats out of the 13 allocated to the region on the Board. They were Benin Republic, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea. Others were Nigeria, South Africa, The Gambia, Togo and Uganda.

At the end of voting, South Africa came first with 147 votes. Ethiopia came second with 144, followed by Benin with 143 and Nigeria, fourth, with 128 votes. Other countries which made the list were Togo, DRC and Uganda, who got 110, 108 and 105 votes respectively. Botswana, Gambia and Equatorial Guinea were eliminated having recorded 97, 72 and 36 votes respectively.

An elated Obaji said then that, "this is not a victory for Nigeria, but for the entire African Region. Nigeria has what it takes and will continue to represent Africa well in UNESCO. "

Nigeria's Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Prof. Michael Omolewa said that the election was a confirmation of the leadership role of President Olusegun Obasanjo and his administration since his first visit to UNESCO shortly after his election in 1999 and the last during the Celebration of Africa Day last May.
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