Obasanjo: Hungry can't be free

2004-03-09 08:37

Abuja - In a message to mark Commonwealth Day, Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo urged members of the 53-nation body on Monday to work together to build the wealth upon which he said freedom depends.

"Commonwealth Day is an opportunity for us to express our commitment to the values we all share. Chief among those is the value of freedom," the president said, in a statement released by his office.

"We should also recognise that freedom and development are intimately linked," said Obasanjo, who assumed the rotating chairmanship of the global association at the Commonwealth summit in Abuja last December.

Oil exports

Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 and has earned billions of dollars through its oil exports, but more than three-quarters of its 126-million-strong population still live in crippling poverty.

"If you do not have enough money to feed your family, if you do not have access to education and health care, you are not free. Development is as important to freedom as freedom is to leading a fulfilling, meaningful life."

Obasanjo said the Commonwealth, whose members ranged from heavyweights Britain and Canada to the poorest countries of Africa and the smallest Pacific islands, was uniquely well placed to lead a common effort to combat poverty.

"And it can help lay the foundations for a less divided world, building bridges between people and strengthening our sense of global solidarity," he said.

- SAPA